Betraying Giovanni

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Let It Go

Vincent Giovanni

It's been an hour and she hasn't stopped crying, all I can do is hold her and kiss her, I have never felt more useless in my life, my woman is crying, and I don't know what to do with her, to her and for her. I'm lying beside her, looking at the clock on the wall, it's three-thirty a.m. in the morning and I have a meeting at eight a.m. I kiss her head and sit up.

"Can you spend the night?"

I look down at her and she's already looking at me with her puffy eyes.

"Why don't you come to sleep in my room with me? I'll carry you." I suggest.

She nods and I get off the bed and pick her up, putting her on my side, so I can take the IV pole with me, we walk out of the room and find Sarah at the door.

"Sir, I need to speak to you, it's important," she says, I can tell with the worry in her eyes.

"I'll be right back Sarah; you can wait for me here."

I walk Juliet to my room, and I lay her down, I kiss her forehead and tell her that I'll be back, she snuggles into my bed, and I leave the room, closing the door behind me, I walk back to the nursing room and Sarah is standing next to it with a clipboard in her hands.

"Capo, I have her results, she suffered a few injuries, to her head, ribs and bruising on the legs," she explains.

"Doesn't seem that bad Sarah," I chuckle, I am mostly relieved, she's probably just traumatized.

Sadness clouded her features, "There's more Capo,"

Oh no.

"She was raped, and it from the DNA analysis done by the security team by three people, one of them being Russef," she hands me the DNA report and I read it, and sigh when I realize that they are probably dead because we killed every man that was at that warehouse.

"Armando, the third man, is still alive,"

Shit.

"Thank you, Sarah, you can go and get some rest, we'll figure out a plan, please contact my psychologists and find out who is available and have them here to talk to Juliet."

"Si Capo." And she leaves the room, I follow behind her and I walk back to my room, I walk in and find Juliet, sleeping, this is the first time I've seen her at peace, and I'm happy.

I change out of my clothes, into some sweatpants and a t-shirt, not wanting to make her uncomfortable when she wakes up, I go over to the chair, in the corner of my room and sit down. I can't sleep, I don't think I can, knowing that Armando is still out there breathing the same air as my Juliet, I have to find him and kill him.

I sigh, and sink into my seat, I stare up at the ceiling and a thought hits me, this is just what happened with Carmen, history is repeating itself, yet again. Why do the women I love betray me?

Juliet has been out of the force since my case, and so has Monica, so there is no cause for alarm but still, I can't trust her, I don't think I can, or maybe I don't want to.

- - -

Next morning

"Vincent!"

I groan, "What? What do you want?"

"I have breakfast, it's me, Angelo,"

I slowly open my eyes and I'm immediately hit with a ray of sunshine, that is peaking its way into the room, I look over at the bed and Juliet is still asleep. I stand up and stretch, clicking a few bones in the process, I lazily walk to the door and open it, Angelo gives me a look.

"Did you sleep on the couch again?"

I yawn, "Yeah."

He chuckles and pushes the tray into my room, but he stops when he notices Juliet asleep on my bed, worry covers his face, and he looks at me with sorry yes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know she was in here, how she is?"

"Sarah gave me a report last night, physically she'll heal but mentally, I'm not so sure,"

"Mentally? What happened?"

I pull my brother out of the room and gently close the door, "She was raped by Russef and his men, they found DNA and one of them is still alive."

Angelo sighs in defeat, "I thought we had killed all of them?"

"There is one body missing, its Armando's,"

"That little rat. I'll get Juan and the men on it; he has to pay for what he's done."

Angelo walks away before I can respond, I sigh, knowing that I can't stop him and honestly, I won't.

I turn around and walk back into the room, Juliet is stirring in her sleep, she's having a nightmare, I rush to her side and hold her hand.

"Juliet," I whisper, "It's okay, I'm here."

She moans incoherent words and starts swinging her arms to fight, I grab a hold of her arms and pin them down as tight as can.

"Juliet, wake up, you're safe."

She continues to fight and thrash around and I'm struggling to hold her down.

"Help! I need help!" I yell.

Angelo barges in with Sarah right behind him.

"Move Vincent," Angelo pushes me aside and makes her sit up and pulls her into his arms, Sarah goes to the bathroom and comes back with a glass of water and dips her fingers in and splashes them onto her face, her eyes open and she looks terrified, Sarah looks at her and gives her warm smile.

"Julie, you're okay my darling."

But she doesn't seem to recognise Sarah, she looks at Angelo and relief washes over her face.

"It's okay Julie, you are safe, okay," Angelo says soothingly, she nods.

Sarah walks to me and sighs, "I'll go call Dr Linda,"

"Thank you, Sarah."

"What happened?" I hear Julie ask Angelo.

I listen as my brother explains all the events that have occurred in the last twenty-four hours, watching as her face fills with horror and tears fill her eyes. Angelo takes her hand and kisses it.

"Get some rest, neonata. I'll see you later," Angelo says.

She gives him a faint smile and walks to me, "Please be gentle with her. I know how hard it is for you but this time you have to try."

"I will, thank you, Angelo. I really appreciate your help brother," I hug him and pat his back.

"Anytime," I release him from my arms, and he leaves the room.

I look over at Juliet, and she's already looking at me. I walk over to her and sit on the bed beside her. Her once vibrant eyes were dull, with no life, no sign of emotions. They broke her. What did they do to her to make her like this?

"Don't worry about me, Vincent. I'll be okay," I hear her say as though she was reading my thoughts.

"I know mi amore. It's my fault you're like this,"

She places her hand on my cheek and wipes my tear with her thumb, "Vincent, it is not your fault. I don't blame you. I blame myself for letting my guard down and letting that man into my house. If I had known who he was and what he wanted, then they wouldn't have -

"It's okay. It's okay. It's not your fault either."

I look at her, and she smiles at me. A genuine smile.

"I love you, mi amore. I hope you know that."

She pulls her hand away and averts her eyes from me.

You keep screwing up, Vincent.

"I'm sorry Juliet. Let me get you something to eat, okay?"

"That would be great, thank you." She smiles faintly.

I get up from the bed and walk to the tray, I really, really screwed up.