166

166
Raella's POV
My face burned, my ears were ringing, and my head felt like it was packed with wet sand. As I looked from Vincenzo to Damian’s body and back again, my brains sloshed from side to side.

His eyes were dark and menacing. He was pure wrath.

Then he shifted towards me and everything about him softened. Vincenzo dropped to his knees next to me and cupped my face in his massive, gentle hands. “Tell me you’re okay.”

As long as you’re with me, I’m perfect.

“I’m okay,” I rasped. My throat was clogged with emotion. “Is it over? How many more are there?”

Vincenzo looked over his shoulder, scanning the doors. “I think it’s over. Fuck, I hope so. I killed Dominic and then ran here to stop Carmella. Then Damian showed up. They were coming out of the woodwork tonight.”

“Wait—you killed Dominic?”

He winced. “You don’t need to worry about that now.”

“Are you hurt?” I smoothed my hands down his broad shoulders and over the firm plane of his chest. He felt like the most solid thing in the world right then.

He grabbed one of my hands and pressed it to his lips. A bit of blood rubbed off my hands and smeared across his chin. I looked back at his shoulders and realized I had been spreading Carmella’s blood all over his shirt. “Raella, don’t worry about me right now. If you’re okay, I’m okay.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m okay, I think. I’m sore and I might have a concussion, but I—I just don’t understand how this all happened. I was having a really good day. Dinner with my dad went well and I—”

The words lodged in my throat at the same time my heart dropped to my stomach.

I forgot. How could I forget?

“What is it?” Vincenzo stiffened, looking around for danger.

There wasn’t any more danger. Just the wreckage of what had already happened.

The carnage littered all around the entryway.

Including the body of my father.

“Dad!” I pushed away from Vincenzo and crawled across the floor.

When Carmella shot him, he had fallen backward into the hallway. Everything that happened after that had been a whirlwind of fear and survival. I didn’t have time to check on him or look to see if he was moving. I couldn’t worry about him and make it out alive.

Now, I was alive…

But my dad might be gone.

Vincenzo made it to my dad’s side before I did.

“Is he alive?” I didn’t want to hear the answer. For just a second, I wanted everyone I loved to be safe and okay. I wanted my world to be right.

I crawled past Vincenzo and looked down into my father’s face. He was pale. There was too much blood soaking through his cotton polo. I couldn’t even remember what color it had been when he got here tonight. Green? Maybe blue? It was a muddy brown now.

Vincenzo had his fingers pressed to my father’s neck.

“Vincenzo?” I whispered quietly enough that even I could barely hear myself.

“There’s a pulse,” he said finally. “It’s faint. If he’s going to survive, we need to move fast.”

Vincenzo bolted up and grabbed his phone, but I couldn’t leave. I couldn’t walk away. Not again.

I grabbed my dad’s hand and tried to ignore how cold his fingers were. The tips were turning blue. “You’re going to be okay, Daddy.”

I wasn’t sure if I was saying it for him or myself. Probably both. God knew we both needed some comforting lies right about then.

“You have to be okay. I just got you back.” My voice broke and I pressed my cheek to his shoulder. Tears streamed down my face and dripped onto his already-ruined shirt. “I’m so sorry I dragged you into this. This is all my fault.”

In the background, I heard Vincenzo on the phone. He was telling Lorenzo what happened and arranging an off-the-record ambulance ride to the hospital. I didn’t know when I’d stop being amazed at how much control and power he had in this city, but it wasn’t today.

“You’re going to be okay,” I said again. He still wasn’t moving, but I believed my own lie a little more.

Vincenzo was here now.

If he was here, I knew everything would be alright.