Episode 91

Episode 91

Only a Matter of Time

JULIANNE

My head hurt like a bitch when I slowly came to. Bright white, red and yellow lights flashed across my vision in a kaleidoscope of blurry streaks of colors. People were screaming commands as though they were speaking through a bullhorn. I was jostled around on what I believed to be a stretcher.

"Suspected blunt force trauma, deep laceration on the forehead, abrasions and first degree burns on forearms and hands," a man in a medical uniform hollered as I was rushed through a series of hospital doors. Glaringly white walls blinded me, and I closed my eyes again.

"Miss, try to stay awake. Listen to my voice. You're in the hospital. We're going to take good care of you. Can you tell me your name?" a dark-haired woman asked. She was wearing scrubs and was using a stethoscope to listen to my chest. She spoke, but her words morphed and changed, sounding garbled and hard to follow. It felt like the sounds around me were getting louder and then fading away.

"Giovanni…" I whispered. My mouth felt as dry as the Sahara Desert, making it difficult to speak. "Hus-band," I managed to get out.

"Two men were brought in with you. They are receiving help now. Let's focus on you," the doctor said, and I swear it was as if she'd screamed it right into my ear. I winced and tried to lift my hands, but they hurt too much.

"Gio!" I croaked finally putting the pieces back together of what happened.

We were at the office. My brother was being an asshole as usual. Then we heard that ominous beeping sound. Gio pulled me away from Brenden and pushed me down and underneath him. Then everything went black.

I need to get to Gio!

"Gio!" I felt myself open my mouth to scream his name but could only manage a guttural whisper.

Someone was putting pressure on my forehead. It hurt, sending fire bolting through every one of my nerve endings. My heart beat so hard I thought it might explode outside of my chest, and I couldn't catch my breath.

Suddenly, everything around me became hazier and more blurred until I passed out.

* * * *

When I woke up the second time, I was in a hospital bed. The room was dimly lit. A dark figure approached.

"Gio?" I rasped.

"Sorry Julianne, it's me, Bruno," he said as my eyes acclimated, and his features became distinct. The wavy curls of his layered hair. The scruffy beard and mustache combo. The tight expression on his handsome face.

"Gio?" I croaked.

"They're both in surgery. Gio's being treated for a compound fracture in his arm, a series of lacerations from the explosion and second-degree burns along his back and legs. The doctors wouldn't tell me anything, so I had my guy Jonas hack the system. I'm sorry to say it doesn't look good for Brenden, Julianne. He received the brunt of the explosion. We don't know Gio's full prognosis yet, but based on what a doctor on my team read in his file, he will likely make a painful but full recovery." He squeezed my ankle for emphasis.

The wave of relief hearing Gio would ultimately be okay brought tears to my eyes. "Thank you." I looked down at my arms. They were wrapped from forearm to fingertips in bandages. "And these?" I held up my arms the best I could.

"I'm sure the doctor will go over the details with you, but from what we gathered in your chart, those are first-degree burns. You should heal up just fine. Though you received a concussion and a nasty cut on your head from smacking into the wall where a glass picture frame was. They stitched you up and gave you some medication for the pain."

I winced as I lifted my right hand to my forehead and felt the bandage wrapped around my head.

"What happened?" I asked Bruno.

He shook his head. "Best I can tell, someone broke in and placed the bomb prior to our arrival. Based on the fact that the bomb was attached to Brenden's office door, a door that was clearly marked as his, tells me he was the target of that explosion, not you or Giovanni."

"You think Bianca wanted to kill her own husband to get the insurance payout?"

Bruno tilted his head. "You seem surprised. We're talking about the same woman that sexually assaulted Giovanni, cheated on her fiancé at their rehearsal dinner with his best friend, married that friend, and is pregnant with one of their babies? Who also was magically released from jail and fled the country. I wouldn't put anything past her," he said while rubbing his chin.

I let out a long sigh. "I know, I know. It's just that Brenden has backed her every step of the way. He chose her over his best friend and even his own sister." I gulped against the need to swallow the emotional pain that went with that truth.

"Unfortunately, it doesn't mean she had the same loyalty to him," he replied gently.

"No, it doesn't." Why I would think evil people could be loyal was beyond me. "If he dies from this explosion, she gets the payout right?"

