Chapter 43 43

Chapter 43 43


Domenico was standing quietly by the window, the late afternoon sun spilling through the hospital windows, painting the white walls gold. He stood there quietly by the door, watching the scene unfold before him.

He didn't move, didn't speak, he just stood there, his eyes fixed on the woman and the girl who were holding on to each other like the world had stopped spinning. Anna's face was wet with tears, her hands trembling as she cupped her daughter's cheeks.

"Lucy," she whispered, her voice cracking. "Oh, my baby... my little girl. What have they done to you?"

Lucy's own tears rained down harder. She buried her face against her mother's shoulder, holding her tight and refusing to let go.

"I thought you were gone, Mom. I thought they took you away for good."

"I'm here," Anna sobbed, running her fingers through Lucy's hair. "I'm here now. You're safe, you hear me? You're safe."

Dom felt his chest tighten at the sight. Over the decades, he'd learned to numb himself to pain, to regret and to the wreckage that came with this life.

But watching this, this raw and simple love between mother and daughter, it hit something deep inside him.

It reminded him of his own mother. He thought of his own mother, the fear in her eyes the moment that woman almost killed. And then he remembered the incident at the mall many years ago when the woman had jumped in front of them at the armed robber that would have blown his mother's brains out. For the first time in a long while, Domenico felt something like peace.

He let out a slow breath and looked away, not wanting to interrupt the moment.

The sound of their quiet sobs filled the room, mixed with the steady beeping of the heart monitor beside Lucy's bed.

Lucy pulled back a little, eyes red and puffy but she was smiling.

It was small, shaky smile that made the exhaustion in her face seem softer.

"Thank you," she said suddenly before looking toward him. "Domenico... thank you so much for finding her."

He blinked, caught off guard for a second. Then he gave a faint shrug, his voice low and rough.

"Don't thank me," he said. "You don't owe me anything."

But she wouldn't let it go. "No," Lucy said firmly, her voice still shaking. "If it weren't for you, she'd still he out there. Maybe dead. You didn't have to help us. But you did."

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "You don't understand," he said quietly. "I owed her long before today. And I am verygladrht I paid for what she did for me, for us."

Anna turned to him, wiping her eyes as she looked closely at him now. Now that he'd said that, her interest instantly piqued.

She saw him clearly, older now, scarred but she recognised him instantly. Her heart skipped as the memories came rushing back, and it was so heavy and fast that her knees nearly buckled.

"You," saw whispered. "I... I remember you."

Dom nodded slowly. "Yeah," he said softly before a small smile slipped out of his face. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

Her hand went to her mouth. "You were that boy... from the mall. You and your mother... You...you were about to get shot and I-" she stopped as the rest of that day slowly dawned on her.

Her face fell as she saw him nod, chuckling now. "You stopped him before he could shoot at us. You saved her life. You saved my life. So you have no idea how glad I am that I am doing the same for you now. I would do it over and over again if I had the chance to."

Anna's eyes filled with the tears again. "Oh my God," she said in disbelief. "All these years... and you found us?"

Dom smiled faintly even though the smile didn't reach his eyes. "I guess life has a funny way of circling back, huh? Small world they say."

He didn't tell her about the guilt that he carried,that her life and her daughter’s weretabglee in the same dark world that had nearly destroyed his own life.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. She had been an innocent and good woman all her life but one bad decision by her husband's gambling addiction and dent had dragged them straight to hell. Dom hated it.

But that was live. Life didn't always act the way you wanted. Sometimes you just had to shove whatever it gave you down your throat and fight it or watch it play out.

But he hated that people like Anna always paid for the mistakes of others. He looked at Lucy, sitting weakly in her hospital bedehole still gripping her mother's.

He wondered what kind of future she had now. Could she ever escape this world? Could any of them?