Seb


    I nce over her shoulder just in time to see Nonna swaying on her feet. Cassandra, our housekeeper, has her arm around Nonna. She staggers under the weight of the other woman. In two quick steps, Adrian reaches her and steadies the both of them. Nonna presses a hand to the side of her chest and her fingerse away bloody.


    “Fuck,” I race toward Nonna, Elsa right behind me.


    Adrian and Cass lower her gently to the settee and she leans her head back against it.


    Aurora reaches her at the same time as me. She ces her medical bag on the floor and sits down next to Nonna. She takes Nonna’s pulse and her features shutter. “Call an ambnce,” she tells Christian, who grabs his phone and walks a few feet away as he dials.


    “Here,” Elsa shrugs off the scarf she’s wearing and gives it to Aurora, who uses it to staunch the flow of blood.


    Nonna’s eyelids flutter. She nces over the faces of all those assembled.


    “It’s good that everyone is here.” She coughs.


    “Don’t try to talk, Nonna.” I sink down to my knees next to her and take her hand in mine. “Save your strength.”


    “Don’t stop me, Seb.” Her lips kick up at the edges. “You’ve always been the most stubborn of all my boys. Once you get an idea into your head, you won’t stop until you’ve found a way to make it happen. I wish I could have been around long enough to see you get married.”


    “The air-ambnce is on its way; it should be here within four minutes. I’m going to alert the guards so they cane right in when they arrive.” Christian walks off.


    Nonna coughs again. My heart hammers in my chest.


    “You’re going to be okay,” I say the words aloud, not only to convince her but also myself. “You will be around long enough to see me get married.”


    “You promise?” She squeezes my hand. “Promise you’ll get married. Promise you won’t let what your father did to you get in the way of finding true happiness.”


    “Why are you talking like this?” I bring up my other hand and envelop her thinner, more fragile one between both of mine. “You’ll be around to see the rest of us boys get married.”


    She smiles sadly. “I had hoped so, but I don’t think I’ll be alive that long.”


    “Nonna,” I protest as the sound of an approaching chopper reaches us.


    She tilts up her chin in my direction. “Promise me you’ll get married within the next month.”


    “I promise,” I whisper.


    A smile curves her lips.


    The sound of the helicopter grows even louder, and I suspect it must havended on the backwn. Within seconds, we hear footsteps, followed by voices, as two paramedics race toward us. One of them squats down next to us.


    “I’m a doctor,” Aurora says crisply. “Patient has been shot in the chest. She’s lost a lot of blood, she-” Her voice fades away as I survey Nonna’s pale features.


    She’s going to be fine. She has to be fine. She’s been more than a mother and a fatherbined to us, and I never let her know that. Never let her know how much I appreciate everything she’s done for us. If something happens to her… No, nothing can happen to her. She’s going to be okay. She has to be ok-


    “Could you please step back, sir?” The paramedic’s voice cuts through my thoughts.


    I release Nonna’s hand and take a few steps back.


    The paramedic slides a needle into her forearm, tapes it in ce, and begins to run an IV drip.


    I rise to my feet and watch as they move her to a stretcher, then wheel her toward the doorway, followed by Aurora.


    Karma, my oldest brother Michael’s wife, presses her hand to her stomach and sways. Michael catches her around her waist. “You okay, babe?”


    “Yes,” she nods. “It’s just the shock of everything that happened. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”


    “You need to be in bed.” He nces from her to the doorway through which the medics are wheeling Nonna outside with Aurora in tow.


    “I’ll go with Nonna, too,” I state.


    “I’lle with you.” Elsa steps up next to me.


    I turn to her and she raises a shoulder. “Least I can do after you bandaged my wound.” I nce up at the bandage on her temple. Was it only a few minutes ago that I took care of her wound? It seems so long ago already.


    “You may as well.” Michael looks from me to her. “We need to find out what you noticed about the man who shot at you earlier.”


    She pales, but nods. “Of course, Don Sovrano.” She sounds uncharacteristically meek. “I’m happy to help in any way I can.”


