Mafia (DNF)

Thirty

DREAM

Two of my men kicked down the door, and pointed their guns up. My heart stopped as I saw George sitting in the middle to the room, bleeding.

They dealt with everyone else, and I went straight to George, making sure to grab his uncut arm.

"George! Can you hear me?"

He only nodded weakly, and I got to work untying him. I swore to myself that I'd never let him out of my sight again, not after this.

I carried him out, and got into the ambulance with him. It was one of our own, because getting the police involved would be a mess.

I watched as they cleaned his wounds, and felt a stinging in my chest. This was my fault. If I'd never.... goddammit.

We drove off, and the paramedic told me he'd be fine, but I could only think about the pain he'd been through.

He didn't deserve any of this. And it was all my fault.

••••••••••

The beeping of the monitors were starting to slowly drive me insane. Nick was trying to comfort me, and even though he was only trying to help, I couldn't listen to him.

"We tried as fast as we could to locate the signal," he reminded me, gripping my shoulder. "We had twenty specialists working on it, and managed to drive there in ten minutes. You have nothing to be sorry for."

"If I hadn't bumped into him that day, if I hadn't forced him into this job, if I'd just left him alo-"

"If you'd left him alone, he'd still be working a miserable programming job," Nick shouted. "Stop being pathetic. It is what it is, and we have him back now. That's all that matters."

I was quiet. I'd never been one to doubt myself, and I knew Nick was right, but my heart ached at the sight of George laying in that bed, helpless and wrapped up in bandages.

I heard a groan come from the bed, and my head snapped over. George's eyes were slowly opening.

"George!" I exclaimed, forgetting about his headache. Nick jabbed me in the arm, shushing me.

George looked around. "Where are we?"

"In a private room in my office, for emergencies like this," I said as quietly as I could. He looked at the bandages on his arms, and smiled weakly at me.

"Am I still hot, or did he totally ruin my face?"

I was glad that he was still himself, but I couldn't bring myself to laugh. I kneeled down and hugged him.

"I'm sorry."

He frowned. "For what? Don't tell me you've been working for The Blade."

This time I laughed a little bit. "No, I'm sorry for being an idiot, and letting you slip away."

He hugged back. "It's fine. I knew you'd get there eventually, even if it was hours or days later."

I let go, and George rubbed his head, groaning. "God, this hurts."

"You bled a lot," I said. "You should sleep."

He didn't complain, and pulled the blanket over himself. "Get back to work, or I'm gonna have a million emails to go to once I'm healed."

I chuckled half-heartedly, and left the room with Nick. He raised an eyebrow at me after I closed the door.

I noticed his suspicious look. "What?"

"That was interesting. Are you sure he's just your assistant?"

"I haven't forgiven you yet. Let's get back to work."