I wake up to big arms around me; I flutter my eyes open and see that I'm still in Irene's office. Voices were muffled but I could tell Irene was talking to Matheo as he was holding me. I looked over and saw Isabella sitting at Irene's desk, staring at her laptop. "I am so sorry, princess." Matheo mumbled as he kissed the top of my head. "Not your fault," I mumbled, and he froze as she peaked his head around and looked into my eyes.
"Hey when did you wake up?" He asked, his voice soft. I sighed. "A few minutes ago. Matheo, I'm sorry about your apartment." I mumble as I close my eyes and rub my temples. I had a growing headache. "Don't worry about my apartment. Me and Isabella were looking for a new place, anyway." I chuckled, "no you weren't. You just moved here." He sighed, "we did just move here, but we were thinking of getting a bigger place, with you." I froze, and I looked at Irene, who was smiling like this was the greatest thing in the world. "Isn't it a little fast?" I say and he kissed the top of my head as he nuzzles his face into my neck.
He pulled me closer and kissed my neck softly. "Not for me." He mumbled. "But what if you get bored with me? Or find me annoying? Or too much than you bargained for or-" a rough crash of his lips on mine cut me off on mine. When he pulled away, he left me breathless. "you talk too much, princess," he said as he kissed the tip of my nose. I giggle a little and I could see Irene smiling in the corner of my eye. "Let's get a place together." He said, and I took a deep breath. Was I ready to get a place with him?
"Stop being scared, just do it." Irene said, and I chuckled a little. "Okay, let's get a house together." A big grin spread across his face as he bent down and kissed me. He nuzzled my nose with his. My phone ruined the moment as it started ringing. I groaned as I reached over to the end of the couch and grabbed my phone. It was an unsaved number. "Hello?" I say, "Is this Andrea Russo?" "Yes, who is this?" "This is the New York police department. We need you to come in and go over some details about your statement." "Oh, okay when?" "As soon as you can," I let out a long sigh, "okay, I'll be there in 20 minutes." "Okay, we will be expecting you, Ms. Russo."
I hang up the phone and cuddle into Matheos arms. "Who was that?" Irene asked. I rub the bridge of my nose. "The cops, they want to go over details of my statement." Matheo pulled me closer to him. As much as I wanted to stay there, I needed to get ready to go. I peel myself out of his arms, but he kept his hands on my hips and tightened his grip, like if he let go I would disappear. I started looking around for my shoes. "You got here barefoot," Irene told me, and I gave her a confused look.
Matheo tightened his grip on me, "Matheo brought you some shoes" she said as she turned around and handed me a pair of flats. I slipped them on and stood up, Matheo right behind me. "I have to go Irene, thank you for everything" I opened my arms, and she pulled me into a hug. "You are one strong girl. The strongest I have ever met." I gave a soft chuckle, "it's all an act" I whisper as I pull away and walkout the door. Matheo called for Isabella and she hopped up and followed up, her nose still stuck in the phone.
I walked towards my car, but Matheo pulled me closer to him. "We'll come back for it. You have almost got taken from me twice. I'm keeping to your side like glue." He whispered as he opened the passenger door for me. Isabella climbed into the back and I sat down in the passenger seat. He drove us to the police station, which was about a 15 minute drive. Once we got out of the car, I saw a man being dragged by 5 police officers into the building. He was kicking and screaming about killing them for touching him. "Hey Matheo, maybe you should go take Isabella somewhere else. I'll call you when I'm ready to be picked up."
I could tell he didn't want to leave me, but his eyes went back to the man who was now on the floor, still screaming. He took in a deep breath as he pulled me into a tight hug and kissed the top of my head. "The second you are done you call me okay?" I nod as I pulled him into me. "Promise.". As I pulled away, I gave Isabella a hug before walking into the police station. There were people passed out on benches in teh waiting area. Some of them smelled like they haven't had a shower is weeks. I went up to the lady at the front desk. She was muscular, with black hair pulled back into a tight bun.
She looked up at me and then back down at her phone. "If your husband is in the drunk tank, sigh the paper and we will get you back there as soon as possible." She said, pointing to a clip bored on the front desk. I cleared my throat. "My name is Andrea. I was told to come down here to go over my statement." She looked back up and put her phone away. "Right sorry. I'll let them know you're here." She picked up her phone and dialed a number. "She's here," she said before hanging up. A few minutes later, a police officer came to the front desk. "Andrea?" She asked and I nod, "this way please" she led me past the front desk and past a bunch of other desks with computers and phones on it.
