Mafia Fall-Out

Chapter Twenty Eight

Luca

"Which way did she go?" Angelo asked, offering his hand to help me up.

"Down that hallway. There's a woman that's got Lucy." I grimaced, holding onto my aching ribs. Matteo had put up one hell of a fight, and if Angelo hadn't shown up when he did, it could have ended a lot differently. Now I just had to get my girls and get them out of here.

Angelo nodded. "Marco ran into a guard in the front. He should be here any second."

Angelo and I crept down the hallway, guns fanning out in front of us so we could intercept any potential threat. I wasn't sure if Matteo had anymore men hiding out, and I didn't want to take any chances. Once we cleared the hallway, I noticed a set of stairs at the other end and I could hear faint whimpers. Immediately, I knew it was Lucy.

I took off sprinting for the stairs and down them as fast as I could. My legs almost gave out on me when I saw Charlotte on the ground. She was unconscious, lying in a pool of her own blood, a gaping gunshot wound on her side.

"Fuck!" I hissed, dropping to my knees beside her. I grabbed her chin, turning her face to me, but the color was all drained out of it from the blood loss. She looked as white as a ghost.

"Oh, my god." Marco shirked, joining us in the room,

"Baby, can you hear me?" My voice broke with emotion as I tapped her cheek, trying desperately to get her to wake up. Marco dropped to the ground next to me and tried to help as best he could.

There was no answer. Blood was still pouring out of the wound, and I needed to do something fast. "Angelo, I need a towel or something." I barked, fighting back my tears.

He frantically searched the crib, pulling at the blankets and handing me one. "She's not in here, Luca. Lucy's not in the crib."

"Then find her." I growled, unable to focus on anything but Charlotte at that moment.

Cries came from a nearby cabinet and as I put pressure on Char's wound, I could see Angelo checking it out from of the corner of my eye.

"Oh, thank god." Angelo breathed a sigh of relief. "She's here. She's safe."

I let out a heavy sigh of relief myself, content to focus on Charlotte now that I knew Lucy was okay. "Come on, baby." I begged. She wasn't breathing and I could feel my own breath get shallow.

I got to my knees again, starting chest compressions. "Come on, Charlotte."

My entire world was slipping away before my eyes. All I could think about was the moment I saw her, how beautiful and exquisite she had been. I thought about how she'd spilled the wine on my shirt, completely flustered by my presence and how much enjoyment I had gotten out of it at the time. We still laughed about it to this day. I thought about the way she looked on the roof of my hotel that night as I told her about my life and who I was. The way her eyes glistened in the starlight and the way those perfect lips of hers turned up into a gentle smile. And the way she laughed when we were catching crabs with her brother in Maine, holding onto them by the claw and posing for a picture. One I still had up in my office.

I thought of the way I almost lost her after the club opening in Miami and how terrified I'd been watching her hooked up to the machines in the hospital. And the devastation that overcame me when she left for good.

I thought about the first time I saw her with Layla and the way they just seemed to fit together, like they were two pieces of the same heart. Two pieces of my heart. And I thought about the way we'd fallen back into each other after all that time being apart. The way she insisted on decorating for Christmas and having everyone over for a big celebration. That night how she'd pulled out that marriage license and married me on the spot. We made love by Christmas tree lights for the rest of the night. I thought about how we planned our perfect wedding, traveling to Italy and experiencing the country for the first time together. The way she rolled her eyes when I came out in a speedo and basically forbid me to go to the beach wearing it because she didn't want to end up in jail for punching any woman who looked at me. The way I felt when she'd been taken and how hard I had to fight to get her back. The relief I felt holding her in my arms in that hospital and finding out that we were going to be parents again. The way she pretended to be frustrated as I doted on her throughout the pregnancy, and the sweet sleepy look she'd get in her eyes when she got a midnight craving for ice cream. I thought about the house we'd built and how excited she was the first time I showed it to her. How we'd raised our children in these walls and planned to do the same with our grandchildren some day.

I thought about the hurt in her eyes when I showed her the picture of Serena and me and how it nearly killed me having to explain how something like that had happened. And the pride I felt when she told Serena off, confirming her belief in me. I thought about the days I spent pining over her in Niko's cell. And how hard we both had to fight for me to come home. I thought about how incredible had been to watch her grow into the mature mafia queen she was and how much I had underestimated her over the years. It actually felt good to see her proving me wrong. I thought about the night she killed Niko, how I held her in my arms, swearing to her we'd never be in that situation again and yet here we were.

I thought about the way she smelled like coconut after her shower, and the way she popped her hips back when she was putting on her makeup. The crinkle in her nose when she was frustrated and how she always forgot to lock the door at night and then made me go down and check. How her car was always parked just a little too far to my side in the garage and the way her cheeks turned pink after a little of red wine. The way her hands felt wrapped around me and the way her head fit into the curve of my neck so perfectly. I thought about how much I loved watching her be a mother and how in awe of her I was every day.

I thought about every detail of Charlotte, oblivious to the tears streaming down my cheeks and falling onto her chest as I did CPR. This couldn't be the way our story ended. This couldn't be it. She couldn't die, not today, not like this.

I pressed as hard as I could into her chest, doing everything possible to get her heart started again.

"Luca." Angelo put his hand to my shoulder. "We need to get her to a hospital."

Nothing I was doing was helping and so I nodded in agreement. It was my best chance at saving my wife. I scooped her limp body up into my arms and we ran out of the warehouse and to the car as fast as we could. Marco cradled Lucy in his arms, who must have known something was off because she wouldn't stop crying. I wanted to comfort her, but I was too focused on Charlotte's lifeless body in my arms.

We got into the car, and I climbed into the back with Char in my lap. She let out a heavy wheeze that didn't sound good, but it was the first sign of life I'd seen.

"Luca, her lungs are filling with blood. I need to loosen that pressure," Angelo said, laying Lucy down safely in the seat next to him as Marco drove. He grabbed a bag from the floorboard and took out a knife, some alcohol, and a tube.

"You're going to cut her open?" I arched my eyebrows at him in disbelief. That didn't seem like a good idea as we were flying down the highway and I had her head in my lap.

"I have to," he said, pouring alcohol over the knife. "She won't feel it, and it's the only way. If I don't, she won't make it to the hospital."

What he wanted to do terrified me, but losing Charlotte terrified me more. I trusted Angelo more than anyone in the world and if this was what we needed to do, we'd do it.

"Okay." I said, positioning her so he had a better angle.

Angelo pressed the knife into her abdomen and blood started pouring out of her and onto us both.

"What the fuck?" I shrieked. "You're hurting her!"

"It's okay." Angelo tried to calm me down. "That's the blood draining. She might be able to breathe now."

God, I hoped he was right. I leaned down, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. "Please baby. Fight for me. Come back to me."