Arranged To Marry A Devil | 1st Draft Complete

Chapter 27 - Not Again

I was fairly certain of two things in that moment: One, weddings were obviously never safe when the mafia was involved and two, I was sick of having my big day ruined by Michael Romano. "Leave her alone," Gio snarled as he was kicked away by my ex-fiance, who was currently hoisting me up to my feet and now had his gun pressed to my back. This man certainly knew how to make and leave a very horrible impression on people. I hadn't even officially met him and I deplored his very existence.

The laugh that left Michael's lips sent a shiver down my spine. "She's rightfully mine. Isn't that right, darling," he then said as he grinned at me and dragged the barrel of his gun down my cheek, making me cringe and recoil away from it.

I was repulsed by this man and my stomach churned at his very presence, not to mention the fact that he was touching me. This was the man who had murdered my family in cold blood and now had the audacity to be here, touching me! He was a sleaze, a murderer and I wanted nothing more than to be in my husband's arms, not this monster's hold. "I'm not yours and I never will be! Now kindly unhand me," I stated as I tried to rip myself free from his grip. His grip only tightened at my attempt however, and I was sure that there would be bruises on my arm from it.

"Keep quiet," Michael then hissed out in a most menacing way, clearly annoyed that I didn't agree with his ownership claim over me.

It truly felt like the universe was punishing me, but I certainly wouldn't let it get away with this injustice against me. Taking my heel, I stomped on Michael's foot and then rammed my elbow into his stomach, making him yell out in pain and double over. That certainly loosened his hold on me and I quickly moved away from him and towards Gio, helping him up to his feet as swiftly as possible. Michael quickly regained composure with a look of murderous rage as he raised his gun at us. My instinct was to block Gio, but Gio's instinct was to pull me behind him and Georgio's instinct was to jump in front of his son to take the bullet.

It had all happened so fast that I couldn't figure out what was going on. A shot rang out, maybe two shots? I wasn't sure. Michael's eyes widened as he fell to the ground while Georgio yelled in pain as we all fell to the ground in a collective heap. "Pop," Gio yelled as he looked down at his father, who had probably just saved our lives in a selfless heroic move.

I heard people in the background frantically talking to the dispatch for nine-one-one, but my attention was mostly on the man who was like a second father to me. There was so much blood and I couldn't pinpoint exactly where it was coming from, that terrified me. Gio apparently found it though, because he was putting pressure on his father's chest.

"There's no exit wound," Gio murmured as he held his father and kept pressure on his chest. "If there was, I would have been hit. Pop, why did you do that? I could have handled a bullet," Gio then said in an angry voice.

Georgio was pale and wasn't speaking, probably because he was in too much pain. I knew Gio was lashing out in anger because of the fear that he could  lose his father. Gently, I placed my hand on Gio's shoulder then looked over at Michael who was indeed dead. He hadn't moved at all. "Who got Michael," I asked quietly, seeing as Georgio didn't have a gun and the shot seemed to have gotten Michael from behind. Right in the back of his head. After spotting the shot that had killed Michael, my stomach churned and I looked away quickly, although I knew that image would haunt me forever.

"Drake," Georgio breathed out as the paramedics arrived and quickly made their way through the panicked people to get to us.

Two paramedics checked out Georgio  before hefting him onto the gurney while two more went to check on Michael, declaring him dead. I could have told them that and saved them the trouble, but they would have checked on him regardless of what I said or didn't say. As they wheeled Georgio away, cops then quickly moved in to start their questioning. "What happened here," one of the cops asked, as he looked at Michael, who was still very much dead on the ground with his brains seeping out of the gaping hole in his head.

"This man," Gio began as he pointed to Michael, "was in love with my wife and jealous that we had gotten married. He showed up uninvited and pulled a gun on my wife. My wife then dug her heels into his foot and elbowed his ribs to get away. The man in question went to shoot us and my father jumped in to save us," he stated calmly as if this were no more than a simple argument and not a murder.

"And who shot him," the cop then asked, pointing to Michael with his pencil.

"We don't know, sir. There was a lot of commotion, as I'm sure you can see. We were more focused on not dying," Gio then replied as he held onto my hand.

The cop nodded his head as he wrote some things down onto his pad before heaving out a deep sigh. "I'm afraid you'll have to come to the station for a little more questioning," he then said, and to give him credit, he did look very remorseful about it. Gio wanted to protest, but I squeezed his hand gently. We did not need to give them any reason to think that we were guilty.

Plus, we needed to give Drake time to stow the weapon he had used to kill Michael. "Can we drive ourselves to the station," Gio then asked the cop.

"Well, no," the cop began, but another cop walked up then.

"Rookie, they can drive themselves," the newly arrived cop stated as he looked at Gio and winked.

Seemed like the Corvello boys had friends in all circles. I should have known, but I was still surprised by it. "Thank you," Gio stated as he ushered me into the house so I could grab my purse. Clearly I couldn't change and that annoyed me as we made our way to the car and got in. As Gio started the car, I noticed that Angelo and Drake were in the back of one of the police cars, as well as a few other people in the other ones. "Are they going to question us all," I asked Gio as I stared at Drake. There was no way he had time to hide the gun in the short amount of time.

If they did, and someone saw Drake pull that trigger to kill Michael, Drake would be put away for years. "Don't worry so much, Princess," Gio stated as he lifted my hand and kissed my knuckles before following the rookie cop to the police station.

My stomach was in knots as I worried about Georgio and Drake's fates. The cops asked the same questions over and over again, probably trying to see if our stories would change, but of course they never did. Finally after many uncomfortable hours, we were free to go. Gio drove us up to the hospital, where Drake and Angelo sat in the waiting room. "You guys are here," I cried out as I hugged them both before hurrying to the bathroom.

My dress was bloodstained, my hair was a mess and my makeup was all over the place, it was like a reenactment of my first wedding, making me laugh in spite of myself. After doing my business and trying to make myself more presentable, I made my way back to the waiting room. "Any word yet," I then asked as I took a seat beside Gio.

"They had to rush him into surgery to remove the bullet. It was way too damn close to pop's heart," Drake began in a choked voice. "He's in ICU now, because clearly that was a lot of trauma to the heart. It missed the main part of the heart and nicked the outer wall. The next twelve to twenty four hours are crucial," he then added as he rubbed his face in a tired and worried fashion.

All the boys looked tired and worried actually, I'm sure I did too, rightfully so.
I knew that suggesting we leave and come back later wasn't an option that any of them would be okay with. I knew they were worried and would want updates immediately, because I know that's exactly how I was feeling. So, we did our very best to get comfortable in the waiting room while we indeed waited for updates on our father.