Chapter 89 Wounded

Chapter 89 Wounded
The car continues to move past the speed limit. The sight of Dante barely holding onto his life only causes my tears to keep flowing from my eyes. Fear courses through my body as I feel him getting weaker and weaker. At this point, Dante is already unconscious. His pulse is getting weaker as the minutes pass by. My faith crumbles right in front of me, knowing that we're nowhere near the hospital while Dante continues to lose his blood.

Will Dante still be alive once we get to the hospital? Will he survive despite all the blood he has lost? He's not even conscious now, and I can feel his condition continues to decline. I can feel his soul leaving his body bit by bit. I'm afraid that we're already past the point of saving him. My heart feels heavy from the thought of losing Dante, but I must prepare for the worst.

"Please don't die on me now," I say, holding onto Dante's hand. No response comes from him. He continues to lie there with his head on my lap. I stare at his face, and a sob comes out of me. My crying is unstoppable. I keep crying and crying, knowing I might lose him soon. The Grim Reaper is probably near us already, ready to take Dante's soul with him, and I still can't accept the fact that it might come true soon.

Despite my wavering faith, I continue to press hard on Dante's gunshot wound, trying to keep him from losing more blood quickly. The thought of losing him keeps haunting me as I stare at my bloody hands. My body trembles as fear and anxiety fill me. My breathing then becomes unsteady as the anxiety within me grows quickly. The way Dante's blood drenches my hands and sweater makes everything worse. I keep crying, and my chest aches as I witness Dante's face turning even more pale than before.

Thanks to Enzo's fast driving, we finally arrive at the hospital in fifteen minutes, three times faster than usual. At the moment, my head already feels light and dizzy. Despite the tourniquet on my arm, I still bleed a lot from my wound. The lack of blood flow in my left arm has also caused it to lose its colour. I don't even realise my condition is that bad. With all my focus directed on Dante, I can only worry about him. I didn't even realise I was in so much pain now that we're at the hospital.

I watch as the hospital staff take Dante away to the operating room while the others usher Carlo and me to the emergency room. I sit on one of the beds, and there, the doctor begins to check on my condition. With the amount of blood leaving from my wound, the doctor seems visibly worried as he cleans my wound.

"When did this happen?" the doctor asks. A nurse gets my vitals checked as the doctor continues to clean my wound. I wince at the slightest touch, and my eyes turn teary from the unbearable pain.

Fuck. How long will this take? I feel like I'm going to pass out soon. Everything around me looks blurry and is starting to darken. Blinking my eyes rapidly doesn't seem to keep me awake for any longer.

"Around fifteen minutes ago. We got here as soon as we could," I say.

"You got here quick enough. By the amount of blood you're losing, you might need surgery, but first, let's get an X-ray so I can get a better view of where the bullet is. I'm going to give you this to numb the pain for a bit, okay?" the doctor says.

"Okay."

I wonder why he didn't give me that earlier. I feel so much better now that I can't feel the pain in my arm. I hope this ends quickly. I want to sleep so badly.

After the doctor injects me with some anaesthesia, he covers my wound with a gauze. After I get an image of my wounded arm taken in the X-ray room, I go back to the emergency room. The doctor analyses the image with a frown, and by the looks of it, it seems like there's something wrong with me. I guess the surgery is inevitable.

"Alright. Let's get you to surgery. We need to remove the bullet because where it is lodged is affecting your blood flow. Wait a second," the doctor says, leaving my side. I stay in bed, waiting for the next step in my treatment.

Fuck. Why does this even happen? I should've been more careful. I wouldn't be sitting here if I hadn't been shot earlier. And Dante... What happened? Did he actually try to fight three men by himself earlier? Gosh. He's so fucking reckless. He could've waited for help before jumping straight into danger. Now that he's badly hurt, I don't think he'll be my bodyguard anymore for the next few months. I hate that it will happen. My father will probably assign someone else as my bodyguard, considering Dante's condition. When that happens, I won't be able to see Dante as often as we usually do. There goes the day when I can see Dante whenever I want. How fucking sucks.

"Sandra!"

I look up and see my father approaching me. He stares at my arm. Seeing how much I'm bleeding, he moves to my side and holds my hand. I hold his hand now that he's the only one I can seek comfort from. I frown at him. The concern in his eyes is unmistakable, and for a moment, I'm glad that despite all that has happened between us, he's actually worried about me.

A part of me reminds me of all the terrible things he did to me before, but for now, I decide to focus on his presence and how worried he is about me now. I can't ignore the fact that he did terrible things to me in the past, but then again, what happened in the past stays in the past. A part of me still holds the grudge against him for all the punishments he's given me, but another part of me convinces me that he's a changed man.

Although something inside of me can't truly forgive and forget what he did, I can't ignore his effort for wanting to be better. One of the proofs is that he doesn't force me to do what he wants anymore, as he did months ago. He has already found my replacement, which is Dante, and I'm glad that he won't force me to be our family's next leader anymore. Other than that, he hasn't really punished me for not doing what he wants, and that's an even better achievement. He used to punish me for the smallest fault, but now he never does it anymore, and I'm glad of it.

The nurse pushes the curtains aside while the other takes care of the bed I'm in. As the bed moves, I feel my body weaken, and my vision gets darker. With my hand holding my father's, I finally feel safe enough to let my body rest and let everyone do their job to fix me. Once I'm awake, I hope Dante is already out of the operating room and is fine. I expect him not to die today or anytime soon. He should stay fucking alive.