❝𝙸'𝚖 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚊 𝚐𝚒𝚛𝚕. 𝙸'𝚖 𝚙𝚘𝚒𝚜𝚘𝚗.❞
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
My head is pounding.
I can feel something wet dripping from my temple.
My body is throbbing with pain.
My neck is hurting too.
I'm too tired to care.
I can hear voices shouting left and right. One male voice is repeating orders to someone. Another is telling people to stay back and keep their distance and let the paramedics do their job. He keeps saying he doesn't want them to get in their way. That they have it all under control.
A moment later, I hear something being ripped apart. Like it was being torn off its hinges. It happened a second time before I feel hands gently move my head forward, putting something around my neck.
"Ma'am," a man's voice says softly. "You're going to be all right. We got you. Can you tell me your name?"
I don't answer.
More voices continue to come and go before I'm pulled out of somewhere and lying down on something hard. Maybe there's a thin layer of foam for padding but that's about it. It's uncomfortable nonetheless.
"Ma'am," the same man as before says again. "Can you tell us your name? Anything to help us identify you? What about your friend who was sitting in the passenger seat?"
How the hell does he not know who I am?
Suddenly, I hear a woman gasp. "Goodness. That's Valentino Morales's eldest daughter!" she whisper-shouts. My guess is it's directed to her co-worker by the tone of her voice.
"Who's Valentino Morales?"
"Valentino Morales," the woman repeats. "The man who owns the entire city. He's the reason why we all get paid really well. He's the Morales Mafia leader. This woman right here is Asteria Morales, his daughter, the next person to take over. Look the point is that she's an important person and Mr. Morales will raise hell when he finds out about this. We need to get her to the hospital and call him."
"Alright," the man answers. "Asteria, you're going to be just fine. Your family will be meeting you at the hospital. Everything is–"
"We need some help over here!" a different man shouts. "We have a male here who seems to be in his mid to late twenties. We can't get him out of the car because of how severe his injuries appear to be."
"That's the last thing I hear before I go unconscious once again.
❛ ━━━━━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━━━━━ ❜
There are a couple of things I notice when I start to stir awake is the scent. It smells so . . . clean, fresh, and weird. Am I in a hospital?
The second thing is a monitor beeping continuously which proves that I am in fact in a hospital. The third is someone holding my hand. I use the little energy I have to turn my head and open my eyes just a bit to see who it is.
It's my mamá. She has my hand in between hers and holds it to her mouth where she's praying for me to wake up. She's telling me how much she loves me and how her life wouldn't be complete without me and my sister. That she'll probably break and lose herself if I don't wake up because she can't ever imagine her life without me in it.
In the distance, I hear my papá yelling and he sounds mad. Which isn't good for anyone who works for him. "I don't fucking care if everyone is still asleep! I am ordering each of you to drop everything and find whoever is responsible for hurting my daughter! And when you do find them, bring them to me alive. I want them to pay for what they did!" He clears his throat, letting his voice return to normal. "Marcus, I want you to send some of my best guards to NYU's campus. Have them guard the classroom Venus is in. Along with that, I want you to send multiple cars as decoys when she leaves her campus and is on her way to the hospital."
A groan leaves me, feeling how dry my mouth and throat are.
Mamá notices and lets out a small gasp. "Oh my god, Asteria, you're awake." She squeezes my hand and gently kisses my cheek. "You don't know how worried I've been. Valentino!"
"Mamá," I whisper. "Not so loud please."
"I'm sorry, baby." She kisses my hand. "I'll be right back." Mamá then leaves the room, walking up to my papá. When Papá sees her, he ends his call right away and listens to what she has to say. I'm assuming it has to do about me.
It didn't take long for the two of them to rush back into my room. The first thing Papá did was bring his forehead to my temple and tell me the same thing that my mamá said to me. "Is there anything I can do for you?" he asks after kissing my forehead.
"Water would be great," I mumble. Papá nods and turns to the counter, grabbing a cup and pouring water inside. He sticks a straw inside before bringing it toward me, guiding the straw into my mouth. I thank him after motioning him to pull it away and look around the room. "Where's Venus?"
