Page 68 of Undeniable

Chapter Twenty Six

Tasha

The first thing that I notice is the sterile smell surrounding me, burning my nose. The next is the faint beeping in the background that is quickly getting on my nerves. My head feels heavy and when my eyes flutter open, I see nothing but white. White ceiling, white walls and…Gio?

His eyes are intently trained on me, his face flooding with relief as he rushes from his seat to my side. His large hand engulfs one of mine as he brings it to his lips.

“Holy fuck, Tasha. You scared the hell out of me, baby.”

My brows pull together in confusion as I look at him closely. There isn’t an ounce of contempt or anger on his face like there was the last time I saw him, well, the last time we spoke. All I see is exhaustion and what looks like the remnants of fear.

I open my mouth to talk but find it incredibly dry. Gio seems to understand and quickly gets me a cup of water, carefully bringing it up to my lips. I take slow small sips before I lean back and nod. Gio sets the cup down to the side before turning back to look at me.

“What happened?” I ask, my voice cracking slightly. “I mean, I don’t remember passing out. Why did I pass out?”

“You were stabbed in the leg. It cut your femoral artery. You were bleeding out. Alec got you here as fast as possible. You are lucky to be alive,” he says seriously as his fingers begin tracing the inside of my wrist.

Instinctually, I try to move my leg and find out that it does indeed hurt like hell. Instantly, images start flooding my mind. Dimitri stabbing me, Alessandro’s panicked gaze as I shoved him in the closet, the resignation in Alec’s eyes when he knew I was dead and shock on Dimitri’s face when he realized that I had slit his throat. He is gone.Finally.

For the first time in what must be my whole life, I can breathe. I am free. It doesn’t feel real. It can’t be, I never thought it could be. But the look Gio gives me reconfirms it for me. Tears prick my eyes as I let out a shuddering breath.

“Alessandro!” I say suddenly panicked. “Where is he? Is he hurt?”

Gio places a calming hand on my uninjured thigh as he points to the sweet sleeping boy on the couch on the other side of my room.

“You have been out for a while. He wanted to wait for you to wake up, but he couldn’t hold out. He is okay. Some bruising and mentally he is struggling a bit, but physically no lasting damage.”

I breathe out a sigh of relief as I nod. Thank God. I don’t know what I would do if the outcome was any different. I love that little guy more than I thought was possible, it kills me to know how much danger he was in. How much we were both in.

“You uh…you have some other injuries,” he says sheepishly, his eyes looking anywhere but me before he continues. “You have 2 fractured ribs and some internal bleeding.”

Not knowing how to broach the very large elephant in the room, I choose to let him come to me. I mean, he was the one that oh so willingly had me thrown into a dungeon and tossed away without the key. He stood there, unmoving for most of my interrogation. Hell, he even carried me over to be water boarded.

The way he looked at me had me entirely convinced that he would hate me forever, that he would never look at me the way he is right now again. I don’t know what changed in his mind from that moment to now, and honestly, I don’t really care.

How could he have done that to me? Would he have let Luca kill me? Or worse, would he have done it himself if he was ordered to? The fact that I have to even ask those questions doesn’t bode well for any remnant of a future for us.

One minute goes by, then two, then three and still, we just stare at each other. Gio looks down at the bed for a second and intertwines our fingers before looking up at me, regret drowning out the shine his normally piercing silver eyes carry.

“Tasha, I-” He breaks off with a rough shake of his head. “I should have listened. I should have heard you out. I should have trusted you. I was scared and a coward. Since the moment I met you, I have been waiting for the other shoe to drop, and at the first sign of trouble I fucking bailed. I stood by and watched you hurt and beaten, and I did nothing. I will never forgive myself for letting you down when you needed me most.”

Conflicting emotions rage inside of me. I knew that the evidence against me was overwhelming. How could I be mad at him when I had kept my entire life a secret from him? I can see plainly in his eyes how sincere he is.

Unfortunately, images of his impassive gaze watching me in between blows dealt out by Luca play to the forefront of my mind. I withdraw my hand from his grip slowly as I attempt to scoot back in my bed, trying to create as much distance as possible. His hand quickly reaches out and snaps mine up tightly as his regretful eyes turn to ones of panic. It is almost like he can see what is going on in my head, like he can hear my thoughts.

“No,” he says softly. “Please don’t shut me out, baby. Hate me, shout at me, hit me. Anything. Just don’t push me away, please. I am so sorry.”

“I am relieved that Alessandro is okay, and I am grateful for you. If you hadn’t come in when you had I know that I wouldn’t be talking to you now.”

“I would never let anyone hurt you.”

My brows furrow as I successfully pull my hand out of his grasp this time.

“Except Luca, right?”

He opens his mouth to speak, but no words come out. He looks like a fish out of water as he sits there, no doubt trying to come up with some way to justify what happened. Eventually he just ends up hanging his head down.

“I fucked up,” he whispers.

---