I watch both of them while he does a thorough checkup and takes X-rays of her hand with the portable machine.
He regards the digital X-ray and points at the screen. “Yup. Boxer’s fracture, right here.”
Gemma groans. “Seriously?”
Ash turns back to her. “Good news is I don’t think we need to correct anything. A splint for a few weeks, and you’ll be as good as new.”
She exhales loudly. “Great.”
Ash rolls the machine away and gets up. “Sorry, Gem, but you did good. I don’t have a splint here, so I’ll go and get one.”
“Thank you.”
“Of course.” He nods to me and walks away from the bed.
Gemma closes her eyes, and the moment Ash closes the door behind him, a tear runs down her face. Another one joins, and another. She presses her lips together so hard they turn white, and my chest hurts like someone sliced it open.
I climb onto the bed next to her and gently pull her against me. “Shh, it’s okay. You’re safe now.”
She sniffles. “I didn’t know if I was going to make it out alive, or if I’d see you again. I never even got to . . .”
Her mouth turns downward, and more tears flow over her cheeks.
“Never got to what, passerotta?” I prompt her, needing to hear whatever she has to say.
She opens her amber eyes that glitter with moisture. “To tell you I love you.”
I lean my forehead against hers as I struggle with the onslaught of emotions this whole situation and her words have brought along. “Fuck, baby. Don’t you ever do anything like this to me again, you hear me? I won’t survive it a second time. It felt like I was dying without you, like you took my heart with you. And you know what? I don’t want it back, capiche? It’s yours, amore mio. Ti amo tanto.”
I love her so very much.
“Matteo.” Gemma sobs, tremors rolling through her entire body while I hold her.
Eventually, her sobs slow down, and her breathing evens out, but I never let go of her. This is how Ash finds us when he pokes his head into the room. He grimaces and tips his head toward the hallway. I get out of bed as carefully as possible, relieved to see I didn’t wake her.
I join Ash in front of the room, instantly on alert because of his dark expression. “What happened?”
He brushes a hand over his face, just as the elevator doors open on the other side of the long hallway and Zeno steps out, his glum expression mirroring Ash’s.
His eyes narrow as he walks toward us. “Did you tell him?”
Ash shakes his head.
I lift my hand and point in the direction of the living room, no words necessary for them to understand what I want from them.
Once there, I turn to them, my friends, my partners in crime and some of the only people I’d trust with my life, and now Gemma’s too. “Someone tell me what the fuck is going on.”
Ash sighs. “Someone snitched about Frederico, and the news has spread like wildfire among the families.”
I rub the back of my neck. I hate snitches and the chaos they create. It’s exhausting, and I’m tired. All I want to do is stay in bed with mywifeand hold her. Instead, I’m going to have to deal with this shit.
I sigh. “Do they know who killed him?”
Zeno shakes his head. “Nope. Only that he was practically massacred and that we were at the scene.”
My jaw is hurting from all the clenching I’ve done the last few days. “Lorenzo?”
Zeno’s mouth is set in a straight line. “On his way.”