Falling for the Mafia Queen

Part 5

The surgery took more than four hours, I tried sitting down to calm down but it didn't work. I spent most of the time fidgeting and pacing around the room. Vito tried calming me down but it didn't work. Nurses kept rushing in and out of the room, some carrying in blood bags, some carrying out samples for testing. The shrapnel had moved on the ride over here, that's why had taken them so long to get here. They had to keep stopping and slowing down to prevent further injury. By the time William started the surgery the shrapnel was starting to press against her spine.
    Marcus was sending updates to Vito every hour about where Victor was. Someone had finally told him where she was, I guess someone believed he was her father. The last update was that he was at the end of the hall waiting. My best guess was that he was waiting for them to bring her out and see what room they put her in.
    I got William's attention before they wheeled her out through morse code, I told him to take her the back way around and to a private room. I saw him give a small nod as he finished up with surgery before informing the nurses of the new plan. I knew I had to confront Victor once they moved her to her room.
    Victor slowly made his way down the hallway as the nurses walked past me taking Marina to her room. William stopped next to me while facing the nurses as they disappeared around the corner, Marcus and Sloane following behind them.
    "Do you want my help, or can you handle this?" I knew what he meant, he wanted to make sure things didn't end in a shoot out or a fist fight.
    "I got this, if my father sent him I want to know why."
    "Alright, I'll leave you to it then." With that he left to follow after the nurses and get Marina's room prepared.
    Victor finally made it to Vito and I blocking the now empty hallway. He looked at the open spaces between us to get past, then at Vito sizing him up, and then to me to see my reaction. Slowly he reached his right arm behind him towards his gun, but Vito was quicker and already had his gun pointed at Victor's head. A kill shot, Victor knew it.
    Raising his hands in defeat he backed up slightly, "Why are you protecting the girl?"
    "Why are you trying to kill her?" My voice was surprisingly calm for everything that has happened. Victor sighed shoving his hands into his pockets and looking at the floor before responding.
    "Because she saw your father, he's worried she'll identify him and report him."
    "What do you mean she saw him?"
    "While she was running this morning, she saw an exchange take place. Salvatore can't risk her exposing him." I winced at the sound of my father's name, if he thinks she saw something this wasn't going to end well.
    "Does my father even know who she is?"
    "Yes." With that he turned away and rounded the corner. If my father knew who she was that meant he could find her whenever he wanted.

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    My head was spinning, the pounding was vibrating into my ears, and I could hear people talking. Everything sounded so far away, it seemed so surreal. Then I remembered where I was. The hospital bed became harder, the beeping of the machine next to me seemed more intense, the pain in my back seemed to subside. I reached towards my face to take out the nose piece helping me breath, but my hand didn't get that far. When I finally opened my eyes to see who was holding my hand I was looking into blue almost purple eyes, I quickly pulled my hand to myself.
    "Marcus, leave her be please." I knew that voice. I scanned the room to find the source. When I found her she was over by the door talking to Shelly and who I assumed was my doctor. She no longer wore her suit, but was in dark wash loose jeans, steel toe boots, and a wite v-neck. The other men in the room were dressed similarly but with balck shirts and leather jackets.
    "You should know she's awake." The man on my bed replied while getting up and heading to the foot of the bed, he must be Marcus. The conversation stopped quickly as the three of them realized what he said. It was Shelly who made it over to me first.
    "Oh sweety, how are you feeling?" I wanted to say that I was okay, that everything would be fine. I wanted to reassure her, but nothing came out, all I could do was squeeze her hand tightly. Tears welled in my eyes as my lack of verbal skills continued.
    "Sloane, can you take Ms. Smith out into the hallway?" It was the doctor that spoke this time, he must know them. One of them gave a small nod, when he came over to Shelly I noticed he couldn't be any older than 20. His balck hair was a mess on his head, and his brown eyes were filled with sadness. He was slightly taller than Shelly and much skinnier, but that didn't stop him from embracing her as they walked into the hallway.
    "It's good to see you're awake so quickly after what you've been through," It was the doctor that spoke again, pulling my eyes away from the now closed door. "Let me introduce myself, my name is Dr. William Graves. I'm the doctor that performed your surgery last night, and I'll be the one looking after you while you are in recovery." I gave a small nod in response, I didn't know if my voice would work yet.
    They all looked at me with sad eyes, all I could do was cocoon into myself but even that hurt with my back. The small movement I made surprised all of them, it was like they weren't expecting me to be able to. It was Beck this time who came to my bedside.
    "I want you to reserve your strength, but I want you to squeeze my hand once for yes, twice for no. Can you do that for me?" I squeezed her hand once. I saw her surprise when I did, something must have gone wrong from my accident. The pounding in my ears had subsided but I was still in pain.
    "Good good, do you feel anything when you move?" I squeezed her hand again, this time she turned back to Dr. Graves giving him a small nod before turning back to me.
    "Do you remember what happened, the reason why you're here?" I pulled my hand away, I didn't want to answer. The truth was I did remember, I knew my car exploded, I knew I barely escaped with my life. I didn't want to admit it, but I knew why I was being targeted too. I saw something strange on my run but I'd never admit that, especially not to Beck. I knew their lifestyle, I studied it my whole life, I'd never purposely put their lives in jeopardy. But now my life was in danger, and I was to scared to do anything about it.