Adriano Di Lauro
I move from one place to another without leaving the fucking phone. I look at the watch on my wrist one more time and clench my jaw to keep from throwing the damn device against the wall. It's three in the morning, twelve hours since my wife disappeared.
That rat has hidden her very well, but there is no hole so deep that I can not find him.
"I got it", my enemy pronounces and such a statement unnerves me more.
"What are you still doing here?". I hiss through my teeth. My head is exploding and if it weren't for my wife's disappearance I would have already broken his neck.
"I have the location, Di Lauro."
I feel the beating of my heart in my mouth.
How did he find her before me?
'There is no time for this'
"Time is ticking, do you want it or not?"
We get into the sheriff's office and agree on the plan. The subject is waiting for my arrival. He wants to play with us, to be face to face to make his play.
At dawn, we left quickly for the Livorno port and in extreme silence. Just thinking about how she is right now... There is a new feeling unknown to me: fear. I can't lose her, I refuse to.
I jump out of the car to get to the dock and then... I see her.
I look at her from feet to head and a great weight is lifted from me as I see her intact. The feeling doesn't last long, though, for almost instantly I spot the gun above her head.
I approach cautiously until I find the opportunity to take her in my arms.
The rest of the team shows up and I get ready to get her out of there no matter what. However, the idiot comes out with another surprise.
'Explosives'
This is not the end. I'm not going to allow it. Yes, I made a mistake in the past and I will carry it until the last of my days, but I am not going to let go of this new opportunity which life offers me.
Stella already destroyed me once, she won't do it again. I'm not going to give her that power. My grudge against her will never go away and I only hope that her despicable mistress will make her company in hell.
I thought all women were the same by default. I mistreated them, used them as I pleased and underestimated them. I still maintain the same criteria... but Cassandra Reid is the exception to that rule. For her and for my children I am capable of anything. I'm not going to lose them.
I watch the deranged who once called himself my friend pull the trigger and I don't move an inch. I receive the bullet's impact falling to the ground. From afar I hear my wife's voice, but I can't react.
I'm in a daze, a loud ringing filling my ears as the sharp pain in my ribs immobilizes me.
'Wake up', I force myself to open my eyes.
Pietro comes up to me with one of my bodyguards to help me up.
'Fuck, this hurts like hell!'
I think I've broken a rib. However, I don't have much time to process the situation. Boccaccio has taken my wife, who's screams I can hear from my position.
I run to the end to get on the boat already previously prepared.
The gun is still over my wife's head, I'm getting desperate at the distance that separates us and I have an immense desire to blow up this fucking world.
Suddenly, a projectile hits the subject, my wife falls into the sea and the ship explodes at the same time. Everything happens very fast, but luckily, my reflexes act on their own instinct, pulling me into the water.
I swim at full speed, the closer I get, the temperature rises several degrees. I look for her everywhere without being able to find her.
"Cassandra!" I yell her name, but I get no response.
Then her voice comes to my mind like it's an old memory.
'The day before I met you, I had a dream... I was drowning in the depths of the ocean, because I don't know how to swim, and then your face appeared in front of me. You rescued me like a Prince Charming and from that moment on I had a crush.'
'I can't swim,' the words stick in my mind as I dive back down. I circle the yacht madly, the air begins to run out, I have to go back up, but I refuse. My vision blurs, I muffle a roar underwater, and... I finally find her.
I don't lose sight of my target, I grab her under my arms and lead us towards the surface. I feel I revive when I breathe again and with the help of two men we get on the boat.
My wife is unconscious, so I don't hesitate to give her first aid. I place my mouth on hers, sharing more than oxygen with her. The union between us reactivates each of my nerve endings, turns my blood on and scares away the pain.
I pull away from her when I feel the swish of water coming from her as I pat her back to help her get it all out.
"You found me," she murmurs to herself in a barely audible tone.
"I did," I confirm contemplating emerald spheres hidden under her eyelids. "I always will, cara, always."
