Broken Bonds

Chapter 65

Vincenzo Ricasso

The sound of gunshot was not the sound that kept all of us stopped moving. It was the falling of Caroline Monet. The woman who has brought so much misery to the Romano's. Especially Reine. 

The moment her body touched the ground, a pool of her blood started forming rapidly as her eyes remained opened even till her last breath. And the one who put one bullet through her head and her chest respectively was none other than Reine, who looked pale as her gun fell from her clutches. 

As my gaze shifted over, I realised Alexander was down on the ground while Reine was clutching onto her abdomen. Fuck, she was shot. 

Not giving a single care to those men whom we were soon going to wipe out, my first instinct was to dash forward to her side. As she collapsed onto the ground, her eyes found mine before she fell unconscious. 

The rest of them noticed the same and sped up their killing. It was pretty simple to do so because those men had lost their motivation to fight now knowing that they no longer had the upper hand after seeing how their leader died. 

Mason dialed for back up while Elijah was busy checking on both of them, making sure that none of them were in serious conditions, though it was hard to say for Alexander who was having a weak pulse. As soon as back up arrived, I held Reine close to my chest as I carried her all the way onto the van, heading back to the house. 

Elijah had to work on Alexander, who was in a more critical condition than Reine while another doctor of the Romano's, Dr Martin, was working on Reine. Both surgeries begun at the same time while the rest of us waited restlessly outside, praying to hear good news from both. 

Ariana did seem a bit lost after seeing both her siblings were injured while trying to save her, though her aunt comforted her repeatedly that they would have to confront her sooner or later and that it was not her fault. 

My mum and Drea were both alerted about the situation and asked if they could come to the Romano's too, to wait for their surgeries to be done. Thankfully, Reine's surgery was completed within an hour and a half but Alexander's one was still ongoing since Elijah had previously said that there was a possibility that the bullet touched his heart or any other major parts. 

Reine was then transferred to the bay, with a few lines taped onto her to monitor her conditions. We were informed that the surgery was a successful one, since the bullet did not fully pierce through her stomach, just that she had lost quite an amount of blood. Her arm was also treated with no other complications. 

After an hour, Elijah finally emerged from the operation room as we all gathered forward. 

"The bullet was removed from his chest, the good news is that it didn't touch his heart, but it did pierced through one of his artery which explains the unstoppable bleeding during our ride back. So bad news is that I don't think he will be waking up any time soon and it would be all up to him from here on to decide if he wants to wake up." He sighed dejectedly, as none of us spoke a word. 

They have placed both Alexander and Reine in the same recuperating room, where only a single piece of curtain was there to separate the room. 

Elijah had only allowed 4 people to be in the room at once, as he did not want to disturb both of them or risk having any occurring infections. I managed to catch a brief glimpse of Reine, but I decided to come back again at a later timing. 

After everyone had their turn to visit them, they headed back to work while I went back to the room again. Surprisingly, I found Roman sitting beside Reine's bed. He had his hand propping up his head on the bed as he sat quietly beside Reine. 

I chose to stand at one side silently as I watched Reine breathing slowly, at least she was no longer in danger. 

"You had better treat her right, Ricasso. It's time for her to start having the happiness that she ought to have." He muttered quietly under his breath, as he slowly sat upright in his seat and stood up. 

Surprise took over my face as I asked quietly, "You knew about us?" He scoffed lowly, "Only a blind man wouldn't see the light in her eyes whenever she looked at you." 

I bit lightly on my lower lip as I held in an emerging small smile. 

"And I hope you will continue looking at her the same you do even when she becomes old and grumpy." He added.

Nodding my head firmly, I assured, "I will, as long as she's willing to tolerate me too." He patted my shoulders and took his leave.

Taking the seat, the chair creaked slowly as I sank myself on it. Brushing away the stray hair on her forehead, I got up and planted a feather like kiss on her forehead. 

"You promised me that you wouldn't get hurt." I mumbled, most likely to myself, though I was hoping that she would hear it too. 

"And I promised myself that I would protect you." I scoffed softly, and continued, "And yet here you are, battling for survival once again." I took her hand in mine as I passed the warmth of my hand onto hers, doing it slowly for fear of touching the lines strapped onto the back of her hand.  

For a split second, I thought I had felt her fingers moving against mine. Staring at her hand intensely, a minute passed and I sighed, it was just a hallucination after all. 

"You did protect me, just in another way." Her voice whispered softly, as my head shot up the moment I heard her. Her eyes fluttered open, as she slowly tightened her fingers around mine.

"You're awake? Let me go get Elijah here." I stood up, ready to head for the door but her hand pulled me back. 

"I'm sorry for breaking that promise." 

"Don't be, as long as you're fine." I gave her hand a small squeeze, as I went to alert others that she was awake. 

updated! last day of the year and hope that everything will end in a good note for all of you!

Happy reading! -31/12/22