She led me to one in the back and she sat down and pulled out a chair for me to sit beside her. "Okay, now I need you to tell me what's going on. First, it was your exboyfriend twice, now your current boyfriend's ex. What is going on?" I scoff. "I don't know. I must have pissed off the universe or something." I say and she nods like she doesn't believe me. "Did you provoke them? Why would you get attacked 3 times in 2 months?" "I don't know!" I shout and people started turning towards us.
I put my head in my hands. "I don't know," I said again calmly. "Andrea, it just doesn't seem likely to get attacked 3 times in 2 months. Tell me, are you in trouble? Are you trying to get the police to dig into your life?" My jaw dropped. She had to be kidding. "Are you fucking kidding me? You think I faked being attacked? To get your attention? My best friend fucking died! I almost died! Twice! Instead of accusing me, how about you do your fucking job and protect the fucking people of New York!" I shout as I stood up and stormed out of the building, leaving every cop staring at me.
I pull out my phone and texted Matheo, "come get me. You will not believe what the cops just asked me." I put my phone away and wait for him to text back. 5 minutes go by. Then 10, and once 15 minutes go by, I decided to call him. It went straight to voicemail. Atleast 20 police officers rush out of the building and into their cars. They took off down the highway, in the direction Matheo and Isabella went. My heart stopped beating and fell into my stomach. I pulled out the find my iPhone app and track Matheos phone. He was off the side of the road, just sitting there in the grass. It was only 3 miles away from where I was.
I took off my shoes and started sprinting down the road, avoiding traffic as much as I could. Please don't be you, please be okay. I kept saying over nad over again in my head once I saw the police lights; I dug my heels into the road and bolted to the site. A police man stopped me. "Ma'am, you can't go past the tape." I looked over his shoulder and my breath got caught in my throat as tears welled up in my eyes. In a ditch was Matheos car flipped upside down with a huge dent in the side like someone crashed into them.
"Matheo." I mumbled as tears fell down my cheek. "Ma'am, are you okay?" The officer asked. I barely registered what he said. "There was a man and a little girl in that car. Are they okay?" I asked, my voice shaking. He just looked at me. "Do you know the people who were in that car?" I nod, "it was my boyfriend and his daughter, well our daughter I- I don't know what she is to me yet." I ramble and he gave me a slight nod. "They transported the male to Harlem Hospital with the little girl. She looked okay, but he was banged up pretty bad. Do you need a ride there?"
He took in my messy form. I nod, "yeah" I mumble and he ducks under the tape and leads me to his car. He turned on his lights and we sped down the streets to the hospital. My feet started to sting, I looked at them and saw they were bleeding with glass in them. When we get there, it hurt to walk on them. With the adrenaline gone, they hurt like hell. The officer saw me walking slowly, and he picked me up bridal style. I felt like I couldn't breathe. Were they dead? Were they gone? I felt my heart breaking at the thought. The officer sat me down on a bed and called over a nurse.
She kept asking my name, but I just kept picturing Matheo and Isabella. Smiling, giggling in the kitchen, cooking breakfast, running around playing tag, cuddling with me, watching a movie with me, walking around in Italy, being my family. I broke into sobs at the thought of losing them. I couldn't take losing them. I loved them with everything I had. They were my entire world, and everything around me was shattering into pieces. I didn't even register them pulling out the glass; I look down and see a doctor wrapping my foot. "Hey welcome back," she said, giving me a soft smile.
So the car crash victims that just came in are your family? I nod, unable to speak. "Okay, well, your boyfriend is in surgery. He had multiple abdominal injuries, he took the most force, he shielded the little girl with his body and took everyone. It's a miracle he is alive, but the doctors are doing their very best to keep him alive. The little girl had some internal bleeding, and she was in surgery. I will be out to update you, you can wait in the waiting room. She showed me to a room full of people on their phone sitting in chairs. A woman and her kid were arguing over what to do about someone. A little 4-year-old was tugging on his dad's arm to get their attention.
A woman was talking obnoxiously loud on the phone, and my head was pounding. But atleast my feet didn't hurt anymore. I pulled out my phone, but my vision blurred as the headache got worse. I pushed on either side of my head, trying to make it stop. After a few minutes, it subsided. I called Irene and told her to meet me at the hospital; I didn't explain why. I sat in the far corner waiting for something, anything. It felt like hours had passed before I saw Irene walk in. I jumped to my feet and collapsed into her arms, sobbing. She held me close. "Andrea, what happened?"