I don't hesitate to join our lips as I take a hand to the place where our child grows.
They are safe now...
"Aaaaah," she utters a pain-ridden shriek as we return to the dock, rubbing her belly at the same time. "It hurts a lot, Adriano."
Immediately I feel despair again and I don't hesitate to take her in my arms to lead us to the ambulance.
Halfway there, she loses consciousness, paramedics chatter and I rub my hair hard to keep from losing my mind.
It's too much...
'Don't fail me now, cara'
We arrive at 'Palermo' at the speed of light, it seems that we fly over the ground, but they hold me at the entrance of the ER.
I slam my fist into the wall, breaking my knuckles.
'What the hell is this?'
'Why us?'
I imitate the roar of a caged beast and strike nonstop, linking kicks to action.
"Son", my mother's hand on my shoulders gives me a certain warmth, making me react. "I'll tell you the same thing I told her before: I need you to stay strong. Your wife needs you."
I take several deep breaths before following her into the private room set up just for family. However, I find myself with an unpleasant presence.
Fury resurfaces, situation overcomes me and I launch myself against him. However, the man apparently expected my movement and dodged it.
"Do you want to die, Di Lauro?" he blurts out. "I saved your wife's life and this is how you repay me?"
I clench my fists in the air and unload on the first chair I see, kicking it into the air.
He is right, as much as it makes me angry, he is right. He was the one who ended that bastard's life. What kind of lesson is this? Karma? The man I hate most on Earth's peace has saved what I love most.
"Adriano..." Pietro calls me as I once again approach my worst enemy.
"Don't expect me to thank you," I warn. "Whatever you're up to, get it out of your head."
"If I wanted her, I'd have her in my hands a long time ago," he exposes as he flashes a smirk.
I would like to punch him out, but Leah Falco intercedes between us. That has been her mission for the last twenty hours.
"Is the testosterone exposure done yet?" she asks indignantly. "You are idiots," she adds, taking Devil into a corner.
I must investigate since when and how these two understand each other. Clearly there is something between them. Does Cassandra know?
'Cassandra...'
I relive last day again and start shaking uncontrollably.
An emptiness takes over my body while the confusion grows. For the first time in my fucking life I feel... vulnerable, broken inside and not knowing how to handle it.
My best friend stumbles out of the room and without warning, gives me an awkward hug. I remain static for a few seconds, but... I end up accepting such a gesture. I need it, I need someone to remind me of who I am to continue resisting.
He assures everything will be fine. My wife is the strongest woman he has ever known and she will cling to her baby tooth and nail. Like me, she will not give up what is ours, the family we have created.
I have no idea what's happening to me, but unable to contain myself for another second, I burst into strange tears. I can count with my right hand's fingers how many times I have cried. The last one was the day Stella died. I have it stored in memory as if it happened yesterday. It has always been Pietro who has witnessed these moments of weakness. I can't stand him most of the time, but unintentionally, he manages to bring out that repressed part of me.
Every moment lived with my wife comes to my mind, as if I had her in front of me: from the night in the Emergency Room, to reprimand yesterday morning for wanting to go to the office. Maybe I should have ignored her and stayed. I could have avoided all this. Now our fate depends on a thread.
"You should get that checked," he points to the hole in my suit. In response, I go back to being the Man of Steel and raise an undaunted eyebrow. "It could be dangerous..."
"Don't fuck me of, Pietro."
My wife and son are all I can think about right now.
We return to the small room and I start to walk from where I was next, like a wounded animal. I reject stupid conversations and ignore outside world. I'm only interested in hearing two words: "they're fine."
The doctors enter one by one with an overly serious gesture. I watch my wife's gynecologist friend take a deep breath and fucking fear turns into a big beach ball.
My temples throb, I find it hard to breathe, and my stone jaw trembles.
"She has had a threatened abortion..."
Those words are enough to make me fall to my knees on the ground.
'It was my fault'
If I lose them, I will never forgive myself.