17. Alessandro

Chapter seventeen

Alessandro

Running down the stairs, I jump over a few in a hurry. I can't hear Adriana's voice again.

"Adriana!"

I barge into her room and find it empty, with my black shirt on the floor. I'm damn sure I heard her scream and the sound of a gunshot.

"Adriana?" I yell again. I race to the living room in search of her. The front door is ajar. I grip the edge hard as I open the door wide. There she is, lying on the floor by the door with her hand pressed on her bleeding stomach. She's breathing heavily.

"Who fucking did this?" I yell.

I close the distance between us, kneeling beside her. Dead bodies covered in blood are scattered around my house. They are my men.

Fuck .

But I'm more worried about Adriana. I don't double check to search for the fucking cunt who did this as I hook my hands around Adriana's neck and the back of her knees.

"Adriana! Stay with me, Poppy."

She groans as I try to pick her up. "He sh… shot me," she whispers.

Her top around the bullet wound is slowly getting soaked with blood. I carry her into the house and lay her on the couch. She whimpers as I carefully lift her top up a little bit to see the wound. I let out a shaky breath. It looks like the bullet grazed the side of her stomach, but seeing blood coming out of her makes me enraged.

"Shit!" Running to the kitchen, I grab a towel and run back to her.

She winces in pain as I press the towel against her wound. "Arghhh!"

I guide her hand to hold the towel, applying pressure to it. Her eyelids quiver as she struggles to keep her eyes open. I can hear her loud breaths.

"You're going to be okay, Poppy. I'll be right back." I run back upstairs to get my phone. I need to have Daniel bring a doctor to the house. I should have gotten a new in-house doctor, but considering what's been going on, I decided against it, as it would be easy to bring in the wrong person under a false guise.

I whisk my phone from the brown wooden nightstand beside my bed, running back down to stay with Adriana. While dialing Daniel's number, I skip the stairs to get down to her.

It's all my fault. It's all my fucking fault. Adriana wouldn't have been caught in this mess if I hadn't screwed up and basically forced her to leave. I'm a fucking mess, and she's hurt because of me.

"Daniel, I need a fucking doctor here now," I say as he answers the call. "Adriana's hurt; hurry." I cut the call, moving closer to Adriana. Her eyes are slowly shutting.

"Look at me , Adriana." With little distance between us, I cup her face with my palms.

She opens her eyes wide and stares at me. "Get… get your hands off me," she grunts. She tries to shift, but I keep my hands firm on her, stopping her from moving.

"Daniel is coming with help." I move my hand to hold the towel on her wound, and she attempts to move her head to the other side again, but I gently hold her chin still so she's facing me.

"I know I'm a fucking asshole. And I said some screwed up shit."

She groans, her chest heaving.

"I didn't mean any of that. This. You. It's all fucking new to me. Just stay still for me, Poppy," I add.

She nods lightly and continues to stare at me.

I run to open the door as I hear a knock. Daniel is by the door, with Larner behind him. Larner has been our family's doctor for years; about fucking time he resumed from the break he took.

"Hurry! She is still bleeding," I hurriedly usher them in.

"What happened here?" Daniel asks as he stays by the door and stares at the dead bodies outside.

"I don't have any fucking idea, Daniel."

I lead Larner to the couch Adriana is lying on. He has a black leather briefcase with him. Adriana's eyes are barely open as I remove the towel from her wound.

"It doesn't look too bad, Alessandro. I'll make sure there aren't any fragments from where it grazed her and stich her up," Larner says before adjusting his glasses and staring at her wound, then back at me.

"Stop fucking talking and help her!" I pinch my forehead, raking my fingers through my hair, angered as I tug at their roots.

Larner drops his briefcase by the couch and bends to access the wound. "Right away, sir." He opens the briefcase to reveal his working tools.

"You'll be alright, Poppy." I place a kiss on her forehead. Daniel gives me a longer than necessary look ?probably surprised at the nickname I addressed Adriana with? and leaves the room.

Her eyes are teary as Larner wears his gloves.

"Alessandro, come see this," Daniel calls.

"What?"

"Come see it."

Grunting under my breath, I take Adriana's hand and squeeze gently. "You've always been more than a stupid deal to me," I whisper in her ear.

"This might hurt," Larner says to Adriana as he cuts her top to reveal the bleeding wound. She bites her lips to hold in her scream as he sterilizes the wound. I let go of her hand, pissed at myself for getting her hurt.

"She might need a blood transfusion," Larner adds.

"Whatever you need. Just help her."

"You need to see this, Ale," Daniel calls again.

"It better be fucking worth it, Daniel!" I take another look at Adriana before I walk out to meet Daniel. He is by a body at the far left end of the house, staring at it intently.

"See that mark on his neck," he points.

I move closer to him and kneel to inspect the mark. The body doesn't have a bullet wound, just a deep cut from a sharp object that could be a dagger. Two cuts crossing each other are the point where his throat was slit.

