STUCK 2

Chapter 51

"We'll be taking the bullet out of her, wait out here and please be patient" the doctor spoke in Italian, his tone practiced and impassive.

"It's all me" Tara whispered to herself, her eyes puffy and red. Sia rubbed her hand on Tara's back, embracing her tightly in hopes that her shudder would disappear under the pressure, "It is all because of me"

Don turned to her as she kept repeating it to herself, mumbling psychotically. 

"Shhh... you didn't do anything" Sia tried to alleviate her pain, failing miserably as stream of tears kept drenching her cheeks, repeating the mantra. 

Don watched Tara as she fell apart in pieces, mumbling her apologies until she no longer could. He did not know what made her say it, but watching her mourning broke something inside him too. He reverted his gaze, unable to keep watching her. One of them needed to be stronger. 

He picked up the call before it could ring the second time, listening to Enzo intently before hanging up. 

Whoever had a death wish had shot with a long range sniper. He had probably climbed on the tree in the nearest jungle and waited until locking on his target, a little girl. The bullet hit right below her heart, closer to the stomach. 

His mind rustled with possible assassins. There were simply too many names. Anyone could have crossed paths with him.

No matter how much he didn't want to, he found himself confronting the fact he had failed to protect his daughter, his everything. And if breaking Donavan apart was the goal of his enemy, he had succeeded thousand times. 

"Don" He heard someone screaming, his own mind sinking inside his thoughts, too much to care for anyone who addressed him. 

"Don!! She's not waking up!" 

He was standing in a second, kneeling on the floor. Sia patted on her cheek, calling her name.

Nothing.

Her body remained lifeless when Donavan picked her up in his arms, barging inside the emergency room, calling frantically for doctors, screaming for help. She was too, like Inaya, carried away from him, locked behind the door he had no access to.

For the first time in his entire lifetime, he experienced scorching helplessness of this kind, as if in a single moment roof had been snatched from over his head, as if ground was cut from beneath his feet. 

He had an intense urge to collapse, and beg for mercy to whoever willing to listen to his prayers. 

Yet all he did was gulp, pushing his own torment down his throat and slump down on the bench as he was told, to wait and be patient for his loved ones. He no longer wished for revenge, placid for any vengeance he was expected to seek. 

He only wanted his family back, alive and healthy, breathing and smiling. Was becoming a don worth risking his daughter's life? Was his deadly reputation even miniscully more important than Inaya's life? 

The answer was as clear as sky, the guilt feasted on his heart as he let it infest his strength too, loosing himself thread by thread every second. And out of nowhere, he was back into his senses, as if pulled out of swimming pool after being convinced that he was drowning, something inside his mind connected the dots, and he could bet on his life that he was closer to the real enemy, closer than he ever was. 

He only needed one person to stamp his suspicions. 

.

"Please no visitors!!" the young nurse tried to hold the door, not succeeding as Don heedlessly barged through the door, finding his wife staring at the ceiling lifelessly, another nurse injecting a saline injection in her wrist.

"Get out!" Don ordered without looking at the middle aged nurse. Tara sat up in alarm, pulling her arm from the nurse instinctively. Tears had not dried from her face, the conspicuous despair visible in her eyes. 

"Excuse me how did you get-"

"I SAID GET OUT!" 

The nurse stumbled out of the private hospital room, frightened by the man who obviously tried not to appear anything but dangerous. 

"What happened...is she okay? where is sh-" Tara's stammer was cut off when he pulled her out of the bed by her neck, pushing her against the wall.

"Who was it at the mall?" he fumed, tightening his hold as fear slid between her brows. 

"Donavan..."

"You met someone at the mall, you fucked up and now my fucking child got shot. No wonder you think this happened because of you, because it fucking-" his hold on her neck tightened" -happened because of you" 

"Mr. Frantino what are you doing?" The doctor's anxious noise filled the room, followed him two panicked nurses who watched the scene in dread, "LEAVE HER THIS MOMENT!" 

No matter what old doctor yelled, Donavan's hold only became more determined, her resistance virtually not existent, as if she willingly accepted his wrath, looking into his eyes with only shame and unimaginable grief. 

"Who was it?" He seethed, unmatched to the elderly doctor who tried to loosen his hold on her. Tears speedily trickled down her cheeks as she struggled to speak, her throat dry, "I told her I won't do it," she broke into fit of cries "and...and she threatened me to..."  she couldn't speak, her condition worsening. 

"Who the fuck was it?" he jerked her neck closer, ignorant of her crumbling state. 

"Mr. Frantino release her, SHE'S PREGNANT!"

Don froze at those words, looking into her eyes who had lost all of their light. She closed her eyes tightly at the revelation, tears brimming her eyes tumbling down one after another. She felt as he loosened his hold, allowing her weight to be on its own. 

And she slid along the wall to collapse on floor, gathering her knees closer to her face, pushing her head inside the gap so no one could see how she cried beneath. Her bouncing shoulders failed to hide how she felt about her pregnancy, even more devastated than she already was. 

She felt as she became weightless again, his strong hands picking her up in his arms, resting her back on the bed. She sniffled as he wiped her tears with both of his thumbs, his own emotions  unleashed, whirling inside his stormy eyes. 

"She needs rest" the doctor mumbled, affected by the drastic change of emotions.

"Now doctor will give you somethi-" Don's forced calm voice was interrupted.

"I don't want to-"

"Shhhhh..." A finger landed on her shivering lips, "Doctor will give you something to sleep, and you will sleep." He held her hand in his, intertwining his fingers, "And when you wake up, I will be here, sitting there." He pointed at the sofa in the side with his eyes,  "I will have some questions and hopefully you, some answers" He whispered, "Okay?" He asked softly, gently kissing the back of her hand, contrasting the tornedo swirling inside his chest. 

She nodded through tears, overwhelmed by the change of his demeanor, knowing very well he wanted to be anything but what he was being. He tried hard to be the person she needed that instant, struggling but fortunately in her eyes, not failing. 

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Author's note: do you guys know I am writing a new book called "The dark knight"? Yeah, you can check it out now.