Chapter 33

Aurelio~

As soon as we pulled into the hospital's parking lot, Nero and I got out of the car, then headed straight towards the double doors. I didn't have the kind of pull here that I did in Sartori territory, so as much as I wanted to storm inside and make demands, I knew that I couldn't.

When we approached the register desk, the nurse's blue eyes widened as she got a good look at us. It was more than just how we were dressed in suits this late in the evening; it was that we looked like we belonged to the Mafia. Not only could we be mistaken for hitmen, but it was in the way that we carried ourselves as well.

"May…may I…I help you?" she stammered, either impressed, scared, or worried that we were here to kick off a war.

"We're here to see Savina Valentine," I informed her.

Her eyes turned towards her computer screen, her nails clacking on the keyboard, as she asked, "And…uhm, you are?"

Since I didn't have any power here without pulling out my gun, I lied. "I'm her husband."

Her eye shot upward, and glancing over at Nero, she knew that I was lying. "If she's here, only one person can go back there at a time."

"I'm sure that an exception can be made," I told her, not above calling The O'Brien to make that happen.

Not having any patience left in him, Nero said, "Look, we can do this the hard way or the easy way, but we are both going back there to see Ms. Valentine."

"That's not-"

"I'm Nero Sartori," he informed her. "And if I have to make a call to Declan O'Brien, then we're really going to have problems."

Her pretty face paled as her fingers froze over her keyboard. Any other time, I probably would have felt sorry for her, but the only thing that I cared about right now was Savina. I didn't care about hospital policy or any other shit like that.

"Where is she?" I demanded, taking Nero's lead.

Her blue eyes went back to her computer screen, and after a few more taps of the keyboard, she said, "Ms. Valentine is already in the back with the-"

"Which room?"

The nurse looked back up at me. "She's not in a room," she answered. "She's in ER, so she's in-"

"Fuck this," I bit out, stepping away from the counter.

To her credit, she didn't try to stop us as we made our way to the back, and we must really be giving off a different kind of vibe because no one was trying to stop us as we pulled back curtain after curtain to try to locate Savina. It wasn't until we came upon the fifth curtain that we saw Savina sitting on a gurney, a nurse taking her vitals.

Her eyes widened when she saw us. "What are you guys doing here?"

Ignoring her, I turned to the nurse. "She needs a private room."

"We don't-"

"I'm not fucking asking," I hissed at her, and it wasn't until then that she finally took in who we were. "Get us a private room."

She flung her stethoscope around her neck before hurriedly running off to find us a room. At least, that's what she'd better be doing. If she came back with security, then shit was really going to get ugly around here.

"What are you guys doing here?" Savina repeated. "How'd you even know that I was here?"

Instead of answering her questions, I said, "I'm doing my very best not to strangle you with my bare fucking hands, so you're going to answer our questions, not the other way around."

She let out a tired sigh. "Look, I know that you're upset-"

"You wish I was upset," I snapped, the injuries on her face making me murderous. "I'm fucking furious, and looking at you isn't helping the situation, Savina."

Just then, the curtain was pulled open, and the nurse was back, but she wasn't alone. While she hadn't brought security with her, she did bring back the doctor. At least, that was who I presumed him to be based on the white coat, his confident gait, and the stern look in his eyes. Little did he know that he could be the fucking Pope, and I still wouldn't give a damn.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Ren Heche," he said, introducing himself. "I understand that a private room is being requested."

"It is," I confirmed.

"And you are?"

"Aurelio Provenza," I answered, and his chin immediately went up.

Glancing over at Nero, he asked, "And you would be?"

"Nero Sartori," Nero bit out. "Now get us a fucking room, Doctor."

He glanced back at the nurse. "Get Room 7 ready, Anne."

"Of course," she muttered before rushing off again.

Turning to face Savina, he asked, "And how are you feeling, Ms. Valentine?"

"I've been better," she answered.

"Well, we have lots of exams lined up for you, so we understand why you'd prefer a private room."

"Thank you, Doctor."

To the man's credit, he didn't shy away from the elephant in the room. "I trust that everything will be acceptable once we get Ms. Valentine situated?" he asked Nero. "We don't want any problems here."

"As long as you do your job and do it ethically, then there won't be any," Nero replied coolly.

Five minutes later, we were finally in a private room, though the doctor had promised us only a few moments of privacy. They needed to do a full-body exam on Savina, including x-rays and documenting any other injuries that the EMTs might have missed.

"What happened?" Nero asked before I could rip into her some more.

Looking over at him, she answered, "When we got back to the house, he accused me of cheating on him." She winced a bit, and I had noticed her doing it when the nurse had been taking her vitals, and I had enough rage in me that killing Stewart Oliver wasn't off the table for me. I needed to get rid of this anger, and Stewart Oliver seemed like a good enough candidate to help me with that. "Needing an ironclad self-defense case, I told him that I had been cheating on him, and like predicted, he lost it."

"I should fucking handcuff you to my bed," I growled.

"Savina, what do the police think?"

She sighed a bit. "I'm not sure," she admitted. "I pretended to be in shock while I told them the truth. The only part that I left out was how I had taunted Ashton."

"You need to tell us everything, Savina," I told her. "You can't leave anything out."

Rather quickly, she started from when Ashton had picked her up at the store, then didn't stop until she got to the part where we walked through the hospital curtain. Now, while we already knew that the brownstone was wired with security, if the cops got their hands on the footage, Savina's story of self-defense would crumble. Though there wasn't any sound linked to the security system, her body language could refute her claims.

Before we could speak some more, there was a knock at the door, then a nurse was walking in, and she was pushing a wheelchair. "I'm here to take you to x-ray, Ms. Valentine."

Nero and I immediately reached for Savina to help her off the gurney, and when she winced again, I could feel my molars grinding. Though the EMTs had done a good job of cleaning her up, her face was a battered mess, and I could only imagine what the rest of her looked like underneath her bloody clothing.

As soon as the door shut behind them, I pulled out my phone, then dialed Morocco. "Get a copy of tonight's feed from Ashton Oliver's security system, then glitch out the past three days, erasing everything from eight this morning until now."

"They're not going to buy that, Aurelio," he replied. "As soon as the first glitch would have happened, the security company would have looked into it."

"Then what do you suggest?" I snapped, thankful that Morocco was used to my sunny disposition.

"What timeframe do you need erased and what I am manipulating?"

"From six this evening, and you're erasing Savina killing Ashton Oliver," I answered.

"I'll start the glitches at five, then pick specific frames to show the killing, but nothing that shows her specifically," he replied.

"Do whatever you need to, but just make sure that the visible footage shows Savina killing him in self-defense," I ordered.

"Not a problem," he replied before hanging up.

Little did he know that every-fucking-thing was a problem right now.