The IV on my hand stung and the sound of the monitors pushed me over the edge. I could barely feel my eyebrow and lower lip, and the bruises all over me made it hard to move. Thankfully, I could move around, but some of us weren't that lucky...
Denise and Mateo were inside Nathan's hospital room. One of Leonardo's men had reached him and stabbed him under his vest, and now he was fresh out of a surgery, resting inside that room. Blake and Xavier were supporting each other outside another surgery room, where Xiomara was being treated. She had a concussion and a fractured collabone, plus the two bullets she received were being removed.
My Gabriella was also in surgery fighting for her life. Leonardo had shot her knee, but with all the extra pressure she applied and all the blood she lost, doctors were afraid she'd lose the ability to feel her leg. Then, to finish it off, second degree burns on the right side of her body.
Sitting inside my empty hospital room felt depressing and stressful. If I had been fast enough, maybe she wouldn't have been caught in the middle of the explosion. But it was too late.
My mind kept going back to the moment during and after the explosion. It wasn't planned, but the van exploded a few seconds after it was set on fire.
Aurora died in the act, but Leonardo's reaction was the one that left me to rethink everything. Once he saw what happened and heard his mother's screams right after she died, I saw him fall down to his knees, crying like no man had cried before. That man made me realize he had nothing else to lose except his mother. It led him to the point where he grabbed a piece of glass and slit his throat right there, in front of us.
Before that, when I began to beat him up, the words he told me went unnoticed by me at that moment, but now I just began to process them all.
"I'm the rightful heir. You all abandoned me."
What did he mean by heir... He's not related to any of us as far as I know. Hell, I never freaking knew he existed until the time when Gabriella came with Luciano and Isabella.
Speaking of Isabella, her voice was heard and made me perk up from my seat. The door burst open with her, whose wide and worried eyes were full of tears.
"Where is she?!" She panicked as she hurried over to me and took in my state. "And Xiomara- Nathan?!"
"Nathan's resting, and Xiomara and Gabriella are still in surgery..." I sighed.
"Hey, man," Luciano greeted after he walked in and examined me. "Your mother came along."
My shoulders stiffened when a few seconds later my mother walked in with a sympathetic look on her face.
"Angelo..." She cooed as she sat beside me on the bed and gently caressed my bruised cheek.
"Can you give us a moment?" I asked Isabella and Luciano, who then stepped out of the room at my request.
"Are you okay?" I asked my mother after seeing the bandage of her arm.
"I'm okay. Don't worry about me, love." She smiled reassuringly. It didn't help with the guilt I felt and my racing thoughts.
After a moment, she took in the stitches on my lip and the ones on my eyebrow. "Do they hurt much?"
"A little, but it doesn't matter..." I sighed. No pain compared to the one I felt when it came to the fact Gabriella and Xiomara were still in there, unconscious, with open wounds.
"Hey, she's going to be alright..." I smiled at my mother's attempt of comforting me. She had moved further up the bed until she was sitting right beside me. Her arm draped over my bare shoulders and pulled me to her chest.
"I feel like it was my fault, mom..." I muttered after sliding further down the bed so I could lay my head on her lap.
"It is not, Angelo... no one knew there was going to be an explosion of that magnitude..." She replied, gently running her fingers through my hair.
I sighed and allowed myself to feel my mother's warmth. All it took was one glance up and I felt better. The soft gazing of her blue eyes brought a sense of comfort her words couldn't offer.
"Mom?"
"Yes?"
"Was I always an only child...?" I hesitantly asked since Leonardo's words wandered my head again and took away all the peace I felt for a moment.
"Yeah, you were my little miracle. That's why I named you Angelo, because you reminded me of an Angel..." She smiled down at me, with her short blonde curls falling over her forehead. "I was supposed to be infertile, yet I got you..."
"And my father...?"
Guilt washed over her as she swallowed and glanced aside. "Your father..."
"Your father wasn't too loyal to me... I'd usually hear from the maids that he had another one around, but I never found out who it was..." She sighed. "As far as I know, we only had one son, and that's you."
I decided to stop asking questions and gave my sore throat a break. It hurt to swallow and my muscles ached.
. . .
Somehow, I ended up falling asleep by my mother's side. I was exhausted, and all the stress made it worse. It became frustrating once I realized none of the surgeries were done.
Until...
"Oh my God, Xiomara!" Xavier's voice was heard outside the door to my hospital room.
With the help of my mother, I stood up and walked out. One nurse had come to remove the IV from my hand, and I was free to walk and go wherever I pleased.
As soon as I stepped out into the hallway my eyes landed on Xiomara, who was being transported to her room. Xavier and Blake stopped one of the doctors, though.
"How was it?" Xavier asked with a hint of hope in his tone.
"The surgery was a success. She will need lots of rest. Also, whenever she wakes up, I'd suggest you take it easy since she might be a bit disoriented." He replied, patting their shoulders.
"Okay." Blake sighed.
Before the doctor could go, I called out. "Wait, and Gabriella?"
"There were some complications with her knee and she might be needing temporary crutches. As for the burns, we treated them and they will heal with some time."
"Is she okay, then?" Isabella asked as she approached us.