He nodded. "Twenty-five million dollars to be exact. Provided there isn't proof that she planted it. And seeing as she was nowhere near the offices or in the same country, it sure gives her a pretty ironclad alibi."

I closed my eyes and breathed in through my nose and out my mouth for a full five breaths, trying to get my anger under control. I needed to think all of this through, but my brain felt foggy, my thoughts all muddled together.

"Look, you rest. I'm going to touch base with my guys. I've got a couple members of my security team keeping an eye on your room, just to be extra cautious."

I nodded. "Thank you. When can I see Gio?"

"I don't know. I'll look into it." He walked over to the table then filled a cup of water for me. He added a straw and held it to my lips.

I drank greedily until some dribbled down my chin. Bruno lifted the cotton blanket and patted the water away. "You need to rest up. I don't imagine things are going to get any easier for you. I'll have the doctor come in to speak with you."

"Thank you, Bruno." I reached out until he took my hand, tightened his grip, and then let it go.

"You're welcome." He moved to leave my room.

"Bruno," I called out.

He turned, his hand on the doorknob. "Yeah?"

"Please find her. I want justice. No…" I swallowed the torturous emotions swelling and ebbing throughout my body. "I need justice."

"I'll do my best." He said the words as though they were a vow. One I had to hold onto with my entire being in order to keep myself together.

Bianca would get hers.

It was only a matter of time.

* * * *

Two agonizing days later, Giovanni started coming back to me. He had been on heavy pain and agitation medication but was finally making progress. He was lying on his side due to the patchwork of injuries the doctors had to mend on his back, not including the burns. Thankfully, right before the explosion, Giovanni got us mostly around a corner wall leading to a hallway. That wall protected us more than anything else. Had he not, we both would have been injured far worse. We'd be in a medically induced coma fighting for our lives like my brother was. I was discharged the morning after I arrived but had been at my husband's side ever since.

Things did not look good for Brenden, and the doctors made it clear it would take a miracle for him to survive the next couple weeks. I wasn't sure how to feel about his condition. On the one hand, he'd put us through absolute hell. On the other, he was my blood. My brother. My family. At least he was before Hurricane Bianca tore through our family and shredded us to bits. Now I wasn't sure what was left of us.

"Hey," I spoke low in case Gio was having the same sensitivity to sound that I was. I put my hand on his cheek, delighting in feeling the renewed warmth there. He'd been so cold the last two days.

His glassy eyes stared at me, flicking from one point to another on my face before doing it all over again. Those grey orbs filled with tears and my heart broke as they fell down his cheeks, relief evident in his gaze.

"I thought you were dead," he rasped.

I smiled through my own tears. "You're not getting rid of me just yet, Mister," I teased then dipped my head to rest my injured forehead lightly to his. I winced but breathed through the pain. "Don't ever scare me like that again," I whispered and licked the salty tears from my lips. "Not ever again, Gio. I can't do this alone."

"I'm sorry," he murmured.

I cupped both of his cheeks. "You saved us. You have nothing to be sorry for."

"Brenden…I could only save one. I chose you," he muttered. "I'll always choose you, Jules."

A sob tore through me. "I'll always choose you too." I gently pressed my lips to his.

He lifted one of his hands to cup the back of my head, keeping me in place as he held the firm kiss. Then I felt the weight of his hand slowly slip away as he let go, his body easing back to the bed as his eyes closed. He fell back to sleep.

I ran my fingers through his hair at the crown of his head. The back layers had been singed by the explosion. He'd need a haircut when all this was over, but I was grateful the bulk of his luxurious black locks were still in place. I traced his brow, cheeks, and lips as he slept, needing to feel him alive and breathing underneath my fingertips. He had quite a long way to go before he would be well enough to leave the hospital, but him waking on his own was a good sign.

In the meantime, I needed to touch base with Bruno on the search for Bianca.

Thinking of the devil must have conjured him because right as I was about to pull my phone out and call him, the man himself appeared at the doorway. He was just about to knock, his knuckle poised against the wood.

"How's he doing?"

"He woke up for a couple minutes. Doctors say he'll sleep a lot over the coming days, but they've taken him off the harder drugs while still managing his pain."

"Do they know when he'll get to go home?"

