The Shadows

Chapter Forty-One

Armani and his brother talked for a while before Adriano showed up, looking emotionally drained from the events of the past few weeks. He couldn't blame him, he was too just from hearing what had happened over the past couple of weeks.  

He immediately spotted him and quickly walked over and gave him a hug, being careful of all the wires and machines that were hooked up to him. Armani returned the hug with an equal amount of love and fear.

Fear of what could have happened if he didn't wake up.

As he reluctantly let go of him and backed away, Armani noticed that their dad was in here also. He made no move to come hug or comfort him, but he guessed that it was enough that he even came to visit him.

"Can I go see Annabella?" Armani asked as soon as everyone settled down.

He wanted no need to see her.

He needed to hold her hand to make sure she was really there and not a figment of his imagination.

His brothers all looked at each other, having a silent conversation with their eyes, trying to decide if it was a good idea for him to see her in the conditions they both were in at the moment.

"It's probably not the best decision to see her right now, but I promise that you can soon." Adriano says, after taking a few minutes to think the request over.

'I knew that this was going to be the answer, but it doesn't make the rejection hurt any less.' Armani thought while sighing dejectedly.

While lost in his thoughts, he hadn't noticed that someone had left the room and that the tension had skyrocketed. When he finally looked up though, Armani saw exactly who had left the room.

His father.

He only had two questions for him, not that he would be able to say it out loud though.

'Why am I never good enough? Why do you prefer everyone else over me?'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Annabella was walking around in the dark abyss that she had now become accustomed to, she heard a voice start talking. It sounded like whoever was speaking was speaking to her. She couldn't be sure though, because it sounded muffled and she had only caught certain parts of what was being said.

"I know you probably can't hear anything I am saying, but I need to let all of this out, and since I can't go to the gym right now, talking to you will have to do."  The person said, as they started talking.

'How wrong are they, thinking that I can't hear them?' Annabella thought to herself, wanting to know exactly who's life story she was about to hear.

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she missed most of what the person said next.

"...  you. I wouldn't let anyone else near you."  The person said, while chuckling softly. Annabella began to wonder who it was the voice was talking about, because it couldn't be her right?

She didn't get lost in her thoughts this time and caught most of what was being said.

"I wouldn't even let dad or mom hold you,... hold her baby again. Neither did..."  The voice said once again, sounding really muffled towards the middle and end of what they were saying.

Whoever was speaking to her sounded like they were having a hard time for a while without having anyone to confide in.

Annabella heard some type of shuffling in the room, indicating that another person had been in the room the entire time. She thought that the two people had begun to talk, but she couldn't hear anything they were saying.

Soon enough, she heard the sounds of footsteps making their way away from her, telling her that the people who were in the room before had left.

Now that she was alone, she had decided to try and wake up from the darkness that engulfed her.

Annabella tried and tried to pry her eyes open, and after what felt like hours later, she succeeded. She had finally opened her eyes.

Oh how she wished she had never opened her eyes.

When she fully opened my eyes, she quickly shut them again due to being blinded by the bright fluorescent hospital lights that were in the room.

As her eyes slowly got used to the lights, Annabella was able to examine the room that she was in. It seemed very plain, but what do you expect?

What caught her eye though, was the figure of someone standing outside of the door. She shook it off thinking that it was one of her brothers talking to someone outside of the room.

If only she could have seen how wrong she was.

Right when Annabella was going to press the nurse button beside the bed, the door to her hospital room burst open. She immediately pressed the button, hoping that someone would reach her, before the person whose face she couldn't see would.

The person who was walking towards her in a menacing way, also spoke a sentence that paralyzed her in my spot.

"They thought that they could take you from me darling, but you will never escape from me."

'I knew that voice anywhere.' Annabella thought to herself, still rooted to the spot that she was in on the bed from fear.

And as she answered the thought out loud, he had already injected something in her arm.

"Samuel?" She questioned, confused on why he would do this.

"Shh, darling. Just relax. Soon we can begin our happily ever after together." He answered her.

Her vision soon became blurry, and sounds had become muffled.

Once again, Annabella had succumbed to the blanket of oblivion that she had accustomed to.

She only prayed that this time, she will see the light and not the shadows.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stefano left Armani's room soon after getting in there. He needed a break from everyone in that room, so he decided to go back to Annabella's room.

The past couple of weeks had been hell for Stefano. He felt like he had all those years ago when she was kidnapped for the first time.

As he came to the hall where Annabella was being kept for the moment, he noticed that nurses were rushing towards her room. He too, began to run towards the room, wanting to see what everyone looked panicked for.

When Stefano had gotten to her room, he saw that it was empty, and the only thing in the room besides nurses was a single note folded up on the bed.

He walked toward the bed and grabbed the note.

"You thought you had finally 'saved' her, she really belongs with me. I will keep her safe. Don't try to find her because you will not succeed."

The only thought he had while dropping to his knees and letting out a gut wrenching sob was,

'Why does this keep happening to my princess?'