Page 67 of Undeniable

My heart goes out to my fallen brothers. I wish I could see to returning each of their bodies to their families, but my family is currently bleeding out in another man’s arms.

Quickly, I cover Alessandro’s eyes before running to my car at the end of the driveway, praying that he hasn’t already seen too much. After God knows what him and Tasha have been through though, I doubt he will ever be the same. I know I won’t.

I watch as Tasha’s limp body is carefully laid down in the back seat of a G wagon before her cousin rushes around the car and jumps into the driver’s seat, peeling off the property in the next moment. I quickly buckle Alessandro in the back seat before I do the same.

It probably would have been easier to just leave Alessandro with Luc and the other men, but my son was just taken, clearly beaten and who knows what else. I wasn’t about to leave him or let him out of my sight, not even for a second. Same goes for Tasha.

As I speed down the winding backroads, I can’t help but let my thoughts run wild. Thoughts of how much worse today could have been, about how close I was to losing everything that meant anything to me. Not 12 hours ago I swore to myself that I would never forgive Katerina Natasha Chernoff. Now here I am, panicked and scared to death that because of me, she could die.

Because of me, her and my son were taken. If I had just heard her out, if I would have trusted her even a tenth of the amount that she deserved from me, maybe none of this would have happened.

My self-loathing doesn’t get to last for long before we are screeching into the emergency parking lot at a dinky hospital the next town over. I throw the car into park and run to the back to help Alessandro out. He has unbuckled his seatbelt and jumps into my arms, a terrified look on his face.

“Tasha is gonna be okay, right papa?” His small voice trembles.

I hold my son a little tighter and give him what I hope is a convincing nod.

“Of course. You know how tough she is.”

Alessandro’s eyebrows knit together as he nods with a far off look in his eyes. I glance over to see Tasha being laid out onto a gurney and wheeled into the hospital, her cousin hot on the nurse’s heels, shouting out demands of her being well taken care of if they want to live. I don’t know the guy but if circumstances were different and he wasn’t for all intents and purposes the enemy, I think that I would like him.

I hear things shouted between the doctors as they run with Tasha into the back double doors that indicate it is as far as I can go. I am half tempted to barge back there anyways, but with Alessandro clinging to me desperately, I decide to take a seat in the waiting area instead.

Tasha’s cousin joins me soon and digs his hands into his hair.

“She has to be okay,” he mumbles almost to himself before he looks up at me with a pained look on his face.

I nod, not trusting my composure to stay intact if I try to speak. We sit there for at least 20 minutes before he speaks again.

“I’m Alec, by the way,” he says as he holds out his hand to me.

I shift a sleeping Alessandro in my arms so that I can shake his hand.

“Giovanni.”

He gives me a sad smile and a nod. “Oh, I know all about you Giovanni Cordova. If it wasn’t for you, Katerina would have come with me when I came to get her this last weekend. She wouldn’t be lying on an operating table right now.”

Last weekend? What is he talking about? Has she been in contact with him all this time? His words ring true to what my guilt has been berating me with the moment I knew she was missing. None of this would have happened if I would have just continued denying that there was anything between us.

“But,” he continues. “She never would have gotten her light back if it wasn’t for you either. I knew from the moment I saw her at the Zoo, she had changed. She wasn’t just surviving, she was living, healing. I don’t think you deserve her, but if you make her happy, then you are alright, I guess.”

I arch a brow at him, not really sure what to say or how to take any of what he just said.

“Thanks, I guess?”

He shrugs. “It’s the closest thing to a blessing you are going to get from me. I mean, you are an Italian, a Mariano man to make matters worse.”

I scoff. “Coming from a Chernoff.”

Alec has the decency to wince and shake his head.

“Touché. You know, Kitty’s brother, Victor, and I had big plans for the family. He was supposed to take it over. Vic never got the chance though,” he says as he looks away for a moment. “We all aren’t bad, you know? Some of us were just trapped. Dimitri was a sick fucking bastard and pretty damn powerful. Some of us were just trying to survive, just like Kitty.”

I look at him thoughtfully and nod. I get where he is coming from. That can be a common thing that happens within families. Some don’t truly realize what they vow when they promise to be in it for life, and some get trapped with evil vindictive leaders. When you are in those situations, you are kinda fucked. Blood in, blood out.

It all sinks in for me that this is how my sweet Tasha grew up. She lived in the shadow of a fucking devil of a man, and apparently his successor was no better. I was too blinded by hate for her family in the moment that I didn’t think about how horrible it would have been to live like that. It is amazing that she turned out to be a semi-decent human being, let alone the incredible woman that she is.

One thing is for sure, if Tasha makes it out of this, I will dedicate every day for the rest of my life making it up to her. If she doesn’t, well fuck, I can’t think like that.

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