Page 90 of Heir of Darkness

She would start with their fathers.

THIRTY-FOUR

LUNA

As the hours dragged on,Luna had yet to hear any news. Her mind wandered in a million different directions, forcing her to live out a million different scenarios on how all of this would end. The morning sun was beginning to rise, and Valerio was still in surgery.

Her head throbbed from the crying she did every time she thought about him not pulling through. It got to the point where she almost begged Augustus for a pill to make her stop feeling any of it, but she stopped herself. Valerio was the priority, not herself.

She played with the ring on her finger, twirling it around aimlessly. It was the one thing that connected her to him at that moment. Maybe they were cursed at this point, unable to enjoy a single minute of peace for their entire lives because they were defying the fact they were supposed to be enemies. Generations of war and violence between the two families wouldn’t be able to end with the two of them and maybe it shouldn’t.

But when she considered her life without Valerio, without his cheesy comments and affection and sometimes brutal tendencies protecting her, she realized that she didn’t want a life without him. He snuck his way into her life—well, it was morelike he bulldozed his way in—and now she didn’t want a single moment without him.

She looked around the entire waiting room. Dante still sat beside her, his eyes closed as if he were sleeping. Allister sat next to Gianna on the wall to the left of them. She dozed off, but he typed away on his phone with a frown. Finn snored loudly in the corner, his head hanging at an uncomfortable angle. Luna wasn’t sure why he had stayed; he hated Valerio. But either way, she was thankful to have even a little bit of familial support. Blair sat beside Cecilia on the other side of the room, the latter slumping on Augustus’s shoulder.

Luna’s eyes snapped to the doors at the end of the hall when they opened, a woman with blue scrubs and a surgical cap covering her hair walked over to them. Luna shot up to her feet, meeting the doctor midway.

“Is he okay?” she asked before the doctor could get a single word out.

“He’s not out of surgery yet. I came out here to let you all know we are still doing everything we can to remove the bullet and make sure there’s no permanent damage to his spine. The bullet narrowly missed it by four centimeters, but it exploded deep inside the muscle leaving fragments,” the doctor said. “With that being said, I think it’s important to start preparing for the worst-case scenario.”

Luna’s heart dropped.

“What the hell do you mean? You just said that the bullet missed his spine. That should be a good thing,” Dante said, his face contorted in misaligned anger and confusion.

“And that is a good thing, but it is risky trying to pull it out. His blood pressure dropped dangerously low on two separate occasions, and on the latest one we had to prepare the defibrillator and do minor compressions. He returned back to normal, but there is a possibility of him not coming back if ithappens again,” she said. “We will continue doing everything we can, but I thought it would be wise to warn you just in case.”

“Please,” Luna whispered, wiping away the tears that slipped out of her eyes. “Please do everything you can.”

The doctor gave her a small smile, one of comfort. “I promise I will try my best.”

Luna nodded, her voice too weak to say anything else at the moment.

“I also wanted to give this to you, so it doesn’t get lost in the chaos,” the doctor said. She handed Luna the chain that she had given him on his birthday. A sob escaped her as she grabbed it and pressed it against her lips. “I’ll be back out to give you guys another update as soon as I can.”

Luna turned around, trying to walk back to her seat when her legs buckled underneath her. She fell to the floor, letting the choked sobs claw their way out from her chest once again. She clutched the necklace in her hands, praying for a miracle. Something, anything.

“He’s going to be okay,” Blair told her, stroking her back in comfort.

“He’s strong,” Gianna said.

“And he would never want to leave you alone,” Cecilia confirmed.

But what if he did?

They managed to get Luna back onto the chair, but she kept her head in her hands, whispering prayers over and over again. Her eyes itched and burned from the tears she had shed at that point, but they refused to stop no matter how hard she tried.

“Luna, there’s a lawyer here. He needs you included in the conversation,” Allister said, standing directly in front of her. “I know you don’t want to do this now?—”

“Are you serious?” Blair asked, her voice raised. “Can you read the fucking room?”

“I’m being practical,” he said. “Valerio had these things set up in case anything ever happened. I’m only following his directions.”

“Send him away,” Luna muttered. She closed her eyes tightly.

“We’re all hurting,” he said. “But no matter what, he would want you taken care of. Think about what he wanted.”

Luna snapped her head up. “All I’ve been fucking doing is thinking about him.”

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