"Yeah. She'll be taken to her room in a bit."
It only took a few minutes before the surgery room's doors opened and Gabriella was escorted out in a hospital stretcher by doctors. She was unconscious, but the burns on her body looked like they had been taken care of and some of her wounds stitched up.
I followed them all the way over to Gabriella's room, but a nurse prevented me from entering her room.
"Sir, she can't have visits yet."
"No, please. Just let me see her, just this once. I need to-"
"I understand, but I don't make the rules. Once the doctor allows it, I will let you know."
I sighed and ran my hands through my hair as I looked through the crystal. She looked so fragile...
"I'm going to go check on the others..." Isabella muttered before walking a bit further down the large and cold hall where Nathan and Xiomara's rooms were.
I ended up staring ahead at the doctors, who settled Gabriella in her new room. She was still unconscious, but appeared more alive than the other two did. Her skin wasn't as pale as Xiomara's or Nathan's.
Sadly, one of the three had to be ressurected. Xiomara's heart had failed when we brought her in, but thankfully the doctors managed to save her.
Nathan could barely walk, but was the only one that was conscious. Then, later on, he passed out with the sedatives the nurses injected him with.
When I came in with Gabriella, my arms were soaked with her blood. She had hit her head when she fell right after the explosion and it opened a cut on her forehead. Thankfully, it wasn't a concussion like the one Xiomara had.
She had gone to help Gabriella and Mateo, but instead that bastard survived the explosion of Denise's car and attacked her.
This wasn't the end I imagined...
. . .
A few hours later, I sat with everyone inside the cafeteria, eating. My mother had brought clothes for each one of us in a large bag, so we managed to change out of the scrubs the hospital had offered us. Yes, we all had stitches and bruises here and there, but we were the only ones in the best condition.
"Sir?" A nurse made me look up from my food and my eyebrows furrowed at the soft smile on her face.
"Yes?" I deadpanned, aware of the fact everyone else in the table was now listening.
"Miss Gabriella just woke up. She's asking for you-"
As soon as I heard her, I didn't even let her finish and swallowed the last bite of food I had in my mouth and stood up.
The way up to the third floor felt like a whole eternity, but as I finally reached it and opened Gabriella's door, I let out a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding. Her one pair of beautiful green eyes lit up as soon as they landed on me.
The next thing I know is that I had pulled her into my arms and buried my face in the crook of her neck. I heard her chuckle under her breath and felt her soft lips press against my cheek. It hurt to make such movements, but it was a good kind of pain.
"Are you okay, Angelo?" Gabriella asked as she softly stroked my tense back.
"Yeah, are you?"
"My leg hurts like a bitch." She grinned as we pulled away and she patted her thigh.
"I don't doubt it, Gabriella." I sighed as I took in her bandaged leg and the stitches she had on her arm and face.
"What happened back there..." She muttered, eyeing me with confusion on her face while gently feeling her burn marks.
"After you threw the lighter, the van exploded. Aurora died almost instantly, but the flames caught up to you. Had to rush you, Xiomara, and Nathan here. She had a concussion, fractured collarbone, and received two bullets. Nathan got stabbed," I explained, trying to make it short for her.
"How are they...?"
"We lost Xiomara on our way here, but we were in time so the doctors could resurrect her. She got out of surgery at the same time you did, she's resting now. Same as Nathan."
"Did he get away, then...?" She asked, referring to Leonardo by the way her jaw clenched and tone became a bit more stronger.
"Leonardo, he..." I hesitated, and grabbed ahold of her hands. "He was a mess. After the explosion, he burst out crying and screaming, until he grabbed a glass and slit his throat."
Gabriella's eyes widened and a soft mumble was all I heard. "He... killed himself?"
"Yeah."
Her grip on my hands tightened and she began to seem puzzled, so I lifted one of them and kissed the back of it reassuringly. She seemed frustrated, and I couldn't blame her.
"What's going on, love?" I asked, since I couldn't bear the sad look on her face.
"If he's dead, then we'll never get to find out the truth..." She mumbled, with her gaze dropping to my hands.
"Actually, you know that woman Mateo and Blake kidnapped? She was Leonardo's therapist."
"So... maybe she knows the truth?"
"Exactly." I concluded.
Then, Gabriella reached for my arm and made an attempt at pulling me, but winced. I just smiled and slid up so I could lay beside her. She leaned against me and interlocked her bruised fingers with mine.
She's okay. She's safe...
I softly kissed the crown of her head and held her close just as Isabella walked in.
She hurried over to Gabriella and pulled her in for a gentle hug. Isabella was going to say something, like argue, but Gabriella raised a finger and stopped her.
"I'm okay. Promise. Just don't come scolding me like dad did." Her words beat the triggered expression on Isabella's face.
"Just feel like I could've helped, instead of being inside that useless base in Rome." Isabella huffed. "Now, look at you. You all look like you got run over."
I couldn't help but chuckle at the way she described our state and glanced down in guilt and remourse. "Hey, we're alive. So, we're okay."
"You're right..." She half-smiled.
Now, if we all recover, we can go seek the truth behind it all and go home.