Aella

LXI

"I'm hungry", I tell the girls quietly. Mama looks up at me like I just told her Aella was home. But she's not. "What?"

"You haven't said those words in weeks."

Papa and Ace have been gone even longer each day than before they figured out where Aella might be two days ago. Ace comes in after midnight to help me sleep, and when he leaves around seven, I'm usually already awake. 

"That's probably why I'm hungry", I say stoically. 

"What do you want?"

"Pizza". But then I think. "The pizza Ginevra made us the first day I was here."

Mama starts to get up and she runs into the house to get Ginevra to her to start making the pizza for me. During the time I wait, I start on the newest coloring book Mama gave to me.

The hopefulness runs through my veins as I understand the feeling Mama has towards my hunger. She was right, I haven't been hungry, but the thought of that pizza just sounds so good, my stomach growled for the first time since before the wedding. 

What feels like an eternity later, Mama brings out the pizza and sets it in front of me. I quickly cut a piece of the beautiful pie in front of me and take a huge bite. It's hot, and I hate myself for starving for the past month. 

I finish what I can in minutes, and somehow, this pizza in front of me fills me with just enough motivation to know that I will see Aella again soon.

Aella's POV

The room is dark when I'm left alone is like my solitude. I'm left alone, even while I'm bleeding out and my life slips from my grip on reality. 

I let myself slip in and out of consciousness to pass my time in this dark, dirty room underneath Paolo's hideout. 

What helps me stay who I am are the thoughts of my wife. The thoughts of the first time I met her, how scared she was of my confidence. The thoughts of every moment we've spent together, of all of the smiles to have spread across her face. My time with her was short, but if I do die here, I've already promised myself that she would be my last thought. I owe her that much. 

Shuffling and sounds come earlier than usual outside that door in front of me. It's louder than usual, and a pop of a gun echoes underneath the door into my cell. Fear takes over me, but also that hopefulness that I needed to hang on to. Maybe it's Marcello. 

What sounds like a body hits the door to my cell, and it slides to the floor in death. I wish I could see out the door, but I just sit in the chair I'm tied to and wait for something or someone to come inside to see me. 

My wish is granted when the door opens, and Paolo comes rushing through, his gun already drawn in his right hand. 

"Well, Bitch", he sneers. "It looks like your time has come. It's been wonderful having you as our guest."

All the good memories flash behind my eyes as I stare at the barrel of the gun that Paolo holds in front of me. Every memory of Penelope, of that family, of the family I had before college. 

But before he can pull the trigger to end my life, more shuffling comes through the door, and one man does his best to take out Paolo from behind. When he does, Paolo's finger pulls the trigger, and I feel that bullet hit one of my bottom ribs. 

I let out a yelp of pain, and my sight starts to spiral. The rushing of people around me continues, and through my consciousness, Paolo is also shot. Someone starts to cut me from the ropes that bind my hands and legs, and my body is dropped to the ground. 

I stare at the one light right above me, and I take it as my sign to go to the light offered by God. My time has come, and I have accepted it. 

I close my eyes to slip from reality, but a voice I recognize pleads to me. I do my best to open them again, and the face I see brings a smile to my face. "You're going to be okay, Aella", Ace's voice echoes through my minds. "I'm going to bring you back to her."

Ace rips off his suit jacket and places it over the entry wound to stop the some of the bleeding. I take in shaky, shallow breaths as my lung all but collapses in my chest. "Let me go", I whisper. 

"I can't do that", Ace hold his hand on my shattered rib. "I have to bring you home to her."

I continue to stare up at the light as my mind goes blurry. I want to stay conscious and go home to Penelope, but my body has been broken so many times, I just want it all to end and to see Penelope in my next life. I know our souls will find each other again in many more lives. 

My sight goes black, and I let the peace of death consume me. 

~

Hi My Loves

I'm so sorry for the short chapters, but I know you all want these updates and I finally know how the book is going to end, so I just want to get there for you so you can finally see finish the epic love story of Aella and Penelope.

I've released a sneak peek of my new book, All In, which you can find on my profile. As soon as I finish with that book, I will release the chapters in batches to get it out all within the same month.

Madeleine