Page 137 of Devil's Vows
Maybe it wasn’t. He was my best friend. Or so I thought. For me, it was brotherly love, and I had to kill my chosen brother to survive. No wonder I can’t get over the Fourth of July.
Now she’s here…a loved one. A beloved.Love.
I close my eyes, praying for the first time to a God I’ve neverbelieved in. Because I’m in love with a woman who’s changing everything. Who has been everything I needed without me realizing it, undeserving ofher…of this sacrifice. And she’s in love with me…she prayed that I would fall in love with her, not knowing that I already had. My little bird, with the heart of a dragon, protecting what is hers with her life.
I said I treasured her, but I was too scared to admit that I’ve developed feelings for a wife I married by arrangement, to meet needs I put on a to-do list, never knowing she’d go and subconsciously meet needs I didn’t even know I had. Being open, talking to me, creating trust between partners where all I’ve ever known was silence and cold distance. She’s never turned me away from her beautiful warm body in my bed, but the gift of her soul is purer than the rarest diamonds, the finest gold.
I stroke Gabriella’s hair, wipe away at the blood that trickled from her lips, as her brothers do what they need to do. I bite down on my jaw when Dominic pierces her between the ribs to release trapped air from her punctured lung.
“Now we get her to the clinic,” he says.
“Transport is here,” Benedict says, and I realize I’ve been zoned out, praying quietly for her to survive this.
Gabriella’s eyes flutter open, her hazed gaze meeting mine.
“Moya ptichka?—”
For a long moment, we just stare at each other as I sink deeper into prayer, begging God.
“You lied,” she whispers. “These bullets hurt like a motherfucker.”
A round of chuckles eases the tense atmosphere, and my heart stutters. God. She’s going to pull through, isn’t she?
“See the cursing has finally rubbed off on you,cara. Our little Mafia princess,” Dominic says as he squeezes her hand. “You’re fighting fit.”
“I’m a Scalera,” she whispers. “Of course I’m fighting fit.”
“And a Petrov.” I drop my head to hers. “Stay with me,Gabriella,” I beg with a broken smile, not caring that her brothers can see my desperation or hear my words. “I love you already, a step ahead of you with only falling in love, see? And you can’t die on me. You only discovered now that you’re a dragon, with treasure to protect.”
“You were right,” she says with a weak smile. “You said this is how the next chapter ends. You…the girls…my brothers…you’re all my treasure.”
“Yes,” I whisper, recalling that night ages ago. “More chapters,moya ptichka.There are so many more chapters.”
I lean in and press a gentle kiss to her lips.
“Hmm,” she hums. “I can’t die. I like that too much.” She softly touches my face. “I didn’t get to watch the shower video…from this morning. You promised we could watch it together…later.”
Oh, boy…this one…she’s barely started living, and there’s so much more life ahead of her. I’ll hold her, walk with her, carry her, crawl with her all the way. Tell her about all our chapters, how we will end them all with kisses, and how we’ll shoot a million shower videos if that’s what’s going to keep her going and help her pull through.
“Your brothers are here, listening in,moya ptichka.”
“Yes, I know. Aren’t they wonderful?” She closes her eyes as we wrap our fingers together. “Don’t worry about them…I bet they approve.”
I shoot glances at her three brothers, all focused on keeping my love alive, but with sly smiles playing in the corners of their mouths, my thought is also,Yep,I bet they approve.
71
IVAN
I’m pacing outside the operating theatre, too anxious to do anything else. We don’t have the all-clear yet, and Gabriella has been in there for hours. I’m shattered on a new level, with her life
It looks like someone planned a hit on me in Matteo Scalera’s apartment, but I know better. It’s my instinct to suspect the Scaleras had something to do with it, but looking at Gabriella’s brothers, as we sit here waiting for news, they’re as wrecked as me. Whatever went down earlier, they would never sacrifice their sister. We’re all here, being eaten alive with the notion of losing her.
This private clinic is an interesting and unconventional setup in a random, inconspicuous house in a middle-class neighborhood on the outskirts of Boston. Nothing gives away what goes on behind these domestic walls. Inside, it’s been fitted with the latest medical equipment, and a trained general surgeon, with his assistant, a scrub nurse, and an anesthesiologist were all in place to take care of her when we arrived.
Best part of this whole arrangement: it goes under the Feds’ and the cops’ radar. They must have something on every singledoctor and surgeon on call in their clinic or they pay serious money to keep mouths shut. The Petrov network might stretch far and wide, with spies in places nobody can even find on a map, butIl Consigliohas the strongest base a Mafia organization can have on home ground.
“Fuck,” Dominic grunts where he’s sitting with his laptop and his phone at a desk in the house’s foyer. “The footage is clear,” he says as he glances up. “The Mole was on a call with Mara the whole fucking time. Watch this.”
