Made For You

Ch. 21: Aftermath

Sofia

My weighted shoulders slump forward, the sting on the wound a numb anchor grounding me to my senses while I watch Fabio talk to the doctor. My heart laden with a heavy burden, I wait for them to speak to me.

They won't allow me in the room they have taken Gabriel into, saying that women are too weak for the sight of blood. All the female nurses and doctors in the world are nothing to them. Why should women be scared of blood? We see more blood than they do every month and it's our own.

The aftermath of Gabriel getting shot replays like a hazy memory already. Fabio had come running to inform me that the threat had been neutralized. He and his men then helped Gabriel up, dragging his unconscious body where the family doctor was urgently called to treat him.

The bullet had penetrated through his ribs, grazing his heart. One more inch and it would have hit his heart straight. That's all I have been able to discover so far.

He took the bullet for me.

I had been so wrong about this man, judging his every move. Yet, he didn't think once before shielding me with his body.

If he dies, I will be burdened by this guilt forever.

I hope he doesn't. He can't.

Fabio grants me the mercy of turning to me as the doctor goes back into the infirmary room—an exclusive room designed with all medical equipment bought illegally from around the world. He shuts the door behind him, keeping out everyone else but himself, the nurse, and a bodyguard for Gabriel in case the doctor tries anything fishy.

"How is he?" I ask Fabio, my voice carrying a trembling edge as he nears me.

Fabio sees me shivering—my dress torn in various places. He takes pity and throws his suit over my shoulders, sliding his hands into his dress pants' pockets. He is bizarrely untouched by any assailants. He must be the best fighter among them. Everything about him is perfect even in the aftermath of such an attack.

He told me he had been guarding his bedridden father and his nurse and thus none of the assailants could find him.

"The bullet is out but he hasn't woken up yet," he says, his jaw clenching and I notice an indecipherable emotion cross his cerulean eyes. "There's been a lot of blood loss."

The news distresses me more. I wrap his suit tightly around me, the velvet inner lining brushing my haphazardly done stitch. I will have to get that checked once the nurse gets out.

"It's my fault," I confess regretfully. "I wasn't looking. He got shot while protecting me."

Fabio's expression wraps to one of amusement. "Cute that you think so. Gabriel is your fiancé. Him getting shot to protect you is a law here."

How casually he talks of the law when we both know it means nothing in our world.

"You guys have really dumb laws," I throw back, not sounding cheeky at all.

Before Fabio can say something in return, one of the soldiers—one whose name I remember to be Isiah—comes running to us. He is a tall man with a buzz cut and a wide nose. Tonight he looks injured too. He limps on one leg but doesn't let out the slightest grunt of pain. Still dressed in his suit and pants, he stops near us.

"Capo, cosa dovremmo fare con i corpi?" He inquires of Fabio whose eyebrows pull together in a worrisome look instantly. Boss, what should we do with the bodies?

"What bodies?" I interject.

The two men throw me strange looks. Much to my disapproval, Isiah seems to converse with Fabio silently with his eyes.