Marino's Heir

Chapter 41

"Cleo! Stay with me!" Ryder took out something from inside the drawers and poured it in a small cup. Natasha watched him nervously as tears started to fall from her eyes. He ran to Cleo, who was still shaking, blood started to come out of her mouth. "Natasha, hold her still! Hurry!" She ran and helped him. He put a tissue inside her mouth and held her arm, pushing a needle inside her. She slowly stopped shaking,  but the blood from her nose kept running down. Natasha took out a tissue from her pocket and cleaned it off her. He let out a sigh of relief for stopping that, but Natasha worried him again.
"Ryder! Her breathing is slow!" He shook his head, then reached her face. He put his fingers under her nose and laughed. "What?!" She cried, asking him in confusion. He stopped laughing and patted her shoulder. "She's just sleeping, Nat..."
"Is that how a person sleeps? It feels so slow."
"It's okay, she's fine." He looked at her heart rate and sighed. "Then why did you need Jason? Hospital?"
"If I didn't stop her, her condition would've gotten worse, and the hospital would now how to deal with it. For Jason, I need to know what kind of liquid is inside of her now. I swear he's dead if she doesn't wake up." She looked at her, the bleeding stopped. "It wasn't Jason." She looked down in sadness and spoke. "It's Aurelia." He got surprised. "She switched the sample with another of hers. Jason told Sofia, and I was still there and heard it all."
"What? Why would she?" He asked. "I don't know. She thought Jason was supporting her, but he wasn't. Clearly, she switched it without him noticing, is what he said." Ryder moved his eyes to Cleo. A lot of questions flooded his mind. While Natasha was filled with indescribable sadness. Cleo on a side, and on the opposite was her closest cousin, best friend. "I can't believe her..." she sobbed. Ryder looked at her, "Something isn't right... why would she do that? How did Jason not stop her plan? He could've told us earlier."
"I don't know... I just wish she could wake up right now. This is my fault." He nodded his head. "No, don't say that-- If I just listened to you and didn't give it to her, she would be with us right now!"
"Natasha no... don't blame yourself." He stood up and walked around to her. He put his hand on her shoulder and looked at Cleo. "Someone is trying to kill her..." He said, and it made her sob more. "Someone very close to us..."
"It's not Aurelia! No... she wouldn't." She turned to him, he looked at her. He didn't know what to say. Something inside of him tells him it could be Jason, but how would killing Cleo benefit him. Aurelia, the same question applies to her as well. One of them is lying and framing the other. Either way, they're both very suspicious, and if Cleo doesn't wake up anytime soon, they will take advantage of it.
"As long as boss is in her death bed. Chaos will constantly happen..." He got on one knee to face Natasha. He continued, "Many lies and betrayals might happen between us, and definitely..." he gulped and looked away for a second. "They will try to kill her." She gasped. "Who?!" She asked. "I don't know, but I need to know if I can trust you..." he said that, and she nodded her head, telling him yes. He smiled at her and stood up. He walked to the other side and took the tissue that had Cleo's blood. "You can leave if you want, I will stay here. Come back in the morning." He said and turned to her, gave her a small smile, and then turned back to what he was doing. "Ryder..." He hummed and turned to her. "Please do everything you can to save her..." He moved his eyes to Cleo, sadness filling the place. "I need you to promise me that she will make it." She sniffed and played with Cleo's hair for a second. She looked at him, "I need her to stay with us." He nodded. "I will do my best, I promise." and spoke.
She smiled at him, then looked at Cleo. "Please wake up soon..." She whispered and slipped something under her pillow, then left her.

Ryder stayed up all night working and checking on Cleo. After taking a drop of her blood, he saw many bacteria's and toxins in it. He figured why the poison did so much damage to her physical health and what type of infection the cure held. He told the guards to leave Jason for now and stay outside the door. It's better to keep it low for now, that he knows what was in that cure. At first, it will heal her but then shock her and worsen her health. It was basically killing her slowly. That was what happened earlier. He got off the chair and walked to her with the right cure. "This is what I should've done from the beginning. Forgive me for being so late."

