Chapter 134 Fake
Dakota's P.O.V.
I walk over to Ari and kiss him before returning to the nurse, who is glaring at me by the door. Galdino and my parents are in the hall waiting for me to throw out the trash.
"You can't touch me. That's against the law." The blonde bitch has the nerve to say. I look at the nurse passing by the door.
"Sandra, can you educate this new nurse and tell her who runs this place?" I like Sandra. She's older and doesn't act like I'm going to kill everyone. She looks at the blonde, who won't meet her eyes.
"Miss Kondrati, I have no idea who she is. She doesn't work on this unit," Sandra says before walking away. I crack my knuckles and walk over to where the phony is standing.
"Do you even work in this hospital, and are you a nurse?" She crosses her arms and smirks.
"I don't have to answer your questions." I grab her hair and pull hard.
"Wrong answer. Why are you here, and why are you trying to be alone with Ari?" When I see tears in her eyes, I pull her hair harder.
"Someone make her stop!" she whines.
"The only reason I'd tell her to stop is so we can get some popcorn. You brought this ass-kicking on yourself." Sarah says as she reaches over and gives Ari a high-five.
"Why did you come to this room?" I twist my hand in her hair and pull so hard I'm surprised it's not coming out at the root.
"A man paid me to come to this room. He said that Mr. Buccheri couldn't move, so I was supposed to take pictures of me giving him a blowjob and send them to him." I smack her hard across the face.
"You thought it was okay to come in here and rape my man? You have some nerve thinking you would get away with this. He has to stay on his stomach, so exactly how were you planning on doing that? Who was the man who paid you?" She's crying now, but I don't care. Ari can move more than she was told, but she still planned to come here and do something against his will.
"I don't know his name, but he kept talking about his twin brother." I should have known. I guess they thought that if they had gotten that picture, it would have been enough to make me leave Ari. What makes them think I would ever want to be with them, even if I wasn't already with Ari?
"What's your name?" I ask, pulling her hair more.
"Maria Williams." I release her hair slightly so I can look into her eyes.
"Well, Maria Williams, if I ever see you near my family again, you will not be walking away. That includes all of the Kondratis and Buccheris. Do I make myself clear?" She has the nerve to glare at me.
"You can't tell me who I can be around." Everyone gasps, and I smile.
"Wrong answer." I twist her hair harder and throw her against the wall. Maria falls to the ground, and I step on her hand hard when she tries to stand.
"Would you like to change your answer?" I ask her, twisting my heel harder into her hand.
"Fine, I'll stay away." I move away so she can get up. I know bitches like her like to have the last word, so I wait, and she doesn't disappoint. As she's walking out the door, she turns to me, holding her hand.
"Maybe your man wants a woman with more class." She looks past me to Ari. "If you ever want a real woman, look me up."
I see Galdino move my mom and dad away from the door. When Marie turns around, I kick her as hard as I can in the back, and she flies out into the hallway. I walk over to her when she tries to stand and put my foot on her back, holding her to the ground.
"Say another word, and I'll give you a one-way ticket to the morgue." I move off her, and she crawls to the elevator. Sarah yells at Maria as she stumbles onto the elevator.
"Why don't you go to the store on your way home to get some Fix-A-Flat for that saggy ass?" Everyone bursts out laughing as the elevator door closes, and I hug Sarah.
"I love you," I tell her as we return to the room. I wash the blood off my hands before I go to Ari and run my fingers through his hair.
"Mom, Dad, this is Ari." He holds his hand out to them.
"Sorry, I can't get up," he says with a smile.
"It's nice to meet you, but I wish it weren't under these circumstances. Thank you for protecting our daughter." Mom kisses his head, and Ari's eyes tear up. He tries to hide it, but she sees them and looks concerned as she looks at me. I mouth that I'll explain later, so she nods.
"I love her. I would give my life to keep her safe. However, it's a little hard to do when she's beating everyone up while I'm lounging around in bed." I laugh and kiss his cheek.
"Someone has to keep the riff-raff out of here. So the twins sent that bitch, someone burned your house down at almost the exact same time, and they sent Galdino a message that he needed to make me leave Ari. I think all these things are connected, but I don't want to jump to the wrong conclusion. Who else would want to keep our families apart?" I look at Galdino, where he's leaning against the wall. I can't imagine how he must feel about losing his family home. On the way to the hospital, the police finally called him to tell him about his house. I agreed that it was odd that no one else had called him.
"Just about everyone you met at the benefit would want to keep our families separated. We are the two biggest, most powerful families in the region. If we become one, they're scared we will eliminate them. Being together will put huge targets on your backs, but I don't want that to deter you. You're not going to be fighting against them alone." A trickle of fear races down my spine, but when I look around the room, everyone is nodding in agreement with what Galdino said. I continue stroking Ari's head. We need to start planning. I know that if people feel they can't reach Ari and me, they will start going after our families. We can't let that happen. If they touch anyone in our family, I will kill them all. Another thought crosses my mind: How did Maria get up to this unit so easily? It's time we find the snakes hiding among us.