"That's an X mark," Daniel says.

"Who could these sons of bitches be?"

Daniel looks at me. "You've got yourself another enemy, Alessandro."

***

I take Adriana to Daniel's house while she's still asleep. Larner had successfully removed the fragment of the bullet, and she's resting now. I watch her on the bed in his guest room. She isn't safe in my house any longer.

I've ordered more of my men to take care of the bodies and find out who pulled that fucking stunt with me. They aren't getting out alive when I find them all. Especially for trying to kill Adriana. I'll do anything to protect her, even if I have to get more men to watch over her.

She looks pale but peaceful with her eyes closed. Daniel had gone out to grab some groceries. We have things to do, especially dig out information about the X mark but Adriana has all my attention right now. I can't leave her like this when this was all my fault in the first place.

I'm tempted to kiss her and pull her into my arms as I watch over her. I am such a fucking fool for trying to push her away. There is no denying it anymore. I want to be fucking selfish with her and see her with no one else but me. I'm not letting her go anymore.

My phone rings in my pocket. It causes Adriana to move a little. I had thought I had put it on silence before I arrived here. Reluctantly, I take it out of my pocket to turn it off but stop midway when I see it's my mother.

"Madre," I greet as I answer the call on the third ring.

"Alessandro, someone tried to do it again," she says. Her voice is full of fear.

Shooting up, I stand to my feet, concerned, before leaving the room, not wanting to wake Adriana.

"What are you talking about, Mother?"

"Someone is trying to kill us. Your father and I."

"Is it those fucking bastar–" I grunt, stopping myself from punching the wall. "I'm coming, Mother. Stay inside and lock the doors."

"I've called Daniel too; he said he is nearby."

"What about the guards? Where are all of them?"

There's a pause from the other end. It takes her a moment to reply.

"Dead. I can see their bodies on the ground from the window."

Dammit .

I have to find whoever this is. And fast. The other rival mafias fear us because of our quick act to retaliate and clip everyone stupid enough to mess with us. This attack would only send the wrong message to them, making me look fucking weak.

Opening the door slightly, I peep and check on Adriana. She's still fast asleep. I should be back before she wakes up. I close the door gently and walk to the living room, looking around the sofas and tables for my keys.

Daniel had driven my car here while I drove Adriana here in his. The little exchange was to keep us safe in case they had been waiting for me to drive in it.

"Where are the fucking keys?" I pull the drawers open in search of them and open another drawer with drugs scattered in it. Pills I recognize. I shut it almost immediately to continue the search for my keys, which I find in the last drawer.

He probably didn't guess I'd be leaving with my car this soon. I walk out of the house, shutting the door behind me and sliding into my car. I start the engine in a hurry, trying to call Daniel as I begin to drive to my father's house, but he isn't picking up.

Gripping the steering wheel hard, I make a turn onto the next street. These attacks are bad for business. I can't have this repeating itself or everything Father has built will be crushed.

The desire to gut everyone involved in this shit with my bare hands and teach them never to mess with me overwhelms me. No one messes with me and gets out alive. No one.

I spot Daniel's car as I park mine outside and grab my gun from the safe box before sliding out of the car. I am alert with the gun pointed in front of me as I enter the gate. Two dead guards are at the gate doors with bullets in their heads.

"Fuck!"

I pass more dead bodies as I walk to the front door. I see some men I don't recognize with two skull heads on both their wrists. As I bend to look closely at the tattoo of one, I hear the sound of a bullet flying in the air. It's so close to me, it cut my cheek instantly, missing my entire face.

" Figlio di puttana (Son of a bitch)!"

I miss a shot as I aim at him. He's holding his arm. It looks wounded, with blood dripping from a gunshot wound. He pulls the trigger again to shoot me but it just clicks with no bullet coming out.

"Fuck!" He tries to run. I take another shot at him, sending the bullet straight through his back. He yells from the impact and falls to the ground.

I touch my left cheek with my finger, feeling the blood on it and clenching my jaws as I walk closer to the man I shot. He is groaning as he struggles to crawl with his fingers digging into the ground.

"Rot in hell!" I pull the trigger again, pointing the gun at his head. Blood and a few particles splatter on my face as I put a bullet through his fucking brain.

Daniel walks out with Madre as I look at the front door.

"Alessandro," Mother calls. She pulls me in for a quick hug as she closes the gap between us.

"Take her to the car; I'll get L'Uomo out," Daniel says.

Without hesitation, I nod, holding my mother's shoulder as I lead her to my car.

"Did you see who did this?"

"No. I only heard lots of shootings, so I locked the door and hid with your father in the basement."

I hear another bullet sound as Mother enters the car. It came from inside the house. I give Madre my gun as I run back to the house to see what's happening.

"Daniel?" I am in disbelief.

He has a gun pointed at my father's head.