Chapter 91 Life

Chapter 91 Life
"Where have you been?"

Antonio left half an hour ago, and my father has only returned to my room. I wonder what took him so long. Is it something to do with Dante? Is he getting worse or better? He looks worried. Fuck. I can't wait until tomorrow. I want to see Dante now.

"Dante's room. The doctor said his condition has stabilised, but he's still in the ICU for precaution," my father says.

Thank goodness he's getting better. I hope he's not lying to make me feel better. However, if he's fine now, that means it should be fine for me to visit him. If he won't let me go, there must be something wrong. I don't want to wait until tomorrow to find the truth. Dante should be alive and well, and not dead. I'm not ready to lose him yet. He's the only one who makes me want to stay. Without him, what's the point of staying anymore?

"Can I see him now? Please?" I ask.

"No. You still need to rest," my father says as he settles on the chair next to me.

I knew it. I know he won't back down that easily. I just want to see Dante for a bit and see that he's actually fine. It's not like I'll get tired from visiting Dante. I've rested enough anyway. Another nap won't really change anything other than making me even more anxious about Dante.

"No. Now, father," I say.

"Tomorrow will be here before you realise it," my father says, shrugging.

"Please. Just for a few minutes," I plead.

Tears well in my eyes. As the memories of Dante and me fill my mind, my concern for Dante's well-being grows inside of me. My father said it himself that the doctor told him Dante's condition might get worse later. That's the reason why he's still in the ICU. That also means there's a reason that I might still lose him. Unless he's already out of that forsaken room, I won't be able to rest anyway.

Fuck. I don't want him to die. We just got together for fuck's sake. He's finally accepted his feelings for me and has the courage to let himself get close to me. He can't leave me like this. I want to spend more time with him, more than we did before. He must stay alive.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" my father asks.

I blink my eyes rapidly, wiping the tears from my face as I shake my head. I want to tell him everything about Dante and me, but the lump in my throat makes it hard for me to breathe and say anything. He'll probably get mad, but he'll find out about Dante and me anyway. Sooner or later, he'll figure things out. I'd rather let him know about it now. Fuck his opinions. If he says he won't let me be with Dante, I'll still stay with him. I don't care about what he'll say.

"What is it? Tell me," my father says.

"I don't want him to die," I say, finally letting my feelings take over my body as I sob in front of my father.

It's embarrassing that I let my father see me like this. After all that he's done and said to me before, I've never let him truly see me crying and sobbing loudly like this. However, the thought of losing Dante makes me lose control over myself. Just the thought of it hurts too much. I can't pretend to be fine in front of my father anymore. I mean, I've lost my mother and brothers before. I don't want to lose Dante as well. Fucking hell. Am I cursed or something? Why do all the people I love die?

My father pulls me into a hug, and I can only return his embrace as I continue to cry onto his shoulder. I keep crying and crying. The pain in my chest only makes me cry even more. He rubs my back in an attempt to soothe me, but it doesn't seem to work. The thought of losing Dante scares me too much. I feel like I can't calm myself down.

"He won't. He's fine now. The worst has passed," my father says.

"He's lost so much blood. I saw it," I say.

After what I witnessed earlier, the way Dante was bleeding on my bedroom floor and lying there weakly, I can't help but doubt everything, despite what I've heard from my father. Fifteen minutes was such a long time to let someone bleed out. By the time we got to the hospital, Dante had probably lost half of his blood. We should've gotten here faster, but I know that it's impossible. Enzo has driven the car as fast as it can go. We've gone through so many red lights on the way here. There was no way we could've gotten to the hospital faster than earlier.

Dante shouldn't have gotten hurt in the first place. Why are the Romanos so hell-bent on making my family's life a living hell? What did my father or someone in the family do to them to make them have such hatred towards us? As far as I know, we've barely done anything wrong to them. They've always been the first to attack us. Even when we did nothing, they still hurt us anyway. Even if one of our family members did something wrong, why should someone else pay the price? This is why I hate this mafia bullshit. Once someone in the family did something to someone, the other would also take the fall.

"He won't die. I promise. He's fine now. Even if he dies, that means he's done a good job at protecting you, and that's what matters," my father says.

After hearing his words, I push my father away and stare at him in disbelief. To him, it sounds like Dante is just another person he can sacrifice. Just a pawn in his chess game that he can easily discard. He doesn't really care about anyone's life, does he? After all that Dante has done for him, he only reduces him to someone who can be easily replaced. Lose one, and then another one will appear out of nowhere. It's always been as simple as that. Gosh. I thought he had changed, but what he just said tells me otherwise.

"Do you even hear yourself?" I ask.

"What's wrong with what I said? It's true. I'd rather have you alive than anyone else. Fuck. I'd sacrifice my own life to save you," my father says.

"It's not only about the life, but it's also about him as a person. How could you say something like that so easily? Dante's not just a tool you can fucking toss away when he no longer serves any purpose. His life is as important as mine," I say.

My father stares at me in silence, and then he scoffs, shaking his head in disbelief. If he thinks I was wrong, then he can't be helped anymore. I guess he's already too fucked up in the head to care about anyone else other than himself. Dante is one of his best men, but it seems to him his life is worth less than mine, who's a nobody other than a mafia boss's daughter.

"You're getting this wrong. I care about him. He's not just a fucking tool, as you said," my father says.

"Really? If you really care about him, you'll care about his life as much as mine," I say.

"I do! But is it that bad that I care about my daughter more than someone else? Is it wrong to want you alive more than him? I would've saved you both, but if I have to choose, of course I'll choose you first," my father says.

I stay silent, knowing that my father is right. It's not wrong for him to choose me first because I'm his daughter, but still, he talked about Dante's life earlier as if it were worth nothing more than mine. Well, yes, it's Dante's job to keep me alive, but I'd never let him sacrifice his life to keep me alive. He can't throw his life away so that I can stay alive.

"Ever since he started working for me, I've known he's special. After all that he's done, he's like a son to me. He's too important for me. Do you think he goes wherever I go because I need his protection? No. I'm preparing him for something. Something that you never want to do," my father says.

"What is it?" I ask.

Is this it? Is my father finally confessing about what Dante and he have been doing all this time? Is he going to say that he's been preparing Dante to be our family's next leader? Is this finally the time he's letting the secret out? I hope so. I'm tired of him keeping secrets from me. He needs to come clean right now.