"She's still on campus taking her first midterm of the day," Mamá answers. "Your papá called your sister's professors and asked to let her take her exams at a later day."
Of course, he would do something like that.
The professors wouldn't even be able to say no because of who my papá is.
And of course, he would send more men and decoy cars to bring my sister to the hospital safely after what happened.
Wait, a minute. What did happen to me?
The last thing I remember was Christian slapping his arm in front of me, trapping me against the seat.
"Where's Christian?" I ask. Mamá and Papá exchange glances but continue to stay quiet. "Papá, where's Christian? What the hell happened to us?"
"Angelita, you were in an accident," Mamá says.
"No, I know that. What I meant to ask is how did it happen?"
"Two cars hit the one you and Christian were in," Papá begins. "The first hit the passenger side which means Christian took most of the impact." As soon as he says that, I feel my heart drop. My mamá notices–probably from the monitor–and squeezes my hand. "The second car hit the right side of the backseat."
"They must have been targeting me," I whisper, feeling it all click into place in my head. "They know I always sit either in the passenger seat or the backseat."
Papá nods. "We're predicting they planned it so the left side of the backseat would hit a pole. I haven't seen the damage but Marcus tells me that the pole went through the back left window, shattering it. If you were sitting there, it wouldn't have been pretty." He pauses. "Where were you last night? Because they must've known your location if they were able to find you in the city. The only thing they couldn't have known was you driving instead of him."
"Um . . ." I trail off, wondering how I should tell him I spent the night with Christian. In the state forest. In a car.
Lucky for me, I was saved by the bell.
The bell was Venus who rushed into the room, practically out of breath.
"Oh thank god you're okay!" she says, wrapping an arm around my head and giving me a soft hug. "Do you want to know the heart attack you gave me when my midterm started? My pulse was racing and I was on the brink of crying that I had to step out for a few minutes. I pulled it together to finish my exam but still." She leans in, hugging me again and whispering, "And Christian?"
I shake my head and shrug my shoulders when she pulls back.
"I'm sure he's okay."
He better be okay.
❛ ━━━━━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━━━━━ ❜
It's the middle of the night.
I've been awake for close to an hour.
And now I can't go back to sleep.
The only source of entertainment I have is watching my heartbeat on the monitor along with the noise it lets out.
I can't even listen to conversations between doctors and nurses like on TV shows because Papá cleared out the entire wing we're staying in.
Speaking of my papá, he and my mamá are currently sleeping on a pullout couch while Venus is sleeping on an extra hospital bed a nurse brought in. They didn't want to leave me alone nor did they agree on who wanted to stay with me for the first watch because they all wanted to do it.
I almost woke Venus up because I wanted someone to talk to but I decided against it when I remembered she still has to take her midterm exams. So now I have nothing to do other than listen to the clock tick and wait until I fall asleep on my own.
However, that's not going to happen.
Rolling onto my side, I see a wheelchair by my bed and get an idea. I sit up, take a deep breath, and let it out as pain passes through my body. Throughout the day, I've gone on trips to the bathroom because I refused to let them put a catheter in me. Somehow, I got myself in the wheelchair and adjusted myself so I was sitting comfortably before releasing the wheelchair brakes and rolling out of the room.
As I passed some of my papá's men standing guard outside the room, I sent them a warning glare. A glare that translates to them not saying anything to anyone. Especially my papá. He may be their boss but they are just as scared of me as they are of him.
Reaching Christian's room, I roll inside but stop in my tracks when I see someone–the figure of a woman–sitting at the edge of his bed. My eyes narrow at her and ask, "Who are you?"
The woman spares me a glance and turns on the lamp which allows me to get a better look at her. She has long brunette hair and green eyes. She's wearing what looks like a beige shirt and black sweatpants. A tattoo on her neck catches my eye which is a red dragon. Her left arm has a sleeve of tattoos. All ranging from flowers to objects to animals. "I'm Alina," she responds.
Her voice . . . I've heard it before.
"Alina?" I question. She gives me a soft smile and nods. "Wait, how do you know Christian?"
