Forever Changed

Chapter 25: Tears and Trauma

Angelique POV

(6 Months Married)

T/W Discussion of miscarriage, Discussion of death of a parent

The OB had left an hour ago. It was confirmed. If I had been pregnant, I wasn't any more, there was no visible heartbeat. The bullet had entered adjacent to my uterus and likely caused a spontaneous miscarriage. The surgeons had been able to save my uterus but I had lost one ovary and a fallopian tube due to the damage caused. That plus my massive blood loss meant any pregnancy would have become unviable.

The trauma of the gun shot and the following surgery were just too much for a foetus that young to survive. The OB had agreed to take blood to test my HCG levels. She said that even with the miscarriage, if I had been pregnant yesterday it would show in the blood work. I needed to know if there had ever been a baby. My mind needed that answer.

"Please Angel. You need to stop crying. This isn't good for your wound and it's breaking my heart. Please stop."

Antony had a chair pulled right up beside my bed. He'd stayed next to me during the scan and hadn't left since. I couldn't bear to look at his face, his features so similar to Mattia that it hurt. Staring out the window I hoped the nurse would come in soon and give me more pain meds. Maybe if I took enough I could float away. Not exist. I could feel tears falling down my cheeks and made no effort to stop them.

I was staring out the window, wondering how I was going to get through this when I heard a voice I'd know anywhere.

"Stop crying!"

Mattia's voice was so loud that both Antony and I jumped at the sound.

I turned to look at him. My husband. I'd been worried when I overheard Nico speaking quietly with Antony, telling him that nobody had heard from him since last night. That he had Henry looking for him. With the fact I'd been shot in broad daylight and the shooters not yet found, I was concerned he might be in danger. Running my eyes over him I took in his still wet hair, he'd obviously recently showered, but was dressed as normal, in a sharp grey suit. My eyes screeched to a halt on his neck. Both sides were covered in multiple hickeys. Large bruises lined his throat and I felt my insides crumble. Nico was right. He'd gone to the Club and spent the night with other women.

"How could you?" I knew he wouldn't hear me. No sound came out with my mouthed words. Just pain.

Antony interrupted our staring match with angry words.

"We've been worried about you for hours. Don't come in here yelling at her. Can't you see she's upset."

Mattia's response was unlike how he usually spoke to his little brother.

"I don't really give a shit if she's upset. If she'd followed protocol none of this would have happened. Our mother wouldn't be dead and she wouldn't even be here. So sorry if her tears don't interest me."

At his blunt words I felt my stomach plummet and my quiet crying became loud, painful sobs. Gut wrenching pain on top of the physical pain in my stomach from all this crying. His mother wasn't injured, she was dead. Isabella was gone and he blamed me for her death. I could see it in his face. I felt completely destroyed.

"What the fuck Mattia! You shouldn't have told her like that. It's not her fault that..."

Antony rose from his seat as if he was going to hit his brother.

"You are my brother and I love you Antony but do not tell me how to handle my wife. It is her fault that our mother was shot. A woman who has shown her nothing but kindness and where did that get her. It got her killed."