Hers To Love (complete) Cover By @army_ss841

Chapter 76

Morelli stopped his forward movement and looked at me; his eyes dead and a single stream of red running down his forehead, he dropped right where he stood.  All eyes were on me as my hand trembled, still holding the smoking gun and I turned to say something to Luca, horror all over his face but when I tried to speak a bubble of blood came out of the corner of my mouth and I felt funny.  Everyone was moving in slow motion as I put my hand to my left side and held it out and looked at it;  blood was all over my hand and then the motion of my body going down to the floor  and all I could hear Luca and Paulo both screaming.  Luca caught me before I actually hit the floor while Paulo ran over to a dead Morelli and kicked his gun away and then ran back to the dance floor.  Dr. Banks had already sprung into action barking out orders and on his phone one minute and then on the floor with Luca and I the next.  "No no no baby!" Luca was strangling out.  I raised my hand to his cheek and said "he can't hurt us any more" I struggled to get the words out.  "Mr. Constanti I need you to move to the side.  I need to be able to assess what the damage is" Dr. Banks was quite firm and Paulo pulled Luca back screaming and fighting the whole way.  Paulo grabbed Luca's face, now streaked with my blood "she's a fighter man!  Let Dr. Banks do what he can, okay?  You can stay close" he was calming Luca down some.  Ari was still conscious but fading in and out.  "I didn't even know she had a gun!" Luca said, running his hands through his hair, disbelieving what just happened.    Sirens could be heard in the background as Dr. Banks shouted to another wait staff for a clean towel; he'd already soaked two.  "I need...need...Luca" Ari said raggedly.  Dr. Banks motioned for Luca and he was at her side immediately, grabbing her hand and placing it against his heart, his face streaming with tears.  "I love you Luca.  Please don't cry for me.  You are safe now.  Paulo is safe.  Everyone is safe." she faded out.  Luca called out and her eyes snapped open again just as the EMT's were arriving.  "Hang on baby!  Don't you leave me!"  Luca shouted.  They started working on her right away and loaded her onto a gurney and headed to the ambulance.  "Luca" a detective by the name of Marco Angelo said to Luca.  "Marco" he breathed "what am I going to do?"  The two grew up in the same neighborhood but chose separate career paths.  "You're going to get in that ambulance and go with your fiance to the hospital.  I will come and personally take your statement later" he said in hushed tones.  He was a good detective, not on the take, but he also knew that Luca was better than the other elements he'd dealt with and didn't wish this on his childhood friend.

The ride in the ambulance was torture.  Ari coded twice but they managed to stabilize her by the time they reached the Emergency Room entrance.  Thank God for Dr. Banks, he was there to meet the doctor on-call, gave him the run down of the situation, her vitals and all necessary information they needed.  Ari was whisked down the hall, between two doors and was then out of sight.  Luca looked down at his hands and shirt, they were red with her blood.  Dr. Banks walked up to Luca and gently took him by the arm and led him to a restroom out of the way and brought him some wipes so he could clean his face and wash his hands.  He didn't say anything to Luca, what could he say, and turned to walk out when Luca said "Liam" the doctor stopped, turned and faced Luca.  "Thank you" was all he could get out.  The doctor patted him on the shoulder and told him he would be in the waiting room and that he wasn't going anywhere.  Luca turned to the mirror and ran his fingers down his face, tried to steady himself and started cleaning himself up so he could go to the waiting room.  Luca was no stranger to that amount of blood but it was different when it belonged to someone he loved.

Luca reached the waiting room to find Paulo, Natalie, Fabio, Luigi and Roberto.  The other Dons were there and Paulo pulled him aside to say that his parents would be there soon and he called Ari's parents and they were on the next flight out.  Luca nodded in acknowledgement.  It was 2:45 in the morning when Ari's parents came bursting through the door.  Victoria had a look of fear on her face and Luciano was pissed, not at Luca, but at the situation.  He pulled Luca aside "what in the fuck happened?" he asked.  "Morelli infiltrated the wait staff.  We found the man who's uniform he stole dead with a bullet between the eyes.  Luc it's my fault she's lying in there fighting for her life!  I was supposed to protect her and I couldn't!  She protected me!" he shouted jabbing at his chest.  "Son, you couldn't have known.  Don't kill yourself with doubts and what-ifs.  Knowing Arienne she's going to pull through this because she has a helluva lot to live for.  Keep strong for her.  She will need it.  Now, what about this Morelli piece of shit?"  "She dropped him right where he stood" Luca explained.  "What?" asked Lucchese.  Luca nodded "yeah, she was wearing a thigh holster and came to the party packing.  I guess she'd picked up on his vibe earlier and she tried warn Paulo and I both about her suspicions but we blew her off." Luca felt so guilty about his actions.  Just then his parents came through the doors and his mother made a mad dash to Luca and surrounded him with her arms and his dad went straight to Luciano Lucchese and they went to talk to Paulo.  This waiting was killing everyone.