“Miss Salvatore, we can’t let you go out alone today. We received word from your grandfather that there’s been a threat issued. He didn’t say if it was directed towards you or not but as a precaution, we’ll have to escort you back into the house. Call your grandfather as soon as you can please.”
I level them with a look and start back towards the house. Looking at my phone, I realize I have missed texts from nonno, Cohen and Noah.
Nonno:Stay indoors and call me as soon as you can.
Cohen:Q! I’m coming to you. Stay in your house.
Noah:Alessandra, something has happened. Matteo is in the hospital. We are coming to see you. Please lock yourself up in your room. Set the alarms.
I callmy nonno as soon as I see the texts. Confusion coloring my tone as soon as he gets on the line.
“La mia luce, I’m glad to hear your voice. Are you in the house?”
“No, nonno. I’m walking back inside now. I wanted to go for a run but the guards at the gate wouldn’t let me through and then I got your text. What’s going on? Noah texted that Matteo is in the hospital? What happened?”
“Matteo went home after school and someone shot him, the boys had come home shortly after him and found him in time to call an ambulance but he is in critical condition and needs significant medical attention. The boys are on their way to you. We haven’t figured out who the immediate threat is and with you as a potential target, I need you to stay with them. They will go to the ends of this earth to keep you safe and I know Matteo wouldn’t trust anyone else with you. I have guards coming to stay stationed outside of the house. Your mama will be here with me. There’s enough food and drink here to last a month and we have full video surveillance set up so you can stay on top of Matteo’s prognosis after his surgery. You have full access to the weapons room and there’s an alarm control panel in each room. Oh, and you’ve been excused from school for the foreseeable future. I’ve already made arrangements for Clifford so no need to concern yourself with any of that nonsense further. Please stay safe tesoro. Call me if you need anything.”
“Wait, so I can’t go see him at the hospital? He can’t be alone right now. Where’s his father? The boys should go stay with him if I can’t. Nonno, he can’t be alone, it isn’t fair.”
“Calm down mia nipote cara, it’s a live feed so he will know you are with him via video chat. His father is missing and we haven’t heard from him, I fear he may have caught onto our snooping and may be responsible and has gone into hiding for the time being. Matteo won’t want the boys there if he feels you are in danger but I’ll have guards stationed with him until the threat has been neutralized stay where you are and Noah will set up the live feed as soon as he gets there. Ti amo, la mia luce.”
“Ti amo, nonno. I’ll speak with you soon.”
I enter the house on high alert, doing everything I can not to let my feelings swallow me whole. If I think too hard on how hurt my king is, I know I’ll fall apart and now is not the time. What in the actual fuck is going on? Why would someone target Matteo? I decide to take a quick walk through the house. Immediately I regret not arming myself for my run. I have a very bad feeling about this day and I just know that the trouble isn’t over yet. I head towards the kitchen to grab a knife.
Something is off about the timing of everything. It’s too suspicious that the same day that everything went down with the headmaster and Avery, Matteo gets shot.
Click.
I hearthe click of the safety on a gun as soon as I round the corner to the kitchen and when I look over, I’m honestly not even surprised to see Avery on the other end of it. It’s true what they say, you should never spoil your kids to the extent they expect the world to cower to their every whim. It only makes sense when they become this unstable. This girl probably never heard the word no until I showed up.
“So, you’re the reason Matteo is in the hospital then, I should’ve figured. And what? Now you’re here for me? You couldn’t control yourself after getting expelled, baldy?” I snark at her, holding tight to my calm bravado. I will not show this bitch fear.
