Mafia Heir

Chapter 47

Luca

"Don't you think you should lay down for a little while?" Angelo asked me cautiously. This was the fourth time in the last hour he suggested that, and it was the fourth time that I ignored him. I had a concussion, but rest was the very last thing on my mind right now.

Angelo took my silence as his answer, nodded, and continued to scroll through his phone.

My head was throbbing and my vision was still a little wobbly, but there wasn't a chance in hell I was leaving Charlotte. We didn't know the full extent of her injuries yet, but I was praying she would wake up soon.

That night was a living nightmare, and the sounds echoed in my mind. I was sure they would forever. The rev of the engine, the shattering of fiberglass, Charlotte's screams. The sound of my own voice breaking as I called out for her without an answer. I jumped into the water immediately, desperate to find her in the dark and murky waters. Thank God, I got to her in time. She was unconscious, but she was alive, and I was able to drag her to shore. The commotion drew a crowd, and before I could even get my bearings, sirens cut through the silence.

Angelo met me on the shore just seconds after, as we tried to get Charlotte to wake up. Soon, we were rushed by paramedics and ushered out of the way.

I was so fucking stupid. I let my guard down. Charlotte and I were both drinking, and I was too wrapped up in her to spot the potential danger. It was late, and we never should have taken the boat out, but I was blinded by the excitement in her eyes. I would do nearly anything to make her smile, but I should never have put us in such a vulnerable position. Now, Charlotte was lying unconscious in a hospital bed because of it.

Silvano was a dead man. The second I could get to that bastard, I was going to rip every organ from his body with my bare hands and then string him up in the middle of Time's Square. He needed to be stopped. Taught a lesson. Made an example of. And when I got that opportunity, I was going to take advantage of it in every fucking way possible.

Coming at her while I was with her was new. Until now, every attack happened when she was on her own, or with another one of my men. That night was different. That night, he waited until we were alone and out in the middle of the God damn ocean, and he nearly killed us both.

Charlotte was unresponsive on the ambulance ride to the hospital, and when we got there, they wouldn't let me back with her. I tried to put up a fight, but Angelo held me back, insisting that she was in the best of hands. I knew there was nothing I could do for her right now, but I didn't want her to be alone. She would be scared and disoriented when she woke up, and I wanted to be there.

Unfortunately, we had business to take care of, and that was a good distraction as I waited. Angelo and I concocted a bullshit story for the police. I didn't want them anywhere near the truth, because it would only hinder how I wanted to handle it. We told them that I hit a levy. That I was drinking too much and couldn't see the rocks. That Charlotte was thrown from the boat deck in the collision. We told them I immediately smelled gasoline, and knew the boat was about to blow, so I jumped in the water myself, desperate to get Charlotte away from the wreckage. When I got to her, she was unconscious and I barely was able to drag her through the water before it exploded, sending shrapnel everywhere. It was believable, and I knew Elliott could get me out of any charges that came from it.

When they took my statement, they seemed to buy it, and by that time, Charlotte was in a room in ICU. Angelo and I went to her immediately, and hadn't left her side for the last two days. I had to be here when she woke up—for a multitude of reasons. I wanted to comfort her, but I also needed to be sure she knew the story.

She was so still that if I wasn't hearing the beeping of her heartrate on the monitor, I would have thought she was dead. The force of her fall caused her brain to swell and there was a lot of water in her lungs. While the doctors assured us she was stable, she still wasn't awake.