Chapter 70 Chapter 70
Chapter 70 Chapter 70
Massimo
“Ayanna,” I grit out. “Ayanna!”
“Massimo, you’ve got to stay still,” Ms. Tremaine lectures from somewhere beyond my blurred vision. “You’ve got to let Tulio do his job.”
My arms swipe at whoever it is hovering over me. Clobbering smacks that could easily knock a normal person off their feet. In the blinding fever of my pain, I don’t have a single fuck to give if I do. I keep swinging my arms and finally connect with solid skin.
A punch to the throat.
Dr. Tulio chokes at the force of it. He stumbles several steps back and grips his throat with terror widening his eyes.
“Massimo, what the hell!?” Ms. Tremaine gasps. She appears as a distorted shape in my limited vision. “Dr. Tulio was administering your treatment. You’re acting like a barbarian.”
“Aya!” I croak in my weak, husky voice. “Aya!”
There’s not much I can think or say in moments like this, where my heart feels like it’s being ripped apart. It’s all I can do to simply stay alive. Being drugged into numbness and slumber have been how I’ve managed so long.
But this moment’s different.
Even as the pain eats me up, the only thing I can think of is Ayanna.
She’s gone. My angel is gone.
Ms. Tremaine frowns as if reading my thoughts. “Massimo, we’ll get her back. It’s more important right now that you let him treat you.”
Distantly, between the debilitating bursts of pain, I recognize she’s right. My giant, muscular husk of a body falls still. Dr. Tulio cautiously approaches the exam table I’m lying on inside his office.
“No sleep,” I grunt. “I don’t want to fucking sleep through this. Just treat me, then numb me. I’ve got to get Aya.”
“But, Mr. Rinaldi, the treatment will work better—”
“DO IT!” I roar, and he jumps like a frightened mouse.
There are no more protests. Dr. Tulio seems to realize that I’m too thick-skulled for him to get through to, so he falls silent and works away. Needles pierce my skin. Pain radiates through me. Breaths become a luxury.
I grit my teeth and bear it.
An eternity seemingly passes by before Dr. Tulio has administered the treatment beginning to end and is stepping back. He rolls off his latex gloves and turns to admire the EKG machine beside the exam table.
“You’re steadying out,” he says. His tone holds a note of somberness and disapproval. “But please keep in mind any exertion may—”
“I’ve got to go,” I interrupt, swinging my legs over the side of the table. I wrench away the electrode pads and wires that have been connected to me and barrel out of the room with more force than a canon.
It’s how I crash down the halls too. I’m on a rampage as I bark at my men to assemble and get ready to launch our mission.
We’re about to track down Marco and his men and massacre every last one of them. No mercy. No survivors. Only barbaric bloodshed and the sweetest revenge.
Ms. Tremaine reaches me one last time at the door to plead with me. Worry glosses her eyes in the form of tears as she tells me I’m not strong enough.
“Get out of the way,” I growl, strapped down with weapons and ammunition.
“Massimo, don’t you realize how insane you’re being? This won’t end well!”
“I don’t give a fuck!” I snarl in her face. Ferocity deepens my voice beyond its usual rough and low sound.
Ms. Tremaine doesn’t dare challenge me again.
With an incline of my head, I motion to my men that it’s time to go.