He injected her arm with it, and after finishing, someone slammed the door open. He looked at who came in and lowered his head. "Boss?!" Vincent entered angrily. Ryder looked at him confused, surprised he came this early in the morning. What worried him was his expression, Vincent stared at him with fire in his eyes. After a minute, he finally talked, shocking Ryder... "Get this man away from my daughter!!" He said, almost hitting the bottom of the bed. "What?! Boss!?" Guards came and held Ryder's arms. "Take that needle away from her, or I'll shoot you right now!!" He shouted. "Boss, what's going on?!" Ryder asked calmly. "She's going to be fine. I did all the research, and she took the cure. She's going to wake up sooner or later."
"I am not going to repeat what I said." He said that and a man hit Ryder in his jaw. They pushed him to the ground and tied his hands behind his back. "Boss! This isn't right! There's a huge misunderstanding!"
"I won't let you continue ruining her health any further." Ryder looked at him shocked and unable to believe what was happening to him. "What did I do wrong?!" He shouted. Vincent took out his gun, preparing it. Someone entered the room behind him and Ryder's eyes moved to that person. "You?!"

A huge grin formed on her face, Aurelia waved her hand at Ryder while standing behind Vincent. Following her was another woman, Vincent's wife, she stood beside her and stared daggers at the still unconscious Cleo. "I told you he will act clueless." Aurelia spoke, it made Ryder mad. "What did you tell him? What the hell did you do?!!!" He shouted. She rolled her eyes then walked to him. The men made him stand on his knees. "I wonder what else could be worse than a doctor who can't save his patients but kills them." She provoked him, but he couldn't do anything at this moment. His hands were tied, and a gun was pointed at him. Vincent thinks he is the one who is trying to kill his daughter. This puts his life in danger. "We both know very well who's trying to kill her now." He whispered, and she slapped him in return. Her nails scratched the bottom of his lips, making it bleed, and she laughed at his expression. She backed away. "Boss. You trusted me with the cure. I don't know what they had told you, but I swear I'm only helping Cleo!" He defended himself. "If there's someone you will point your gun at, then it's not me. If you kill me right now, you would have killed the wrong person....and Cleo will be in more danger!"
Vincent's wife sighed and walked forward. "I suggest we finish him, darling. Otherwise, he will start spreading lies and make us doubt each other." She whispered in Vincent's ear. "It's been three days, and she's still the same, Ryder.—— You gave it to me yesterday!—— I expected to see her awake in her full health in front of me right now!!!" He got more mad, and Ryder looked at him fearful. "Give her time!!" Ryder shouted back at him then looked down when he realised it. "I'm sorry, boss—— Take him out of here.——Wait." Aurelia stopped him. "It's better to get rid of him right now." She said, looking at Vincent. "I agree with her. The longer he lives, the worse it gets for us. You don't want a rat among your mafia, right?" His wife added. Ryder nodded his head in shock. These two are working together on this. He moved his eyes to Vincent, who handed Aurelia the gun. "You kill him. I only torture a betraying man, not simply end his life." Aurelia took the gun faking a sad face, then smirked when she turned to Ryder. "No! Stop!" Vincent turned his back to him and started walking. "Tsk... disappointing." He said. "Boss! Don't do this! It's not me, I swear to god, it's not me!!" Ryder tried to free himself from the two men holding his arms as he shouted. "You're making a huge mistake!!" Vincent turned to him again. "I made a huge mistake trusting you, Ryder...." He sighed and closed his eyes. Feeling something in his throat and air hard to breathe, he shook his head. After a minute, he hesitantly said. "Finish him." Then walked away. "Aurelia! You won't get away with this!!" Ryder shouted to her. She smiled and then moved closer to him, "I didn't do anything or maybe I did..." She whispered, then walked backwards, moving the gun to his forehead. "Goodbye, Ryder."
Vincent had his eyes closed, feeling a bit of sadness. Another man, who he could call his son, another son, died this day. The boy who he raised with proud gave him all opportunities to have the best education in the world. Ryder was always his winning card in everything. At first, he used him to benefit his mafia, but by the passing years, his heart warmed up to him.
Compared to that, the girl he never accepted as his daughter was valuable to him. To protect her, he had to sacrifice two of his most important followers. First was Lorenzo, now Ryder. One protected her with his life, and the other betrayed her, so he took his life.
And as he waited, unaware of the upcoming mess, the sound echoed through the place. The sound of the gun, the bullet hitting his son, shattered a piece of his heart....

To be continued....