Deluca

TWENTY-SEVEN

"Francesco has been shot." Giuseppe had told her, "It isn't good."

Seven words that Eleanor had never wanted to hear. Seven words had made Eleanor's world stand still. Eleanor had felt like she was the butt of a joke, finally achieving everything she had ever wanted, and losing it before she had a chance to fix it.

Giselle wasn't much of a help in strength, she cried just as much as Eleanor. If not, more. Eleanor had assumed Francesco was Giselle's weakness because the woman looked worse than Eleanor did for those first two days. The entire family had been rocked by the blow.

They finally stabilized Francesco on day three. He was in a medically induced coma, but at the very least he was alive. Eleanor had been terrified to see him; she didn't want to see Francesco so close to death.

When she entered the room, Giselle had a grip on her arm as though she were hanging off a cliff. They had approached Francesco, the only sounds in the room had been the machine breathing for him and the steady beeping of his heart monitor.

Eleanor remembered letting out a shuttered broken breath before she took to his side. And since then, she hadn't left. No matter who strolled through the doors, Eleanor stuck to Francesco's side. She demanded that Giselle keep mum about the pregnancy, but she could see Giselle cracking as she watched how little Eleanor had taken care of herself.

Still, Eleanor spent all of her free time there next to Francesco. She had told him about every aspect of her life up until meeting him. Testing to see if he was faking, Eleanor had even told her of some of her exes, but Francesco didn't stir.

She juggled her time between being sick with anxiety, cursing Luca, and hating herself for letting him walk into that situation alone. It took bribery from Giuseppe to even convince Eleanor to step away for even a second.

For the most part, no one disturbed her. Unfortunately, though everything for her felt halted, life still went on. Deals need to be overseen, work had to be completed, and in his absence, all of the Deluca siblings took on the responsibility.

Even then, they still managed to visit numerous times a day. The only people who had not moved from the building like Eleanor had been Henri and Louis.

No matter what time of day or night, whenever she managed to step away from Francesco Henri and Louis were always sitting directly outside the doors in the hall.

They had told her it was because they were ordered to protect her, but even Eleanor knew they were worried themselves.

When the door to Francesco's room opened Eleanor picked p her head, expecting Giselle or Giuseppe to be on the other side of the door.

To her surprise, it had been his mother. She looked extremely well put together she always had, though her eyes were red and sore much like her own.

Eleanor stood, unsure of what to do and not wanting to irritate the woman on a day as serious as this.

"You can sit," Cara said, her voice sounding regal. She walked over to the other side of the bed looking down on Francesco. He had tubes and wire coming from everywhere and he was incredibly pale.

Cara placed her hand on his forehead and said a small prayer before turning her attention back to Eleanor, "I would've been back sooner, but leave it to my children to neglect to tell their mother."

Eleanor only gave her an awkward smile as she watched her tenderness form over Francesco. She was starting to understand the woman a little better.

"How is he?" She asked.

"He has been stable since last night, they are just keeping him asleep to give him time to heal," Eleanor answered, giving the same report she had been saying over and over again for three days.