A Heart Caught In Crime

Chapter 14 - Coming Home

***Natasha's P.O.V.***

I groaned in pain as Enzo gently lifted my battered body into his strong arms. Every inch of me ached from the brutal torture I had endured at the hands of Phillip and his several friends who all thought it would be fun to have their way with me and sometimes more than one at a time. The memory of Phillip's vicious assault made bile rise in my throat. With each step and every breath I took the pain was intensifying, it didn't hurt this bad when they were doing it but i also wasn't relaxed so I think that has something to do with it.

Through my one eye that wasn't swollen shut or bruised, I could see the cold fury etched into Enzo's weathered face as he carried me swiftly out of that hellish abandoned factory. I clung to his suited shoulders, my ripped clothing barely preserving my modesty. I lie limp in his arms unable to move. I feel as if every bone in my body was broken.

The jostling of Enzo's hurried strides sent shockwaves of agony through my broken ribs as he placed me carefully in the front passenger seat of a sleek black Mercedes. I felt like something was off with him when he spent almost 5 minutes getting me some clothes, that I am only assuming were his, from his trunk. He gets into the car and started driving to the closest hospital.

As I drifted in and out of consciousness during the tense ride and in between my cry's out in pain, I could feel Enzo's worried eyes on me. This hardened mafia boss was showing me a gentleness I never imagined possible as he murmured reassurances. "Just hold on, Tasha. You're safe now. I'll kill every last one of them for daring to touch you."

When we screeched to a halt outside the ER entrance, Enzo swept me up again and rushed inside, he threw his keys to an employee standing nearby and left the engine running. He bypassed the waiting room and took me straight back, his infamous name commanding instant attention and the best treatment.

As doctors and nurses swarmed around me, examining my injuries and preparing me for surgery, I reached for Enzo's calloused hand. "Don't leave me," I pleaded through cracked, bloodied lips. The thought of being alone again filled me with sickening dread. Though I guess that I wasn't alone all that time that I gone, but the sinking feeling of not being safe, not being able to eat for days. Not a drop of water.

His grip tightened around my trembling, cold, bruised fingers as he leaned down to press a surprisingly tender kiss to my forehead. "Never, tesoro. You're family now. I protect my family at all costs."

Just then, a commotion broke out by the doorway. I recognized Christian's anguished voice demanding to see me. As he burst into the room, his normally charming face was contorted with distress and guilt. Tubes and wires hanging from his chest and his arms. The smack of his bear feet against the cold concrete floor.

Christian fell to his knees by my bedside, tears streaming down his face as he took in my pitiful state, still in his own hospital gown. "Oh God, baby...I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I never should have brought you into this life." He buried his face in my hand as sobs wracked his muscular frame.

I wanted to reassure him that I didn't blame him, that I loved him, I placed my hand on his shoulder carefully and started to speak, I wasn't able to get the words out. Breathing was becoming increasingly more difficult as the seconds pass, seemingly in slow motion. It felt the moment would never end.

I took a deep breath and exhaled with tears brimming my eyes of the pain, the room was becoming a blur, but the commotion interrupted had me intrigued . A woman's enraged shriek echoed through the hall, getting closer. Screaming at hospital staff demanding to know what room I was in. I recognized the voice with a chill - it was Kayla. Despite the doctors and nurses desperate efforts on trying to keep her away from my room, all had failed.

"YOU BITCH!" she screeched as she shoved her way into my hospital room brandishing a scalpel. "You killed my Phillip! I'll fucking end you!"

Before anyone could react, Kayla lunged at me with murderous intent. Enzo stepped smoothly in front of her, reaching for his gun. Christian stood up unable to think clearly enough to react in time. But rage and desperation made Kayla impossibly quick. She slashed wildly, catching Enzo across the forearm and making him drop the weapon - right into my lap.

Without thinking, I snatched up the heavy gun and fired off three rounds with unstable hands into Kayla's chest as she came at me again. The force threw her backwards but she kept fighting, demented shrieks pouring from her mouth. "You... you don't... deserve.. to live" she coughs out and lounges at me once again.

I kept squeezing the trigger in blind panic until the magazine was empty, unloading a full clip into Kayla's chest and head. Her lifeless body hit the floor with a thud, dead eyes staring accusingly at me as blood pooled around her. The doctors yelled to get this woman out of the floor and out of their way. My body fell back into the bed as I cry out in pain.

As doctors frantically tried to pushed Christian and Enzo out so they could rush me into surgery, I heard Christian pleading with his father.

"Dad, I can't do this anymore," Christian said brokenly. "I want out of the family business. I need to keep Natasha safe, to build a real life with her away from all this violence. Please..." the doctors try to get Christian back to his room as he hasn't completely healed.

The last thing I saw before I succumbed to the anesthesia was Enzo's grim face as he clapped a hand on Christian's shoulder. "We'll make it happen, figlio mio. Whatever it takes to protect our own. You have my word."

As I felt myself fading into unconsciousness, I clung to that promise - a vow that Christian and I could escape this brutal underworld and find our own piece of heaven, forever bound by the unbreakable love that had carried us through hell.