Chapter 12

This isthe absolute last place I"d thought I"d be.

But the sterile white ceiling and the bright lights tell the story.

I"m in the hospital.

My mouth is so damn dry, and when I try to move my head to the side, it feels like a million construction workers are operating jackhammers in my skull.

"Sleeping beauty, you finally decided to open your eyes." I squeeze my eyes shut harder.

Christine is here. If this is hell, the devil sure knows how to make me suffer. "I already saw you move, there"s no use in hiding now."

I blink my eyes a few times, and sure enough, nothing has changed. Using all the strength I have, I lift my head slightly and look at my sister, who is standing at the edge of my bed with her arms crossed over her chest. She"s pissed. Really, I"m the one in the hospital bed, and she"s got the nerve to be pissed at me?

"What the hell are you doing here?" I ask, my voice croaking with every word.

"What do you mean, what am I doing here? My brother is hospitalized, how would it look if I didn"t show up? You gave us quite the scare there for a few days."

Few days? How long... "How long have I been out? What day is it?"

"You"ve been asleep for two days. The doctors were worried there was some brain damage that they couldn"t see."

"Shit." I fall back on the bed and close my eyes again, trying to remember the last things that happened. I was at the club with Diego. Marie was there. I was making sure she knew better than to act out while she was still married to me. I don"t even remember if she got home. I don"t know if Diego helped her. Before that, what was I doing?

It takes me a second to put the pieces together. Rosie. I was with Rosie. It"s been two days since I saw her. Oh, god.

"I need to get out of here. I need to..." I sit up fast and try to put my feet on the ground, but the motion causes the jackhammering in my head to intensify.

"Stop being an idiot." Christine rushes over to my side and pushes me down. "You need to get your rest. It"s not every day someone gets blown up."

"Blown up?" I ask and hesitantly lay back down on the bed. "What are you talking about?"

"What"s the last thing you remember before waking up at the hospital?"

"I was at the club with Diego. Did something happen there?"

"No, it seems like you were on your way home, at your car." She raises an eyebrow, waiting for me to fill in the blank. Slowly, the images of what happened that night begin to flood my mind. I was on my phone, and the car blew up in front of me. It wasn"t an instant explosion. I"d turned the car on, and after a few seconds, it exploded. Whoever placed the bomb in my car wanted me to be in the car and probably moving before the explosive went off. It was only chance that I was looking at my phone.

"I remember. It"s lucky I wasn"t in the car." I fist my hands on the bed.

"Lucky is one word for it. What do you remember about the night? Was anyone following you? Did you see anyone on your way back to the car?"

The instant barrage of questions has my head spinning. At best, my memory is fuzzy. There"s no way I"d remember seeing anyone when I was that tired.

"No, I don"t remember anything out of the ordinary." I shrug and instantly regret the choice. My body feels like it"s been crushed by tons of rubble.

"Of course you don"t. Life would be easy if you had," Christine sighs and smooths back her neat and already severe bun.

"I"m sorry my almost being killed didn"t fall in line with whatever you"ve got planned," I snarl at her. It"s not like I expect her to be empathetic, but she could at least pretend to show some compassion.

"Your death?" She turns back to me, a snarl on her face, "No, your death is not going to plan. In fact, nothing you"ve been doing recently is going to plan. You"re not acting like yourself, and it"s truly making me question if you"re really the man we all thought you were."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean, Christine? I don"t have the time to play games with you. Speak plainly."

"If you want plain, fine, I"ll be plain." She storms over to my bedside and glares down at me, "This is your fault. Things would"ve gone just fine if you would only do what you"re supposed to do. But instead, you"ve been running around chasing after Rosie, leaving yourself open to anyone to attack. In case you haven"t realized, you"re the second member of our family who someone has tried to kill, and we"ve got no answers yet. Do you know how that makes us look? Do you know how it makes you look? All they have to do is dangle your ex in your face, and you lose sight of everything else."

My mouth drops open, and I"m speechless. How the hell does she know about Rosie?