    “Massimo, you, Luca, and Adrian head over to the hospital.” He turns to Christian. “You, Axel and I need to talk.”


    “Me?” Axel scowls. “You need me for this conversation?”


    “You’re one of us now, aren’t you?” Michael says in a hard tone. “You pull your weight, then. Your family is in crisis; we need your help.”


    He seems like he’s about to protest, but Theresa grips his arm. “Please,” she murmurs, “you promised, Axe.”


    Something passes between her and Axel, then Axel nods, “Fine, then.” He turns to Michael. “How can I help?”


    An hourter, I pace the floor of the waiting room outside the operation theater. I apanied Nonna and held her hand throughout the ride in the air-ambnce. The paramedics worked to stabilize her the entire time, then rushed her into the hospital. Aurora apanied them, and Elsa and I were told to go to the waiting room.


    Massimo, Adrian, and Luca arrived about thirty minutester by car, at which point Elsa retreated to one side of the room, and took a seat. I asked if she wanted anything to drink, but she refused. She did, however, pull out her phone to check… What? The time? Messages? Does she have somewhere to be? A boyfriend, perhaps?


    As I walk away, Massimo corners me.Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    “Did they say anything?” he demands.


    “How is she?” Luca adds.


    “Give the man a chance to breathe,” Adrian murmurs. “He’s as stressed as the rest of us.”


    “They said she’s in surgery.” I shake my head. “We won’t know anything more until they finish.” I nce past them to where Elsa’s eyeing her phone with a frown on her face.


    “What’s between the two of you?” Massimo growls. “The way you’re watching her, it’s like you can’t stay away.”


    “She was hurt-”


    “A scratch on her forehead,” Adrian says in a mild voice.


    “They shot at her,” I insist.


    “Which begs the question, why did shee to Nonna’s house in the first ce,” Luca drawls.


    I turn on him. “What are you trying to say?”


    “Me?” He raises his hands. “Nothing.”


    “Say what’s on your fucking mind, Luc-ass,” I call him by the name he hates and am rewarded when his features harden.


    “You want me to say it aloud, fine. If your girlfriend hadn’te knocking on Nonna’s door, the gunman wouldn’t have fired at us, and Nonna wouldn’t be in there fighting for her life.”


    In my peripheral vision, I notice her nce our way. Her color fades, and she slides the phone into the pocket of her jeans and walks over to us.


    Luca nces at her, then falls silent.


    The four of us nce at each other, but no one says anything.


    “You’re right,” she says in a low voice, “it’s my fault the bullet hit Nonna.”


    “Don’t me yourself,” I murmur, “it’s not your fault. It’s no one’s fault this happened.”


    “Why didn’t you go to Theresa’s house? Or Seb’s? Or Michael’s? How did you know that we were all at Nonna’s ce?” Luca growls.


    “Luca,” I growl, “shut the fuck up.”


    “Why?” He folds his arms across his chest. “It’s a simple enough question. Why can’t she answer it?”


    I nce between Massimo and Adrian’s faces, and their expressions indicate they agree with him.


    “The fuck you guys?” I widen my stance. “This is not an inquisition.”


    “Luca’s only voicing what all of us are thinking,” Massimo points out. “Although, I’ll admit, our brothercks the finesse with which to word his questions.”


    “It’s true,” Adrian tilts his head, “and you know it. The faster she tells us why she came to us, the sooner we can clear all of this up.”


    “Cazzo.” I ball my fingers into fists. “They shot at her. She was in as much danger as the rest of us. You saw that, so why are you-”


    “It’s fine.” Her touch on my arm stops me. A current sizzles from the point of contact and up my arm, aiming straight for my dick, apparently, for the blood drains to my groin. Gesu Cristo, why is it that just her touch is enough to make me want to haul her to me and kiss her lips, then throw her down and bury myself inside her, when my grandmother is fighting for her life across the hallway? I pull my arm from her grip.


    Her face pales further, hurt shes in her eyes, and she nces toward my brothers.


    “Theresa had mentioned to me where she was going to be, and that all of you were gathering at your Nonna’s home today. I was on my way to the shop-“