Chapter 6 - Waking Up
The rhythm of a heart monitor was the first thing Lena heard. Beep. Beep. Beep.
She tried to open her eyes, but her eyelids felt like they were weighted with lead. Her mouth was dry as bone, and a deep, agonizing fire burned across the entire left side of her chest. She let out a soft, painful groan.
"Don't move," a rough, deep voice commanded softly from the darkness.
Lena forced her eyes open. The room was dim, illuminated only by the rhythmic glow of medical equipment. Sitting in a chair pulled directly to the edge of her bed was Marco Duca. He looked as though he hadn't slept in days. His hair was disheveled, a dark stubble covered his jaw, and his normally pristine posture was slumped.
"My... my sister," Lena rasped, her throat barely producing sound. "Maya..."
Marco leaned forward, pouring a small amount of ice water onto a sponge and pressing it gently to her lips. It was an act of tenderness so out of character for the crime boss that Lena thought she might be hallucinating.
"Your sister is safe," Marco said quietly. "I had a team move her from the rehabilitation clinic three hours after the shooting. She is currently residing in the east wing of my private estate under 24-hour armed guard. She will lack nothing."
Lena swallowed hard, the cool water soothing her throat. "Mrs. Duca?"
"She is alive because of you," Marco said. His eyes locked onto hers, intense and burning with an emotion she couldn't name. "You took four rounds meant for my mother. You threw yourself in front of a high-caliber rifle without hesitation. Why?"
Lena looked at the ceiling, feeling the heavy bandages wrapped around her torso. "She... she wasn't just my patient. She treated me like a human being. Not a stray dog."
May you like
Marco flinched. The words he had thrown at her months ago returned to hit him with physical force. He reached out, his large, calloused hand slowly covering her frail, pale ones on the hospital blanket.
"I was wrong," Marco whispered, his voice trembling slightly. "You are not a nobody, Lena. And you will never be invisible in my world again."
