Caught In Between - Book 1

43

CHAPTER 43
Domenico
Saturday

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

The noise that echoed in my ears got louder with every passing sound. I tried to move, but my body wouldn't allow it. I tried to open my eyes but came up equally unsuccessful. Where the fuck was I? And what the fuck happened? Questions swirled in my head as the pain that ached my body became more prominent by the second. Another row of beeps sounded off as it hit me.

Catalina.

We were on a date, and everything had gone perfectly, no better than perfect. Then, out of nowhere, a truck t-boned us.

The last thing I remembered was the lights coming at us at full speed while I called out Catalina's name. It was too late. There was no time to do anything before our car was being crushed and glass was flying. I tried to yank her towards me, but it all happened so fast. She took most of the impact.

Blood. God, her blood covered my hands. So much fucking blood. I tried to stay conscious, but when my head slammed against the window, it knocked me off my axis.

My ears were soon ringing, and my vision was fading. I tried so hard to hang on for her. There were sirens in the distance, and I felt myself slipping away. No, Nic, open your eyes! My mind screamed at me, but I didn't have the strength. Open your fucking eyes! I was trying. I needed to stay with her. Goddamnit, open your eyes! She could be dying or dead. Alone and afraid because you couldn't stay awake. OPEN YOUR—

My eyes shot open, and I jerked up, head pounding with pain radiating throughout my body. My vision was blurred but well enough to know I was in a hospital.

Reaching down, I patted my legs, searching for my phone, but it wasn't there. When my eyesight was finally back to normal, I realized I was in a clinical gown with my clothes nowhere in sight. Also, my right arm was wrapped up and in a sling. There were tiny cuts throughout my skin, and fuck, everything ached.

Catalina. My brain reminded me. I needed to find her. I needed to find my girl.

Yanking the IV and the adhesive patches off my skin, setting the monitors ringing, I swung my legs off the side of the bed. My head spun, and I reached up, palming my temple, struggling to gain my bearings.

Fuck.

"Señor, you need to lay back down." A petite nurse rushed into the room, attempting to push me back down, but I wasn't having that shit.

"Where's the woman I came in with?" I asked in a raspy voice.

"She-she... It's best if you wait for the doctor."

No. No. No. No.

I pushed the petite woman out of my way. I needed to find her. I needed to be with her.

Swinging the door open, I met Matteo's chest, and I stumbled back a few steps, still weak on my feet. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I got you." Matteo's hands reached out for me, but with my good arm, I pushed him out of my way.

"Where is she?" I roared, limping into the nurse's station. My mind was already thinking the worst. I needed an explanation. Anyone in my way was a casualty of the war raging inside of me until I got my answer. Lorenzo rushed over to me and tried to calm me down.

"Nic, relax. You're gonna hurt yourself," he told me, but again, those weren't the words I wanted to hear. I shoved him away.

"I'm already hurt, goddamnit," I yelled at him. "Where the fuck is she?"

"That's what we've been trying to figure out, but they won't tell us shit." Matteo's voice caught my attention from behind, and I veered around to face him. "The doctor said we have to be family."

"Where the fuck is the doctor?" I turned to the nurse sitting in front of the computer with wide eyes.

"Uh, I-I don't k-know, but I-I can c-call for him." She shook a bit as the words fumbled from her mouth.

If I were a better person, I'd give a shit that I was scaring the shit out of this woman just doing her job. But I didn't care. I only cared to know where my girl was. I needed to know she was okay. I needed to see her. To touch her. I needed my light.

"Señor, please go back to the room. The doctor will be in to see you soon."

I nodded and turned to hobble back to the room with the assistance of Matteo and my brother. It seemed my burst of adrenaline was wearing thin, and I needed to lie down somewhere.

They helped me back down on the bed, and when the nurse tried to hook me back up to the machines, I shook my head, telling her to leave though she advised against it. I didn't change my mind. I would take care of myself when I knew my woman was taken care of. We sat in silence and waited and waited and waited until the door finally swung open.

"I've heard you've been causing quite a commotion, Señor Mariano." The doctor looked over at me, slightly annoyed.

"It's Domenico," I said. "Now, where is she, Dr. Martinez?" I glanced at his nameplate then back up at him.

"I understand your frustrations." Doctor Martinez looked down at the floor as he ran his hands through his hair, then back to me. "But you need to understand I can't release any information unless it's to her family and to a spouse." He shook his head, and I clenched my jaw.

"We are her husbands," I hissed while Lorenzo and Matteo nodded.

"All of you?" Martinez's eyebrows shot up, then he narrowed his eyes.

"All of us." I upheld my answer without breaking away from his uncertain gaze. "Now tell us where she is."

"Okay, sure." Martinez nodded reluctantly before continuing to speak. "When they brought her in, there was a lot of damage to the right side of her body." He sighed. "She barely had a pulse. She was bleeding out." His gaze dropped to the floor again, and my chest tightened. "We rushed her to the O.R. to get it under control, but there was too much blood lost."

Matteo let out an audible shaky breath, but the doctor shook his head.

"We lost her twice on the table, but we were able to revive her before performing a successful transfusion."

"So, she's okay?" Lorenzo spoke, sitting up in his seat, his eyes boring into the doctor. "Can we see her?" Matteo chimed in with hopeful eyes, but the doctor's silence was unsettling.

"We were able to stabilize her, but she isn't out of the woods. You may see her, but her condition is still very touch and go," he told us, and a bit of hope seeped into my heart because she was still alive and if I knew one thing for sure. I knew my girl was a fighter.

Once they brought in the wheelchair, we were all led to her room. She was hooked to multiple machines, tubes running in and out of her body. One side of her face was swollen and discolored with a bandage wrapped around her crown while her right arm and leg were in blood-covered dressings. I was about to open my mouth to speak, but Matteo beat me to the punch.

"Has she woken up since surgery? He looked at the doctor with pleading eyes, but Martinez shook his head, turning to face us.

"Due to some inflammation in her brain, as well as her other injuries, she has been put into a medically induced coma. This means we set her in a state of unconsciousness, utilizing medications to achieve a deep state of brain inactivity. In this state, the brain is tranquil for several seconds, interchanging with very short spurts of activity. The period when the brain is quiet gives it time to relax and rehabilitate." I guess he could see the blood drain from our faces as we all stood staring at the woman we loved. "We will monitor brain activity and other vital signs to check for improvement before bringing her out of the coma." He gave us a tight smile, which wasn't reassuring in the least. But we nodded, then he was gone, and we were left with a comatose Catalina.

None of us spoke. There was nothing to say. We just gathered around her bedside, praying that God would hear us and forgive all of our past sins, bringing our girl back to us. I wasn't a religious man, but I needed to believe in something to get me through.

I sat there, holding her small, lifeless hand as more chunks of the accident pieced together in my head. Clenching my jaw, I turned to the other two men in the room with fire running through my veins.

"What happened to the person who hit us?" I asked, knowing the answer but wanting confirmation.

"Uh, they fled the scene," Matteo confirmed, as my brother looked over at me with his brows pulled together.

"That's what I thought." I flared my nostrils before I glared down at our helpless girl lying in this fucking hospital bed. "It was a hit." I kept staring at her as the face of the driver rang clear in my head. He was a man I'd seen one too many times to forget, and the fury of the realization had me ready to burn down all of Barcelona. "Victor, set it up," I spit out, my words laced with venom. "He sent his right hand, DeMarco Berlusconi, to kill our girl, I'm sure, with the help of the Luna brothers." The Luna's threaten our girl, and Victor had everything to gain by taking her out. He would pay for this. They all would. I would personally make sure of it.

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