Chapter 66

**Matteo**

I heard a gunshot, but I didn’t feel anything. I opened my eyes immediately, and there was chaos around me. I pulled out my gun and I started shooting blindly. I didn’t know who I hit, but I shot everyone who got in my sight. I bent over Lily to see her bleeding from her stomach.

The woman shot herself. She was told to shoot me, but she shot herself instead. On purpose. The woman is too good for this world, and definitely too good for me!

“She needs to get out of here fast!”, I yelled at someone. We only brought a small group out on the field, but there was reinforcement around. At Ennio’s command they moved and got over here fast. The Brunos had their men stationed on the grounds, but it seemed to be rather equal numbers. That means that we had a chance to get out of this, with Lily.

“Got her.”, I heard, and I saw Nino moving over to me. “Have my back, will ya?”, Nino nodded, and I got up to shoot everyone aiming at them. Nino ran towards the exit where our vans were standing. I just hoped that Chiara was in one of them.

“Not so fast.”, I heard behind me, and I turned around fast to face Tommaso. His gun was trained on me, and mine on him.

“She was nice and tight.”, he grinned evilly. I felt my body tense. “And she sucks dick like a beast.”, he taunted.

“You’re a son of a bitch. She’s your fucking sister!”, I yelled at him.

Someone came running to us, and I felt a kick against my hand, and I lost grip on my gun. I didn’t waste a second, and I kicked Tommaso’s hands as well to get his gun out of his hands as well. He grunted and tried to punch me in the face. I just wasn’t an innocent victim hanging from the ceiling. I knew how to fight back.

I reached into my back pocket to get my knife out, and we circled around each other to find the best shot in. Around us chaos was ensuing, but it didn’t reach me. I was fully focused on Tommaso. I was set on getting some revenge in for Lily and all the things he did to her.

Tommaso threw a punch that I blocked, and I immediately responded by kicking his stomach making him lose his balance. Tommaso caught his balance quickly and punched me. We circled again. He tried again, but I took a sidestep, punching him in the face instead. What followed was a fist fight like no other.

I was panting hard, but I kept going. I wanted Tommaso death. Or alive, and me getting to torture him to death. We circled each other again. I noticed he was panting as well. I was looking for his weak spot, but he was hiding it well. Of course, we were both trained to do so. Completely focused on each other, forgetting about everything going on around us.

Then I heard someone yell my name followed by a gunshot close to me, and instinctively I ducked. The bullet hit Tommaso in his shoulder, and he stumbled back, but kept himself standing. He advanced and swung at me but missed. I punched him and stabbed him with the knife I held in my hand. He kept kicking at me, even though he was bleeding hard.

“Matteo!”, I heard Luciano’s voice. He threw me a gun, and I used it quickly to kill Tommaso. I was done with this guy.

“Status?”, I asked him while we took cover behind a small wall in the garden.

“Tommaso down, Mario captured. We are in the lead. About half of their men have retreated.”, he said quickly.

“What about us?”, I asked. Luciano grinned.

“No major injuries, except Lily. Nino took her away to the van. No idea where he took her though. Ennio and Vita are still out there with their teams.”, he briefed me.

“Did Chiara come?”, I asked. Luciano shook his head. Damn. Suddenly I hoped that Nino would take Lily to wherever Chiara was as quickly as he could.

From where we sat, I observed the battlefield to see where I could help. The thing was that we were on the upper hand on all sides that I could see. I saw Vita stomping over to where we were sitting, while shooting a few men that were trying to run away.

“Wuss! Are you going to let us clean your mess for you?”, she grinned widely. I smiled back, happy to see her.

“Sure, why would I get my hands dirty when I can let you do it for me?”, I joked with her.

“They are running away. The top of the Bruno famiglia are wiped out.”, she said. I heard the gunshots getting less and less around me, until there were none.

Ennio walked up to us.

“Ready to go home? My men will clean up the dirt.”, he smiled. I nodded, and we headed back to the vans.

“Any word from Nino?”, I asked them.

“Yeah, he took Lily home. Chiara was ready for us in the clinic.”, Ennio replied. Good, at least Lily was getting the help she needed.

When we got home, I marched straight to the clinic, searching for Chiara when I couldn’t see her immediately. I was ready to demand her team to go get her for me, when one of the nurses came up to me.

“Chiara said to let you know she is operating on Lily. She has been in for two hours already, but I have no update for you. I ask you to wait here.”, she said as she pointed to some chairs. I sat down, knowing that it had no use to start yelling now. The best thing to do now was to let Chiara work her miracles. I had all faith in her abilities. It was the first time that she patched up people that were very injured.

I sat down fiddling my thumbs, there was not much else to do. So, I went to get another cup of coffee to pass the time. And another, and another. I kept checking my watch at least twice every minute. I was getting anxious when another hour passed. Three hours in surgery never had been a good sign.

I went to get another cup of coffee. It was the middle of the night by now, but I was used to being up at odd hours well into the morning. Besides, there was no way that I was going to be able to sleep not knowing how Lily was doing.

Finally, Chiara came walking up to where I was sitting. She took off her mask and hat and slumped in the chair next to me. I looked over at her expectantly and anxiously at the same time. By the way she was looking, I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to know the details.

“She is stable, but also in an induced coma to help her recover.”, Chiara knew to not sweet talk me. I nodded to her. “She got a bullet in her stomach, which caused some internal bleedings that we managed to stop.”, she said. I knew that already.

Chiara faced me and looked very serious. “It was bad, Matteo.”, she said softly. “I know how important she is to you, which is why I kept trying and trying. But if she gets out of the coma in a reasonable state, she will have a long way to go to recovery.”, Chiara continued. I nodded.

“No, Matteo. A long way.”, Chiara emphasized. “She will need help with everything.”

“I’m willing to do whatever it takes. If she will let me.”, I admitted to Chiara. Doctors have this way of getting the truth out of you.

“Good. She will need it.”, Chiara said. She patted my shoulder and got up to see her other patients.

I rubbed my face with both my hands. The aftermath of it all was starting now. I wasn’t sure if I was really ready for it, but I meant what I said to Chiara. I wanted to make it up to Lily, for what she had to endure because of me. Not that I could ever get even with her.