The Thorned Rose

42

"Oh my God, Sav, are you okay?" Loretta rushed over to me. I slowly got up, clutching my stab wound on my stomach, which was bleeding pretty heavily.

"Did you call the guys?" I asked.

"My phone was out of battery," she answered. "Fuck, Sav, we need to get you to the hospital." She helped me walk to the car, where I sat in the passenger seat and she drove, speeding and crossing all of the red lights. One of my burner phones was in the car, so I picked it up and dialled Fabricio's number. He didn't pick up.

"What's the home phone number?" I asked. I dialled it in as Loretta told me and called that. A maid picked up.

"You have reached the Russo household, how can I help you?" said the maid.

"Get the Don or anyone on the phone now!" I screamed down the phone. I heard her yelp slightly, and there was some running and shuffling, then I heard Fabricio's voice.

"Sav? Are you okay? I'm so sor-"

"Kasim's fucking brother attacked us in the spa. He stabbed me. We are on our way to the hospital. His dead body is in the spa. Can you deal with it?"

I heard him cursing, throwing some stuff and smashing things, and shouting orders at men on the other side of the phone. "It will be sorted; I will see you at the hospital." I hung up the phone.

Once I was all stitched up, I could see that there were a crap tonne of people outside my hospital room, waiting to be allowed in to see me, but I told the doctors not a single one was my family, and I didn't want to see anyone except family. Once they discharged me, I decided to climb out of the window, and I ran across the parking lot, over to my car. I broke into it, and hotwired it, then drove off. Fucking hell. I just got stabbed, what would make this day even worse is to have a whole bunch of Italians fawning all over me. It made me sick to my stomach. I'm sure they would have realised I was gone by now, so I pressed the accelerator slightly more, and went to the dodgy part of Rome, where they were multiple little gangs that sold drugs for the main mafia. I really just needed a fucking fight. I know that sounds stupid because I was just in a fight, but I just needed to beat someone up.

"Hey darling," a boy called out to me, "nice ride," he nodded towards my car.

"What is someone with a car like that, doing in a place like this?" said another guy, wearing a red baseball cap, walking over towards me.

"Take another step and I will kill you."

"Aw, darling, making threats, it's sweet," said a different guy, with his jeans so far down they showed his yellow boxers.

"I want to fight someone," I shrugged my shoulders.

"None of us would fight you, but I would do something else to you that began with f," said the guy with the baseball cap, taking another step towards me. I stepped towards him, punching him square in the face, causing his nose to bleed. He held it and looked up at me, then at the car, then at me, then at my bracelet, spotting the white rose on it.

"You're the assassin working for the Italian mafia?" he said. Wow, he is smarter than I thought he would be, I was pretty shocked.

"Anastasia Hills?" a man called out behind me. "Your Don tortured my best friend." A man with a very scruffy beard and moustache, wearing a black t shirt and baggy jeans stepped out of a house, and went down about seven stairs before getting on my level.

"I have no idea about that," I said.

"He was a bit upset, because my little gang has been stepping on his toes a little bit," he pouted, but in a way that taunted me.