Deadly Nightshade

Chapter 3: The Perfect Escape

"Lea, keep going," Max says trying to sound calmed but he failed miserably, "I am okay," he reassured me "I was hit on the arm, nothing serious," he touched my cheek with his left hand "I will protect you, now let's keep going." he grabbed my hand and we made it to the tunnel safely, the Morozov's won't be able to get access into this tunnel so we are safe here, for now.

All of us continued to run through the tunnel, "AH!!" I screamed and everyone stopped to look at me searching for possible injuries on my body.

"Don't mind her, she just saw a rat." Damiano says looking at me stern for scaring him.

"I can't help it, you now how much I hate those animals." I frowned. The only reason why I hated this escape plan is because of the rats, geckos and any other animal that might be roaming here.

I feel Max squeeze my hand, "It's okay, we are almost at the end of the tunnel." he reassured me.

We made it out successfully to the cars waiting for us, everyone rushed to get into them.

"I will ride with Max." I said to my dad as I see him get into the first car and gestured for me to get in.

"Okay, all of us are going back to our house, we will be safer there." he agrees with me and closes the door.

I helped Max get into the second car waiting for us, "I am not dying, Lea." he chuckles.

I hop in the car and close the door, "No, but you need to be careful and not put too much pressure on the wound, otherwise the bleeding will increase." I respond to him looking concern.

"This is Damiano speaking, everyone is safely inside the cars so let's move, we are going to the Cattani Residence." he instructs through the walkie-talkie that each car has, "Roger that, boss" our driver says and starts driving. My dad is in the front car with Damiano and the rest is following behind us.

One important thing for our clan is that we never leave someone behind, which is why Damiano always makes sure that everyone is safe.

"Take out your vest and unbutton your shirt." I order Max as soon as our car starts to move.

"Your wish is my command, gorgeous." he says winking at me, how he manages to keep calm and still flirt despite the pain is beyond me.

He takes out his vest, and so do I since it is a bit uncomfortable to wear. I sit sideway and cross my left leg to be comfortable, "Is there a first aid kit in this car?" I ask the bodyguard on the passenger seat, he nods his head and opens the glove compartment taking out one, "Here you go, ma'am." he says handing me the first aid kit, "Thank you." I respond and turn to look at Max who had already unbutton his shirt as I requested.

"Liking the view?" he smirks at me, if anyone saw us right now they might think that Max and I have a thing with the unstoppable flirting.

"Just a little, it could be better, though." I say and chuckled when he tries to tickle me for the comment.

I help him take off his shirt completely and I must admit that Max has a stunning and well structured body, but I will never say that out loud.

I clean my hands with hand sanitizer and start inspecting his wound on his right arm, "Max, stay still." I say sternly, "I can't help it, it hurts..." he frowns and my face softens, "It's okay, I will make this as quickly as possible." I whisper to him.

I take out a disinfectant, "Embrace yourself, this will hurt." I didn't give him any chance to respond when I pour the disinfectant in his wound, "Fuck, Lea!" he screams in pain, "I'm sorry, I have to clean it so it doesn't get infected," I apologize cleaning his wound as softly as I could, "The bullet is not inside and it did not touch anything important, but it is an open wound so you need stitches," I say as I work on his arm trying to distract him from the pain, "I am applying this bandage to stop the bleeding, it is just a temporary fix so as soon as we get to the house we will continue working on it." I catch his eyes already looking into my concern ones, "I will be fine, don't worry too much." he grabs my hand and rubs his dumb on my knuckles, I smile at the little gesture.

Eighteen minutes later we arrived at my house, I helped Max get out of the car and we walked up the entrance were Damiano is waiting for all of us, "I called the doctor, he will be here soon." he says as we walked inside the house.

As soon as everyone is gathered in the living room my dad calls over a bodyguard, "Tell the chef that everyone will stay for dinner and tell him to make Lea's favorite food." he orders him, the bodyguard nods and heads for the kitchen.

And in that exact moment the doctor enters into the living room, "Mr. Cattani and Ms. Cattani, I am here at your service." he greets us with a bow, I greet him the same way, "Max was shot on his right arm, I already cleaned the wound and stopped the bleeding." I informed the doctor as he approaches a shirtless Max, he takes off the bandage that I put on him and starts inspecting it, "You did a great job, Ms. Cattani." he praises me, I just nod at him and give him a soft smile, leaving him to work on Max's arm.

"We will have another meeting before dinner, go upstairs, get yourselves freshen up and meet me in my office in an hour and a half." my dad commands, I stayed with Max until the doctor stitched him up while the rest went upstairs to get changed. Once the doctor left, Max and I went to our separate rooms so we could change, as well.

The Cattani Residence is were my dad and I live, it is a lavish mansion that contains everything we need and more. Damiano, Luca, Francesco, Niccolo and Max have their own house which is not too far from ours, but when an emergency happens they each have a spare room at our residence were they have everything they need.

After an hour and a half all of us are sitting in my dad's office. "The damage done to our main headquarters was minimum, but we had several casualties," my dad starts the meeting, "The Morozov's attack was not a coincidence, they were after us and as we may know they will never stop until they get what they want," he explains with no emotion showing in his face, "I gave it some thought and I came up with a plan to find out what exactly it is that they are after, and in order to execute the plan we will host a gala at one of our hotels." he inform us.

All of us look at each other once those news left my dad's mouth.

You see, whenever we host a gala it is one of the most expected events in Italy, people travel just to be able to attend, not to mention that the guests are filled with powerful and influential people, this type of gala is a party were athletes, actors, actresses, politicians, business woman and man gather together to have a good time and also gain more popularity, so the fact that my dad wants to host a gala on such a short notice will be hectic, and we all know it.

"What is the plan?" I ask my dad and he smirks at the question.

I know that type of smirk, this plan is going to be fun and dangerous, very dangerous.