I shook my head. "Too early to tell."

Bruno nodded as he rubbed his hands slowly together and looked down at the floor. "I have news but it's not good news."

I frowned. "Okay…"

"You remember how, before the explosion, my team tracked Bianca down to a small town in France?"

"Yeah, Mouroux. We were worried about how close that was to my godmother Alana."

Bruno's jaw firmed and he pursed his lips. "Julianne, I had my men go to the Toussaint estate in France."

Dread, thick and doughy covered me in a blanket of fear. "What did they find?" I pleaded.

"Fuck Jules, I don't know how to tell you this," he grated through clenched teeth.

"Is she…is she…" I started to tremble as my vision became spotty, imagining the worst.

Bruno came to my chair, kneeled down, and took my hands in his. "Her home was shot up with multiple rounds from what could only be assault rifles."

I pulled one of my hands from his to cover my mouth as I gasped.

"A few days ago, Alana and a young girl by the name of Emily Davenport were kidnapped from a tourist attraction. The Palace of Versailles to be exact."

"Bianca has them?" I asked, remembering the girl who attended my wedding. Emily was her name.

She was so young. Barely a teenager if memory served. I knew her father, Rhodes, but only in a business capacity. Rhodes had primarily worked with Giovanni for the most part, securing land purchases for the high-rises and resorts he was known for building. And I recalled Alana mentioning she'd gotten close to the man over the years, especially since he'd designed and built their first home. That still didn't answer why Bianca would have them kidnapped.

He shook his head. "I don't…just listen. There's more. After the last auction, Alana and one of her candidates received threatening messages. Rhodes Davenport was the bidder and winner for that candidate, who is named Maia."

"Now Maia I know, because we met in person at the auction…"

"Maia is more than just a candidate of Alana's. Apparently, Alana had taken a liking to the young girl. I had a call with Jade Lee, Alana's protégé, who claimed the Madam doted on the young woman, but she didn't know their history."

"Then why didn't I know her better? And what does this have to do with Bianca?"

"I can't answer that. Only Alana can. However, the good news is that Alana and Emily were found and taken into custody along with several men. Most notably a man by the name of Dimitri Volkov. Do you know that name?"

I shook my head.

"He's the second in command of a very violent Russian militia group the authorities have been trying to take down for the better part of two decades."

"Okay…and this is connected to Alana and Bianca how?"

"Bianca Cameron is actually Bianca Volkov, the real wife of Dimitri. However, before that she was Bianca Sokolov."

"And this information is important because…"

"Bianca is the daughter of a man named Angus Sokolov. Does that name ring a bell?"

The hair on the back of my neck rose at the mention of the one man I knew my godmother hated. I'd even used his name and memory as a taunt to get her to put me in the auction. Threatened to actually call him for help if she didn't put me in. It was a fucking joke. I'd never do that. I wouldn't have even known how to contact that man.

"He was the person who originally brought my parents into The Marriage Auction before Alana took it over. They were her very first contract…a true love match."

"Well, that just notched a piece of the puzzle right into place."

"How so?" I asked as my mind spun with all the information Bruno had shared.

"Motive for one. Alana took away the thing that made him a lot of money. Your parents were the first big payout he lost, and it was big."

"Where is Alana now?" I needed to know if she was okay.

"We don't know exactly. As I said, there was some type of showdown at her estate. The French authorities stated in their reports that they'd interviewed everyone, and that Rhodes, Maia, and Emily had gotten on a private plane to Los Angeles. They're being watched not only by the police but by a team of guards Rhodes hired."

"Okay, that's good news, kinda. What about Alana?"

"The showdown at her estate happened after the Davenports left, once again proving the clear target was the Toussaints. The authorities noted taking down two armed men with sniper rifles during the firefight."

"Were Alana or Christophe hurt?" I swallowed down the fear of losing yet another member of my dwindling family.

He shook his head. "No. That's where it gets tricky. They escaped with the help of a very powerful man."

"Jesus. This is getting crazier by the minute."

Bruno stood up and ran his hand through his curls. "Oh, that's only half of it," he claimed in a weary tone.

"Why?"

"Because I was informed that the person that helped them escape was Diego Salazar, the leader of the West Coast Latin Mafia."