Forbidden Kiss (Danielle Savre and Stefania Spampinato)

15. Anticipation

Danielle was pacing around the waiting room at the hospital for the last forty-five minutes. To say that she was feeling scared and anxious would be an understatement. It's been about two hours since the moment she received the text message up to now, and it seems like, with every passing minute, Danielle was getting more and more nervous. The unknown of Cara's well-being was getting on everyone's nerves, and every time they asked for information, the answer was painfully the same. Patience. Patience. Patience. But patience was the last thing everyone had right now.

All Danielle knew was that they found Cara in an abandoned house about an hour outside of LA. The local police came in earlier to ask Marcus and his mom some unnecessary questions that led to more confusion rather than clarity. When Marcus asked the investigator about the whole situation, she said that there's an ongoing investigation, and as for now, that's all they can say.

Even with her foggy mind, Danielle understood that something wasn't right. She had about a million thoughts racing inside her head, and sadly none of them were positive.

"Why is it taking so long," Marcus groaned while sitting on a plain white chair next to his mother. He looked miserable. His already pale skin looked even paler, and dark circles under his eyes together with weak posture were like an indication of exhaustion that was slowly killing him.

"Can we at least know if she's hurt, or they're just examining her?" Emma asked the nurse, who was blankly staring at the computer screen. After a few moments of silence, she looked up, shook her head, and focused back on the screen in front of her.

"What kind of top-secret is this?!" Danielle asked louder than intended. "Since when is family not allowed to know about the patient's condition?"

"Since there's an ongoing investigation for possible abuse and health impairment of a minor," The woman looked Danielle up and down before continuing. "Of course, from that mentioned family,"

"What kind of bullshit is this?!" Marcus yelled at the lady. He was now standing right in front of her, with his hands tightly gripping the desk. "I never hurt my sister!"

"Marcus," Danielle grabbed Marcus's hand, but as soon as she did that, he pushed her away with such force that the blonde stumbled and almost fell to the ground.

"No," Danielle heard Stefania's voice behind her, and within the next two seconds, she felt a tight grip around her waist. Danielle carefully looked at the tall brunette beside her, bluntly staring at her best friend. "You need to calm down because what I know for sure is that they are not going to let you anywhere near Cara if they think that you are a threat to her well-being. And forgive me for saying this but yelling at people and hurting your best friend creates an image that is quite the opposite from 'I never hurt my sister'"

"I just need to know that she's okay," Marcus said almost in a whisper. "My only job was to protect her from him, and I failed miserably,"

"I'm sure they will let you see her, but first, you need to take a deep breath and compose yourself," Stefania glanced at the lady behind the desk who was carefully watching them. "And maybe say a couple of apologies,"

"You're right," Marcus rubbed his face before looking at the older nurse, whose facial expression was almost impossible to read. "I apologize for my tone and for being such a stubborn,"

"I assume it's been a long couple of days," The lady whose name tag was hidden by a warm sweater said. "But you're apologizing to the wrong person," Everyone's eyes landed on the blonde, who was still holding in her breath. As much as she tried to ignore it, the familiar feeling of fright was taking over her body.

"I'm sorry, Dani," Marcus took a few steps closer, but Danielle shook her head and grabbed Stefania's hand in search of comfort.

"It's okay," The blonde mumbled more to herself than her best friend. Danielle took a deep breath and looked at Stefania, who was now standing only a few inches away. Their noses were almost touching, and Danielle could feel the wave of calmness fill her body. "I thought you had an emergency at home,"