"I'm his friend. His best friend actually. I've known this idiot since we were children. You must be his client and the woman he's been crushing on."
I laugh. "Christian has been crushing on me?" I wheel closer toward the bed. "Wait, are you Alina Nalesso? Like the CEO of AXN Angels and Sinners?"
Her brows go up. "You know my companies," she says, pointing a finger at me.
I'm fangirling over here.
The sound of two women chatting back and forth woke me up.
For a second, I think that I'm dreaming or I must've left the TV on. But that thought turns to stone when I realize whose voices I'm hearing.
I crack my eyes open to see my girlfriend and best friend talking to each other. That's when it hits me that this isn't good. The most chaotic human being meeting my fucking girlfriend? Someone give me strength.
I already know that Milani is not going to be a good influence on Asteria. Either that or they'll team up against me if Asteria doesn't kill her first because of our past.
I swallow the remaining saliva left in my mouth, keeping me from going dry before muttering, "What the fuck."
I should have thought twice before saying that because as soon as I did, both women turned toward me and glared at me. "Shut up!" They yell.
My mouth clamps shut, clearly surprised at what just happened.
Both women then gasp.
"Oh my god, Christian," Asteria says as she grabs my hand and brings it to her lips, kissing it. "I was so scared that you wouldn't wake up. Are you okay?"
"Other than the obvious? I am, cariño."
"Obviously he would be okay. He's Christian," Milani adds and looks at me. "Although, I will say that you look horrible."
"I hate you." I glare at her. "How did you get here?
"Aw, I love you too, Christiana." Milani pouts. "And I was already in New York for a business meeting but I canceled it when I saw you getting pulled out of a car. I dropped everything and searched for the hospital you were taken to."
"It seems like you two have gotten acquainted." I shake my head, ignoring the nickname. "What happened?" In under five minutes, Asteria tells me everything I need to know. According to her, two cars hit us, getting us into a terrible accident. She believes that whoever it was were targeting her which is why the cars hit the right side.
In a way, I'm a little grateful that I let her drive us back because if I didn't, she would be in worse shape than she is now. If it were up to me, I'd rather be in a worse condition than her.
"Now that that's settled," Asteria begins. "How could you not tell me you're best friends with the Alina Nalesso?!"
"You know her?"
"Know her?" she asks. "I love her! I love her work! Did you know I own every piece of lingerie she's designed and released? Including the one you took off me last night?"
"Oh, shit," Milani mutters before she erupts into laughter. Not even laughter. It's more of a cackle. "I'm sorry. I was not expecting that."
"Jesus Christ. I sometimes wonder why I'm friends with you, Milani."
"Milani?" Asteria questions.
"My middle name," Milani answers. "I didn't want it getting released to the public when I launched my first collection of clothes and lingerie so I went with my first and last."
"Interesting." Asteria nods. "Well–"
"Asteria?" Valentino asks as he stands underneath the doorframe. I use the little energy I have to turn my head and watch him enter the room. "Angelita, what are you doing here?"
"I had to see that Christian was okay because you didn't answer me when I asked earlier."
He wipes his face and walks behind Asteria, grabbing the handles. "And who are you?"
"Alina Nalesso," Milani holds her hand out which he takes. "I've been friends with Christian since we were little. It's good to meet you, Mr. Morales."
"Likewise." Valentino releases the brakes of the wheelchair Asteria is sitting in. "It's time for you to go back to bed, angelita. You can continue talking to him in the morning."
"Fine," Asteria grumbles.
"So," Milani says once we're left alone. "Do you want to tell me how your forbidden relationship with your boss's daughter came to be, Christiana?"
Lord give me strength to not gouge out her eyeballs.
❛ ━━━━━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━━━━━ ❜
𝟬𝟳/𝟮𝟲/𝟮𝟯
𝗜'𝗺 𝘀𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘂𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆'𝘀 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿. 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁, 𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲𝗱.
𝗢𝗻 𝗮 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗔𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗶 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗵𝗲𝗿.
[ 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 : 𝟮𝟱𝟮𝟯 ]
— 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗴.