LUXURE

19. CALL IT QUITS

I woke up to the sound of people talking, voices I didn't recognize, except one. I kept my eyes closed so I could listen to the conversation. 

"Find out anything and everything about the man responsible for this."  I could hear the anger in his familiar voice.

"Yes, sir." I heard footsteps, they sounded like they were walking away. 

"Oh, and Mark. Thank you. I don't know what would have happened if you weren't there." I felt the bed sink at my feet and I could tell Giovanni sat down on the bed. I opened my eyes and saw him watching me, his face looked hurt.

"Good morning sleeping beauty." He said with sarcasm. I smirked and then winced at the pain in my cheek. I looked around me, the room was much nicer than the hospitals I usually go to. My finger was hooked up to a machine and there was an IV attached to my hand. I must have looked confused because Giovanni started explaining my injuries.

"Your cheek had a deep gash in it, the doctors glued it shut to help with scarring. You have 2 broken ribs, and a severely bruised hip." He sounded like he was in pain. I looked down at my hands. "What happened, Scarlett?" I reached up to feel if I was still wearing my wig. I wasn't and my hair had been let down, someone took it off of me. "Why were you at that bar? Why did those men beat you like this?" I could feel the pain in his voice which made me feel even worse.

"I'm sorry" my voice came out as more of a croak. I looked down to avoid his gaze, I felt like crying out of embarrassment and pain. "I had a nightmare and it brought up some bad memories that I wanted to escape from." I looked at him and he was watching me intensely, I continued with my story. "I went to a new bar, but I had no plans on stealing or anything, I just wanted to be someone else for the night. I didn't feel right from the start, I should have just gone home." A tear slid down my face and I felt the bed sink next to me, he moved closer to me. "This man, typical douche, harassed me and when I tried to leave they forced me into that... room." The memories of them hitting me flashed through my mind and I swallowed to keep from crying. "I did every thing I could to get out of there, but they were stronger than me. No one helped me, people just watched me get carried into that room. No one cared." I started crying, but when Giovanni wiped the tear with his thumb I forced myself to stop. I'm stronger than this. He didn't say anything more, we sat there in silence. I looked out the window to avoid his gaze again.

"Mark brought you to the hospital." I looked at him when he said that and remembered Mark was the one who saved me. 

"How did Mark know where I was?" I questioned. His face dropped.

"I... had him install a tracking device on your phone." His head hung down like he had been defeated as he ran a hand through his hair. 

"What?" I was shocked, "Why?" and slightly angry.

"After you stole from me, I told Mark to find out everything about you, I wasn't sure if you were trying to get intel on me. He installed the device on your phone back then." I mean, I could understand that. How and when he installed it? I have no idea.

"So why did he know where I was?" I questioned further, raising an eyebrow.

"We have it set to alert when you go out past a certain time." He looked at me when he said that and it made me want to shrink into the bed.

"I don't appreciate that. You've been stalking me." His head hung down.  He had no right to track me like that. "Listen, I'm glad that it allowed Mark to save me, and I understand why you installed it, I'm not happy about it, but I'm not going to hate you for it." I reached out to touch his hand and winced when I felt the pain in my ribs. He grabbed my hand and held it gently as he scanned my face for pain.