48. Valerie

Chapter forty-eight

Valerie

M y breath lodges in my throat as I turn and take in the scene in front of me. Antonio holds a gun, staring down at Adriano on the ground. It appears Adriano pushed him out of harm's way, taking the bullet intended for his younger brother.

Ambrose rushes over to where Gus and Adriano are on the floor. "Valerie, call Doctor R on my phone."

His words feel as though they hit the side of my head and fall to the ground next to my feet. A haze overtakes me, everything feels as if it's happening in slow motion, my eyes follow Antonio as he walks off the patio.

"Valerie!" Ambrose's gruff voice yells. "Call the fucking doctor please." His eyes are wide as he begs. My eyes travel to the side of him where Gus sits with Adriano's head in his lap passively rubbing his brother's head as if he were sleeping, all while Ambrose is rushing around trying to stop the bleeding.

I jump into action and dial the number, rushing over with the phone on speaker. Ambrose barks out our address and the situation at hand and all the male voice says is "Bring him around the back, I'll meet you there. "

The bodyguards help get Adriano–who thankfully is still conscious–down to the parking garage and into the back of Ambrose's car, which I'm thinking of deeming ‘the ambulance' at this point.

"Valerie, can you please get in the car? We have to go," he says and I jump, realising I'm the only one still not in the car.

It's complete chaos at the hospital and if it wasn't the same one my papá was at I'd be completely lost. The backdoor of the hospital is in a dingy alleyway, it flies open and my father's doctor stands, eyes wide as he sees me but he switches back to emotionless as they rush Adriano past him.

Gus ushers me in and closes the door, once inside a surgical team gets straight to work and a nurse walks up to us. "Only one of you can stay here. Once the press gets word this place will be crowded."

"I'm staying," Ambrose says and I watch as Gus' mouth opens and closes as if he wants to say something but instead he shuts it, nods and walks towards the front of the hospital.

"Hey, Gus wait up." I jog after him. His phone is up to his ear. "Gus!"

"What Valerie?" He snaps, eyes wide.

"I-I didn't know where we were going."

"I, am going to try and console my younger brother, while my fucking twin is going through hell in there. You, are going to sit in the waiting room until Ambrose comes out."

I step back as the impact of his words crash into me. Aside from having an intimidating aura, Gus hardly ever lashes out at anyone, but with everything that has happened today, I give him the space he asks for. I nod and walk towards the waiting room.

I don't blame him and I try not to take it personally. If I was in his position, and I was a few weeks ago, I'd probably be a mess on the floor outside of Adriano's room.

As I sit down, the wave of everything that just happened settles over me. Mattheo is dead, Antonio shot him, and Adriano got shot. They managed to sneak guns in.

Ambrose rushes into the waiting room a few minutes later and by the time he does, my tears for Mattheo have dried and now the only ones left are for the brothers themselves.

"He's going in for surgery–" he stops and looks around. "Where's Augustus?"

"Call with Antonio," I barely whisper.

"He's going in for surgery and they said they'd call when he gets out. The bullet hit vital nerves in his shoulder and he's lost a lot of blood, so they are worried about the use of his hand…"

I nod taking in the rest of the information Ambrose says but everything after the use of his hand is numb to my ears. All of this over an idiot like Mattheo. Adriano might lose the use of his hand over this.

"C'mon let's get Gus and head home."

We barely make it through the door to the entry hall of the villa when Antonio appears and heads straight for Ambrose.

"Valerie, go to my room," Ambrose says as Antonio's fist connects with the side of his jaw.

"You're a piece of shit, just like Papá."

Another hit. Ambrose stumbles back a bit before straightening up.

"You knew!"

Another hit.

My stomach curls as I watch Ambrose try to stay upright, he's just standing there, taking it.

Gus eventually gains some semblance in himself and pulls Antonio off of Ambrose. Antonio rips himself out of Augustus' grip, tears fall from his eyes. I move towards him but stop in my tracks when his next words leave his lips.

"You knew I loved her."

"Antonio, I didn't want to fucking fall in love with her," Ambrose says.

"You're a piece of shit and an even worse brother. If you even cared about me in the slightest you would've stayed away from her, but all you care about is yourself. The amazing Ambrose Vitale could never give a shit about anyone but himself."

I watch as Ambrose swallows back his words.

"What? Nothing to say now? You're supposed to be our older brother, to be there for us but you treat all of us like shit."

Ambrose sighs and turns to walk to his room.

"And you're too much of a pussy to even admit when you're wrong, you're a coward just like Papá," Antonio yells as he storms off in the opposite direction.