"The worst part of it all is you can"t even see how chasing after that woman is probably going to get her killed too. You have a wife, and yet you still spend your nights with Rosie, either with her knowledge or not. She makes you weak, and everyone can see it. How long before our enemies decide to pick her up or, worse, chop her fucking head off just to get to you? You"ve got to be smarter than this, Giancarlo." Christine shakes her head as if she"s supremely disappointed in me, but I"m more concerned about what she said.

If she"s right, then that means Rosie could be in real danger, and not just from finding another man to spend her life with. She could be in danger from the people who want to see the Bianucci family dead. I can"t let Christine know she"s right, or she might take it upon herself to make sure Rosie stays out of the picture.

"Lucky for me, I don"t have to be the smart one, remember? You"ve got this." I brush her off and hope it"s enough to get her to forget about Rosie.

"You"re absolutely right, Gian. I do have this. I"ve been preparing for this my entire life, and I"m not going to let your obsession with that girl get in the way of our future. I"ll do what I have to do, even if you wind up hating me for it."

Her meaning is hidden, but I can read between the lines. She"s planning on doing exactly what I feared she might. She"s going after Rosie. That is, unless someone stops her.

"This isn"t something you can prepare for, Christine. All your life, you"ve been walking around with a fucking chip on your shoulder, doing everything in your power to make it seem like you"re the best and only option when it comes to this family. That we should be subservient to you. But it"s only because we let you." I steel my eyes on hers, and even though her expression doesn"t change, I see her dark eyes grow a little lighter; she"s scared just like the rest of us. But it"s not for her life; it"s for the future she"s already planned on.

"It doesn"t have to be that way. In fact, if I chose, I can make it so I"m the best choice for next in line. That would really mess up all your plans, wouldn"t it? Do you think Babbo would turn me down if I suddenly developed a strong enough interest in taking over after he steps down? Or any of the other families who already see me as the successor because I have a dick between my legs? You"re fighting a losing battle, Christine, and the only reason you"re ahead on the cards right now is because I"ve supported you. If you even hint at going after Rosie or anyone else I care about, I"ll make sure your ride to the top isn"t as smooth as you"d want it to be."

"You wouldn"t." She shakes her head slowly.

"I"ve got nothing to lose. I know your tricks, and I know the depth of what you"d do to secure your spot. I also know how fragile your hold on us really is. Don"t make me an enemy, little sister. I promise you it"ll be one fight you won"t win."

She stares at me for another second before taking a few steps back from my bedside. I"m not in the best place to threaten, but just from the look on her face, I know my warnings have taken root. Christine knows how ruthless we all can be, but she"s never seen the full extent of my depravity, simply because I never really had anything worth fighting for. Rosie is worth fighting for.

Even if it means I have to get all my siblings to turn against her. Christine"s made nearly the same amount of enemies as my father; it won"t take much for them to back me as the new leader of the Bianucci clan. Hell, I"d dare say it might be easy.

"All this time, I figured you were complacent in your role. Never questioning, never causing too much of a fuss. Who would have thought it"d be a woman to bring out your true colors."

"She"s not just any woman, and you know it. Maybe you should have warned your father against his plan before you decided to set me off. You helped in making this decision, and now you have to live with it."

"It seems like I do. Get some rest, Giancarlo. I"m sure we"re going to have lots to talk about in the coming days."

I watch as Christine walks to the door of my room, grabbing her jacket and purse on the way. "Oh, and don"t worry, your wife is safe at home too."

I chuckle at her declaration. She knows I don"t give a damn about Marie, but at least I don"t have to worry about putting out that fire as well. Christine leaves me on my own, my head pounding and a million questions firing off in my mind.

Who could"ve done this? What do they want? How can I keep Rosie safe if they"re going to try to go through her to get to me? Lastly, am I really ready to take over after my father?

It wasn"t an idle threat, and slowly the thought of being the one who makes the rules for our family starts to look more and more appealing.

Of course, I have to make sure there"s a family for me to lead in the first place.

This is the second assassination attempt on someone in the Bianucci family, and so far, we"ve got no suspects. We"re going to have to figure this out before whoever is trying to take us out gets lucky and completes their mission.

Leaning back on the bed, I close my eyes and slowly go over everyone who"s got a problem with us. One of them is behind this, and I"ve got a blank death warrant just waiting for their name.