“You are such a bitch, you know that? You come into my school. You take my men. You take my academic achievements. You act like the queen bee when everyone knows that that should have rightfully been my place amongst the student body. Since day one you’ve acted like nothing ever affects you. It’s not like you’re anything special. You aren’t even that pretty. Then you take my hair and get me expelled. All because of who your grandpa is? Puh-lease! That’s such bullshit and now you’ll know how it feels to have everything in your life fall apart, to have it all taken away. Matteo is as good as dead, you know, and no one even knows it was me. If he didn’t want me, then he certainly couldn’t have you. I’m glad I shot him. Once I get rid of you, the other boys will come crawling back to meand I’ll make them forget you or Matteo ever existed. I’m more of a woman than you’ll ever be.” She says, though her eyes are wild and crazy.
She’s lost any ability to think straight through her own sense of injustice. She’s thoroughly convinced herself that she’s the one who’s been wronged. Despite shooting someone even. I look into her eyes and keep her focused on me.
“Oh, you poor delusional thing. It’s like watching Mental Ward Barbie having escaped the strait jackets and padded rooms. You’ve even got the fake Barbie hair” I smirk.
“If you’re so dead set on killing me, then do it. Pull the trigger. You think you’ve got it so bad because you aren’t at the top of the totem pole at high school and you got dumped? Do you hear yourself and how ridiculous you sound? So what if you got kicked out of school. There’s only a hundred other prestigious high schools throughout the United States and you still have a rich daddy who can cover it all up for you. I don’t particularly care if you pull the trigger or not. Your aim is shit, based off of what I heard about Matteo’s wound. Not to mention the live streaming cameras stationed all over my house. The fact that you’re even here holding a gun in my direction means that you just signed yours and your family’s death warrants. My nonno is a head mafioso, you stupid, stupid girl.” I take a step towards her, shaking my head in mock disappointment at her utter lack of a brain.
“Pull. That. Trigger. Bitch.” I take the remaining few steps closer, putting my forehead up against the cold metal of the barrel. She clearly didn’t expect such a bold move. Stepping back as realization sets in, the gun to fall out of her hand as it trembles. Her wide, shocked eyes start scanning her surroundings now that she’s realized how deep of a hole she dug herself and now she’s trying not to shit herself. I square up and get right back in her face.
“Huh, looks like someone isn’t as confident as she once was. You thought you could take outmyking and get away with it? Nah boo. Now I’m going to make your life an ever living hell. I’m not going to kill you. No, I’m going to keep you alive and I’m going to take everything. You think what I’ve taken so far is bad? Just wait, I’m going to take everything you love, I’m going to take everything your family loves. Hell, I may even take away everything your friends love just to make them hate you. From now on, you are nothing. You’ll wish you were dead.” I turn from her bug eyed face like I’m going to walk away but throw a roundhouse kick to her head and watch her fall unconscious on the floor.
“What the fuck is going on?!”
Noah yells as he bursts into the kitchen with his gun raised. He must have heard the commotion on his way in.
“Why is Avery on the floor?” Cohen leaps into action as he takes in the scene before him, checking Avery’s pulse.
“She’s the one who shot Matteo. She came here to try and take me out on some twisted revenge plot because you guys broke up with her and then my getting her expelled. I handled it. How’s ‘Teo doing? Is he out of surgery yet?” I ask, waving off their concern towards the scene in the kitchen and focusing on what’s really important.
“Jesus, woman. You’ve had one hell of a day. Matteo’s fine. He was in critical condition when he got to the hospital but the surgery overall went well. He got hit in the spleen but the worst of it was how quickly he was losing blood. A few more minutes and he may have bled out. He’s in recovery now and I can get the live feed set up so you’re the first thing he sees when he wakes up. You’ll need to call your grandfather in the meantime to let him know what’s happened and Cohen can go run you a bath. You need to relax and get some rest feisty girl. You’ve done enough for one day.”
Noah leans in to press a soft kiss to my lips and I allow myself to relax into it. The kiss I give back, showing my gratitude for his care for me.
“Ok Pretty Boy, let’s get this shit cleaned up first, then you and Red will need to join me. Set up a monitor in my bathroom so I can keep an eye on our boy, pretty please.”