Page 87 of Savage Proposal

When the Russian man was unrecognizable, Elio all but crawled off the body and over to his wife. “Tesoro?” His voice was thick with emotion. “Can you?”

“I can. Always hear. You.Stronzo,” Amalia panted, and her husband laughed wetly.

“Can you help her?” His eyes found me. “Like you did with Damian?”

CHAPTER 55

Lorenzo

Isabella’s hands were slick with blood as she pressed down on Amalia’s side. “I can’t close this on my own,” she said, answering Elio’s question but looking up at me. “There’s no exit wound here, which is good because she’s not bleeding as fast, but that means the bullet is still inside. There’s no way I’m going to be able to dig it out without causing way more damage. Besides, if he hit any of her major organs…” She grimaced, and we got the message.

Elio’s eyes didn’t leave his wife. “Cugino.”

I put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “I’ll call for an ambulance,” I told him. Isabella’s phone had been in my pocket when I’d jumped on the Russian; the screen was cracked. I made a mental note to have it fixed for her before swiping for emergency services.

“I don’t need to go,” Amalia tried to argue, but she was already shivering from the amount of blood splattering both her and Isabella.

“You’re not bleeding out on my floor,” I said.

The garage door swung open, and we all jerked. Elio had a gun in his hand, already aiming. Where did it come from? He was like a magician, but instead of fuzzy, cute creatures, he pulled out weapons.

“It’s me,” Damian announced, arms outstretched. There was blood on his face, and he was walking with a limp.

“Are any of Volkov’s men alive?” Lorenzo asked.

Damian shook his head. “Dead, or very nearly. The cleaners are already on their way.”

“Good,” I grunted. “What in the hell happened?”

Before Damian could reply, however, we heard the wail of sirens. The ambulance would be here in a matter of seconds. “How are you going to explain all those bodies to the EMTs?” Isabella asked.

“We won’t,” I said. “We’ll pay them not to see them.”

I waited for any follow-up questions, but Isabella accepted my answer as fact. It did make sense in a way: I was able to pay and intimidate the NYPD to not see me. I didn’t see why I couldn’t do the same for some poorly paid first responders.

The ambulance parked in the driveway, and they came running with a stretcher and a backboard. “I got this,” a woman said, gently moving Isabella out of the way and taking over putting pressure on Amalia’s wound. “Who’s riding with her?”

“I am,” Elio replied. He was still shaken, but I could see he was trying to keep himself together. “Is she going to?—?”

“We’re going to do our very best to make sure that doesn’t happen,” the woman assured him, and then she and her partnerwere lifting Amalia onto the stretcher. Once she was stable, they started wheeling her back to their vehicle.

“Cugino,” Elio practically growled. His eyes were trained on his wife, but I could see how he shook. “I want blood,” he demanded. “I want retribution.”

“You’ll get it,” I promised. “But you need to take care of Amalia right now.”

He nodded, more than a few times. “Yeah,” he said, mostly to himself. “Yep, I have to take care of Amalia for now.” His eyes met mine, and he was lost. “How do I do that?”

Isabella pushed herself to her feet, and I reached out automatically to steady her. She stepped just out of my reach.Right, so she’s still pissed. “You go with her to the hospital,” she told him. “We’ll get some clothes together for you and her, and we’ll bring them up in a little while.”

Elio agreed, and we separated, marching orders in hand. Isabella did a quick once-over of Damian in the kitchen. Nothing needed stitches, thankfully, but she made sure to glue the cut on his forehead shut so that it wouldn’t keep bleeding. “Do you feel like you’re going to throw up?” she asked as she looked at his pupils.

“No.”

“Pass out?”

Damian replied with another negative. “I want to sleep for the next twelve hours,” he said. “But I’m not going to lose consciousness.”

She hummed, seemingly satisfied. “Get some rest,” she said. “I don’t think you have a concussion, but we’ll keep an eye on it for the next few days.”

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