Page 16 of Brutal Queen

She nods.

“What’s next, doc?” I ask

“We wait.”

CHAPTER TEN

ENZO

Ican feel them. My eyelids are heavy and I can’t seem to open them to look, but I know they’re here. Their presence settles over me like the heat from the midday sun burning away the fear that has gripped me for weeks.

He didn’t break me.

I’m home.

“A-Aurora.” I try to speak, but my words are slurred. It doesn’t matter though because they heard me, and I hear the shuffling of bodies as they approach what I’m assuming is a hospital bed. It doesn’t smell like our home—like our med-room.

As they get closer, the sterile hospital odour is displaced by something far more familiar. I wasn’t aware I was able to recognise them by scent, and I couldn’t tell you what they smelled of, but collectively I recognise them and it makes me feel safe. Protected.

Fingers rake through my hair. “I swear Enzo if you everleave us again, I’ll hunt you down and kill you myself,” Aurora says, her voice firm, but I can hear the warmth and relief in her tone, like she can’t decide if she’s mad at me for leaving or elated that I’m back. “I love you, Enzo.” Her words skitter across the shell of my ear and lay heavy on my chest. Somehow grounding me and bringing me back to life at the same time.

I fight against the exhaustion and force my eyes open. I don’t register anything other than her shining emerald eyes. I’m transfixed, held by her gaze in a way that makes me feel powerless to do anything other than whatever she asks of me.

“I never meant to leave you, but I couldn’t let him take you.” My words are slow and stilted, but I force them out, needing to say what I couldn’t before. “You’re not his. You’re ours,mia guerrierotta.”

“Never leave us like that again, Enzo.” It’s Aurora speaking again, but I know she’s speaking for all of them when hands rest on my legs and a palm grips my ankle like they’re trying to tether me to them.

“Never,” I promise.

The gold flecks in her eyes glisten as tears brim, flooding her lashes, before landing on my cheek.

“Quit dripping on him, woman.” Benedict’s familiar tone drifts from my left. I try to turn towards him, but it triggers a burst of spasms down my neck and across my collarbone. The pain is sharp and steals my breath.

“No fucking moving, you idiot,” says the disembodied voice of Sinclair from the direction of my feet. “You have a ton of hardware holding your left arm and shoulder in place, so you’re in a neck brace for the moment. Just stay as still as you can and know that, aside from some future surgeries on your arm, everything else is mostly fixed. Doc Em operated on you herself.”

“That’s, boss. Not, idiot,” I mutter with as much sarcasm asI can muster through the drugs that make me feel like I’m mentally wading through treacle. “So fucking tired.”

“Sleep, boss,” Nico says, before a hand squeezes my ankle.

“Don’t leave,” I murmur before I drift off again.

Every time I wake up,I feel a little less like I’ve been run over by an eighteen-wheeler. I’m able to focus for longer periods, the pain lessening a little. From what I’ve managed to overhear from the doctors and nurses, it’s because they’ve started phasing out the sedatives, which I’m thankful for. They made me feel groggy and more than once, I woke up thinking I was still in that basement, drugged with whatever Max had been dosing me with.

I’m still having difficulty understanding the pompous twat standing next to Doc Em right now though. He introduced himself as an ortho-something or other and then started rambling about external fixators and titanium rods while pointing at an X-ray I don’t have the first damn clue how to read.

I raise an eyebrow at Doc Em, giving my best ‘pissed off man’ expression, hoping she gets the hint.

“Thank you, Dr Hendricks,” she interrupts before turning to me, entirely missing the blustering asshole behind her, clenching his jaw and burning a hole in the back of her head with the heat of his glare. “What all this means, Mr Moretti—” I fight the eye roll at the bullshit formality our mob doctor is forced to maintain in front of the other surgeons “—is that you need to stay here for at least a few weeks. We are going to operate on your arm and shoulder in two phases and keep you in so we can monitor the healing process withregular scans while limiting your movement. It’s vital that you follow all the post-surgery advice and rehabilitation if you want to restore mobility on your left side.”

“Yes, well, thank you, Dr Mancini, for your overly simplified explanation. I’ll see you tomorrow for your next surgery, Mr Moretti.” Dr Hendricks huffs before barging past Doc Em, taking his mouse-like interns with him.

“Is he always such a prick?” says Nico from across the room.

“Yes,” Doc Em says with a smile, “but he’s a highly skilled prick. You need to rest before tomorrow, Zo. I’ll be back later to check on your incisions.”

I nod. She’s right. Just being awake seems to take it out of me, but this is the first time I’ve been awake longer than ten minutes and I want to spend some time with my family.

“Thank you, doc. For saving my ass. I owe you one,” I say.

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