Gabriel
Icling to Susanna as I lower her to the ground. Blood is pooling from her abdomen.
“What have you done?” I snarl, glaring up at Luca, who’s looking at Susanna in shock. As if he thought shooting her with a gun wouldn’t do anything to her. I know he was aiming for me and she got in the way but it was still fucking reckless. I could kill Luca if Susanna didn’t need me right now.
“Gabriel,” she gasps out, gripping my hand. There’s so much fear in her eyes but also trust. Trust for me to take care of her. Trust for me to get her out of this situation. I’ve never had anyone trust me like this before.
Susanna and I, despite how we met, are perfect for each other.
And I can’t lose her.
“She needs to get to the hospital,” I say. “If you don’t want me to kill you right this second, then call for a fucking ambulance.”
Luca hesitates only for a moment before he does as I say. I hear him talking to the police as I hold Susanna to me. Her eyes begin to flutter closed.
I’m someone who never involved the police in my business but right now, that needs to change. To save Susanna, I have to put aside my own wants and fears. I have to do what’s best for her.
Is that what love is?
We haven’t known each other long but she’s revealed her deepest secrets to me. She chose to marry me. She chose to trust me.
Now it’s my turn to step up and show her that she chose wisely when she married me.
I don’t have to just be a man who lives within darkness. I can be a man with a wife who was made for him. Who understands him. Who accepts him.
Susanna’s pulse is weak but it’s still there. The blood won’t stop seeping down her dress.
Luca puts his gun away before the ambulance arrives. “I was aiming for you,” he says.
“I know. But look at what happened.”
“You’re one to talk. You goaded me into this. You wanted to make me angry when you kidnapped her. When you taunted me.”
“I did,” I admit. “I wanted you angry. But right now, I need to focus on saving Susanna. And you should too. How will your wife feel if she finds out you were the one to kill her sister?”
Luca goes quiet at that.
The ambulance finally arrives and Luca lets them inside. The paramedics get to work, placing Susanna on a gurney and stuffing her wound.
“I’m her husband,” I say.
“You can ride with us,” the paramedic tells me.
I don’t spare Luca a backwards glance.
The ambulance gets Susanna to the hospital fast and then everything after that is a blur. She’s taken straight into surgery and I’m left behind in the waiting room.
That’s when I see Nina and Luca and Maria, Susanna’s mom, burst through the doors.
“What happened?” Nina demands, rushing up to me. “Did you hurt my sister?”
I glance at Luca. “I take it you didn’t tell them.”
Nina looks between me and her husband. “Tell me what?”
Luca sighs, running his hand down his neck. “I was aiming for Gabriel. I swear. But then… Susanna ran in front of him right as I fired. And…”
“So you’re the one who shot my sister?” The pain in Nina’s voice is clear.