"Matheo and Isabella got into a car crash. They are both in surgery and I don't know if they are going to make it." I say through choked sobs. She pulled me closer. "Oh Andrea, I am so sorry." "I can't lose my family when I just got them." I say as she helped me to a chair and sat me down. She kept hugging me until I calmed down. The same doctor from before came out. "So Isabella is okay. But her little body went through so much trauma, we had to put her in a medically induced coma to let her body heal. She will be in a coma for a couple of weeks. Matheo is still in surgery and the doctors say it is going well."
I nod, unable to form words. She gave me a soft smile before walking away. I shout, "can I see Isabella?" She stopped and turned around. "Yes, right this way." Me and Irene rushed after her and she led up to a room on the 2nd floor and the door had the numbers "106" beside it on the wall. She opens the door, and I stood there frozen. Isabella was lying on a bed in a hospital gown. She had a tube down her throat and an IV in her arm, a feeding tube in her nose, wire stuck to her chest. A machine beeping each time her heart beat in her tiny little chest. Tears filled my eyes. No matter what, she was my little girl. I never expected to become a mom so quickly, but she was mine, my little girl.
I walked over to her bed. "Can she hear me?" "She may, but she could also just hear a distorted voice. We don't know for sure." I nod as I bit my lip. I sat in a chair next to the bed as I took her tiny little hand in mine. She was so cold and stiff. "Why is she so cold? Can we get more blankets in here?" I ask, and the doctors nods as she walks away. She returns a few minutes later with some more blankets and covers Isabella up. Her leg was in a cast. I'm guessing it's broken. I moved a piece of hair out from her face and kissed her forehead. She felt warmer. The doctor was gone, and it was just us 3 in there.
I stayed there by her side until I heard a bed being rolled by; I look to see Matheo laying there unconscious. He was wearing a hospital gown like Isabella and a tube was in his throat along with an IV, but he didn't have nearly as much wires as Isabella. "Irene, will you stay with Isabella?" I ask and she nods, taking my place and grabbing Isabella's hand. I walk out into the hallway and their nowhere to be found. I walk down and stop as I hear breaks click into place. I turn to see Matheo lying there with doctors and nurses surrounding his bed. He was right next to Isabella.
The doctors saw me and asked who I was. "I'm his girlfriend." I say and they nod, "well your boyfriend sustained many broken bones, some internal bleeding, but we fixed it all. He is still sedated but we expect him to make a full recovery and wake up in a couple hours." I nod, unable to form words as tears well up in my eyes, staring at him. So helpless and hurt, my heart was breaking in two. I sat by his bed and took his hand in mine, the heart monitor beeping beside my ear. I felt a little dizzy, so I laid my head down on the bed beside him. I must have dozed off because I woke up to someone playing with my hair.
I look up to see Matheo staring at me, smiling. Hair was sticking to my face from the tears. He wiped the hair from my face and swiped the tears from my cheeks with his thumb. "How you feeling?" I ask and he grunts like a caveman, "could have been worse. The doctor came in when you were sleeping and told me about Isabella." I nod. "they said she's gonna be okay," I say as tears form in my eyes. He cupped my face in his hands. "Hey what's wrong?" I shake my head as I stand up and pull away from him. "What happened?" I say through choked tears.
"We were on our way back to the police station after getting your text. When this jackass came bulldozing out of the intersection and slammed into the side of the car, I tried to cover Isabella but-" His voice cracked, I handed him teh water beside the bed. "Without you covering her, she wouldn't have survived." I said, as I wiped a tear away. I felt like such a crybaby. He looked me up and down and stopped on my wrapped feet. "What happened?" He asked and I shake my head, "nothing, don't worry about it."
I leaned in and kiss him hard; he wrapped his fingers in my hair. Before I could stop myself, I blurted out the one thing I was scared to say. "I love you Matheo." He pulled back and was scanning my face for any doubt. He smiled when he found none. "The thought of losing you and Isabella was suffocating." I said as I pressed my forehead against his. He pulled me into him and I curled up into a ball as I laid my head on his chest. "Is this not hurting you?" I ask and he kissed the top of my head as he gave me a little squeeze, "no princess. We're not going anywhere."
I bit my lip to keep the tears from flowing. "I can't lose the only people I care about, Matheo. We have to leave New York." I mumble and he was silent. I knew he had just moved here, but he got hurt, too. We had to move. "Okay." He said as he kissed the top of my head. The machine started beeping really loud and the heart monitor flat lined. I quickly jump up. Matheo was lying there as if he was asleep. "Doctor! Somebody help!" I scream in the hallway. A team of doctors and nurses rush in with a cart. "Get her out of here!" A doctor told a nurse, pointing at me.
