Page 85 of Beautiful Sinner

She was shot. Connor must have accidently shot her. Unless… it wasn’t a fucking accident.

With a snarl, I punch Connor once more before I run to Julia and pick her up. “I got you. You’re ok.”

“Connor,” she gasps out.

He’s lying on the floor, breathing ragged, but alive. I want to finish the job but I need to focus on Julia. She’s my priority and she’s hurt right now.

“We need to go,” Inessa gasps, running over to Connor’s gun and picking it up before he can use it on us. “We need to go now.”

The four of us run out of the church.

I turn to Elena and Inessa. “You two should return to your homes. It’s not safe for you. And tell Viktor what Connor did. How he hurt Julia. Make him see what kind of man he is.”

“Ok. I will. Will Julia be ok?”

I shift Julia in my arms. “I’ll make sure of it. Now go.” I rush to my car as Elena and Inessa rush to theirs. After placing Julia inthe passenger seat and hearing her groan in pain, I floor the car to the nearest hospital. I don’t have a private doctor in this area. Dante’s doctor is over an hour away and Julia is still bleeding. She’s turning pale.

The hospital ER rushes at me faster than I can even think. I slam on my breaks and get Julia out of the car and hurry inside.

“I need help!” I shout as two nurses come running in my direction. “She’s been shot in the arm. I need help.”

They get Julia onto a gurney and take her into a room where I cant follow. A doctor stops me. “You need to give us time to work on her. But talk to that nurse. Answer her questions.” He hurries inside the room to work on Julia. I can see them cutting away at her dress – her beautiful wedding dress – and they inspect her arm.

The nurse outside of the room pulls me to the side. “Does she have any allergies to any medications?”

“Uh… I’m not sure.”

“Is she on any medications?”

“I don’t know.” The fact that I don’t know any of these things about Julia is gut-wrenching. She’s my wife. I should know these things.

“Did you two just get married?”

“We did. Someone attacked the church and shot at her.”

“Did you call the police?”

“No. I came here right away.” I need to call Dante and tell him where I am so he can help me clean up this mess. Getting police involved in Mafia business is never a good thing.

“If you two just got married, why do you not know these things about your wife?”

“It was… spur of the moment. We haven’t known each other that long. I’m sorry. I can’t answer your questions.”

The nurse sighs and eyes me over with a judgy look before she hands me a clipboard with a file on it. “Fill this out. Anything can help.”

I walk to the side and call Dante. “I need your help.”

“Now, why would you need my help? You were supposed to stay in the safehouse.”

“Julia and I left. We got married.”

He’s quiet for a long moment. “Why do you insist on making my life harder, Matteo?”

“Connor showed up and shot at us. I’m fine but Julia got shot. In the arm. I don’t think it’s life threatening but… fuck. She was bleeding out. She looked so pale. You need to get here because I know they’re going to call the police.” I rattle off the address of the hospital. “Get here as fast as you can and make sure Viktor doesn’t hear about this. If he does…”

“It will be fucking Armageddon. I get it. I’m on my way.”

The police arrive within five minutes of me getting to the hospital. They’re efficient, I’ll give them that.

---