•|Their Joy|•

38.

A few hours later, Antonio woke up. His panicked figure was spotted by a nurse who tried to calm him but failed. "Mr. Valentino relax. How are-"

"Shut the fuck up. Where is my sister?" Antonio's left hand gripped the nurse's throat tightly, cutting off oxygen.

"Sh-she is in-" the lack of oxygen made her face red. Matteo entered the room and quickly rushed to Antonio's side. "Antonio leave her."

Antonio's head snapped in his direction as his grip loosened. The nurse gasped for air as she knelt in the corner of the room. "Where is Alle?"

"She is in ICU." Matteo answered.

"How is she? Matteo? She-she was shot. On her back. There-there was-was a lot of blood. And she stopped breathing. Her body was lying in my a-arms-" Antonio rambled, and in his state of panic, the heart monitor started beeping loudly.

"Stop. She is fine, okay. Calm down. She is fine." Matteo reassured Antonio.

"She is fine?"

"For-for now atleast." Matteo rubbed his eyes roughly.

"What do you mean?" Antonio asked while lying back on the bed as his arm started to hurt.

"She didn't woke up yet. Too much blood loss. The bullet-" Matteo sighed as he licked his lips again.

Antonio stilled. "The bullet what?"

"The bullet didn't hit any vital organ." Antonio almost sighed in relief when Matteo spoke again. "But it did grazed her spine. Doctors aren't sure but she might not be able to walk again."

"What are you saying? No no no. That is not possible okay. She will be okay. She will walk. She will run too." Antonio shook his head in negative. "She will be fine. These doctors know nothing. We'll take her to a better hospital."

Antonio started taking out the IV from his hand roughly. Tearing away his skin too, he tried to jump out of bed when Matteo stopped him. "No no. Fuck no. You are not getting out of bed."

"Shut up Matteo. I need to see Allegra. We will take her to another hospital. This one is shit. She will be okay." Antonio started again and tried to get out of bed, but Matteo strained him.

"No Antonio-"

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND MATTEO. SHE WAS WITH ME. I SAW HER GETTING SHOT OKAY. SHE WILL BE OKAY. THERE WAS BLOOD ON MY HAND. HER BLOOD." Antonio screamed as tears streamed down his face rapidly. "Mom's blood, Rosa's blood. I killed them all. She will be okay." Antonio's voice tuned down to whisper as Matteo hugged him tightly.

Both the brothers cried till no tears escaped their eyes. Antonio, after a few minutes, fell unconscious under the buzz of medicines. While Matteo kept staring outside the large window into the dark crying sky.

A knock on the door disturbed his thoughts and Antonio's sleep. Leonardo and the rest of the boys entered the room. "How are you Antonio?"

Antonio kept staring at all of them and then burst into tears. "We all are here, just not her."

Before any of them could say more they heard. "Allegra is now in the private ward. And awake." One ward boy burst inside the room and panted. "She is out of control. Please if any of you could-"

All of the boys bolted past the ward boy who stood by the door, panting and terrified. The boys entered the ward, where they heard Allegra's panicked cries and shouts. There, they saw Allegra's tear-stricken face. Her upper body thrashed against the nurses and the doctor.

"Stop." Alessandro quickly sped to her side and pushed one of the nurses aside. "Alle." He smoothed her sweat-clad hair tendrils out of her forehead. Allegra's pain-filled eyes met his. "Sandro, you-"