They put paddles on his chest and grabbed paddles. "Charge it 270," the doctor said. "Clear," he said and everyone back away as he pressed the paddles to his chest. He jolted up, but the heart monitor kept flat lining. "Matheo!" I cried out as a nurse slowly pushed me out of the room. A nurse was on top of him doing chest compressions. The doctor shocked him and he jolted up again before they closed the door. "Matheo," I mumbled as tears spilled from my eyes, my legs buckled, and I dropped to my knees.
My stomach started hurting really bad, and blood dripped down my leg. I scream out in pain as a nurse came rushing over. I don't remember how, but I got into a hospital room with a doctor looking between by legs trying to stop the bleeding. "What is happening?!" I ask, and the doctor looked at me before looking back down between my legs to stop the bleeding. "You started bleeding heavily. I am trying to save your baby. How far along are you?" "I'm not pregnant," I say and the nurses froze for a moment, "ma'am you have a sac with a baby growing in you. I promise you are pregnant."
"Am I having a miscarriage?" "No, your placenta and sac are intact, your bleeding from something else. We have to put you under now." A nurse puts a mask over my face and I could hear their voice start to distort before everything goes black.
I wake up in the hospital room with nurses gossiping and doctors talking, "hey your awake." The doctor from before said. "My baby, what happened?" The doctor gave me a small smile, "your baby is okay. Turns out you just had a really heavy start to your period, and the pain in your stomach was cramps that got worse when combined with stress." I nod, so my baby was okay. I was okay. "Matheo, is he okay?!" They nod. "Your boyfriend's heart arrested but is stable for now. I would like you to rest before going anywhere."
I nod as soon as they left. Irene came rushing in, wrapping me in a hug. "oh my god I was so worried about you," she said. I didn't feel like crying or running away. It was like I was numb. Almost losing Matheo, and Isabella, and the babu growing inside of me made things really clear. "Irene, I have to leave." I told her. She pulled back and looked at me. "What?" I shake my head, "getting close to Matheo and Isabella was a mistake. Almost losing them nearly destroyed me. I can't put myself in that position again. I have to leave."
She just stared at me. "Forever?" I shake my head, "no, maybe I don't know. I just need to leave. Can you grab me some paper and a pen?" She nods as she reached into her bag and hands me a notebook and a pen. "I'm pregnant, but Matheo already has enough on his plate. I'm not sure he ever wants another kid, Irene. I just need to leave." I tell her as I started scribbling in the notepad.
"Matheo, I really hope you get better, Isabella, too. I loved being a part of your little family, more than you would ever know. You have showed me what it feels like to be loved, to be held by someone, to trust someone. You have showed me a whole other world and I love you. I always will love you, but seeing them try to bring you back to life tore me apart, and I felt like I was dying inside. Seeing Isabell lying in a hospital bed with wires and tubes in her makes my knees want to buckle. I just opened up to you, and then I almost lost you. If I lose you or Isabella, I won't survive it. Please move on and find someone less complicated and stronger than me. I'm sorry Matheo. Thank you for giving me the best 6 months of my life. I can never repay you for what you have done. I love you. Please find someone else. Tell Isabella that I love her, that I will always love her."
I ripped the page out of the notebook and folded it into a square; I wrote Matheos' name on it and handed it to Irene. She was frowning. "you don't have to do this." Irene said as I hopped out of bed and put on my clothes that were sitting in a chair beside my bed. "Irene, you have always been my mother, but I'm not strong enough to lose the only family I ever had. I won't survive it." I threw my hair into a messy bun and threw on my flats. My heart was breaking in two. Leaving them is the hardest thing I have ever had to do, but I knew they would find someone less complicated and less baggage to love. I knew that one more loss and I would break.
"Tell him I'm sorry," I said as I started to walk out. "Wait," Irene said as she grabbed my arm, "atleast tell me where you are going." I sighed. "Avalon California always has houses available. I can work from there." I said as I walked out and to Isabella's room. I kissed the top of her head and tears threatened to burst from my eyes. I walk over to see Matheo still sleeping. I walk over and take his form in. His chest and side looked sticky from the patches they put on him. I walk over and kiss his forehead, a tear slipped and dropping on his head. I wipe it away before walking out.
I see Irene staring at the entrance to Isabella's room. "Please take care of them." I say as I walk out of the hospital and drive home. I knew in the long run this was for the best. I put a hand on my belly and a small smile crept onto my cheeks. I can tell Matheo about the baby later, but right now I needed a stable home and life to raise a baby. One where I wasn't constantly a burden to someone else, or where I wouldn't lose the people I love. I needed a fresh start.