Page 70 of Always Meant To Be

It takes us an hour before we're at Memorial Hospital. Paramedics called in a chopper and airlifted her here. The trauma doctors took her into triage straight away, the nurse leading me to the waiting room while asking me questions about my wife and her condition.

"I should have fucking killed him!" Mikhail snaps for the fifth time, his wife silently crying beside him.

He showed up forty minutes ago, Leonardo flying our helicopter back home before driving back, and Anastasia was already in the city.

"Honey, please," Anastasia whispers.

"No!" he snaps back, "that fucker killed my daughter, he hurt Elena, the kill was fucking mine."

I fist my hands and stand with force, glaring at the man. "And she's my fucking wife, pregnant with my baby!"

He flinches, and I growl, turning and slamming my fist into the wall, not caring about the pain shooting through my arm at the contact.

"Romeo," Anastasia rasps, but I ignore her as my father grips my shoulder, and my mamma cries.

"She'll be okay, son. They both will…" he tries to soothe me, but I shrug him off and go back to my place near the wall.

He wants to give me hope, but he forgets he brought me up not to believe in it, wanting me to be the worst of the worst.

He made me the monster I am, while El made me the man who is consumed by her.

I can't lose her….

Another twenty minutes later, Antonio rushes into the room with Leonardo, who looks ready for murder.

Mikhail stands. "Did you watch the footage? How did he kill Liliya?" I growl again fucking angry that's his first thought, and he glares at me. "She may have been a bitch, but she was still my daughter, Romeo, and you wouldn't allow me kill to her attacker!"

I shoot to my feet, but Leonardo steps in front of me and snaps, "Funny, considering Liliya was the fucking attacker with Damian helping her!"

I freeze in shock while Anastasia starts shaking her head and denies, "No, please no, I did not bring her up with that much hatred, not toward her sister, please…."

For the first time ever, I watch as Leonardo looks at her with pity and rasps, "I'm sorry, but I've watched it from start to finish. Liliya walks in with a metal baseball bat, and Damian watches by the door, smirking."

He lifts his laptop and presses play, and I move to watch the scene. Horror takes over as Liliya rushes to attack my wife, who only just gets out of the way, pressing her necklace….

"That's my girl," Mamma cries, and we watch El duck just in time. The bat skims her head, and her bump makes it difficult for her to move.

"Oh God," Anastasia cries as El grabs the bat, struggling but managing to push Liliya back, who stumbles, falling on her ass. We watch as Liliya screams, and then rushes to attack my wife.

Horror and shock fill the room as El smashes the bat over Liliya's head, who then falls, banging her temple on the desk, killing her instantly.

El freezes, her face paling as she drops the bat, fucking forgetting about the other person wanting to harm her.

"She's not going to live with this,fratello…" Antonio whispers, and I nod, because my wife has a kind soul, and she's just killed her sister in self-defense. Her sister, a woman I should have fucking endedmonthsago….

I growl as Damian rushes behind El and grabs the bat. She doesn't have time to react as he bashes her head, just as Aldo rushes in screaming.

We watch as he shoves Damian to the ground, his head bouncing off the floor, knocking him out, and he skids to El, his hand going to her bloodied head instantly.

I watch with pain as tears fall down his cheeks. He grabs tissues off my wife's desk, pressing them against the wound, trying to wake her before, suddenly, anger morphs his expression, and he jumps on the fucker, beating Damian.

Leonardo shuts his laptop and asks Mikhail, "So, tell me, Mikhail, how do you feel about your daughter now?"

Mikhail allows us to see his pain, and I turn away, not able to look at him.

I can't imagine being in his shoes right now. His daughter, from a drunken one-night stand, tried to kill his youngest, all because he allowed her to believe I'd accept her as my bride, not seeing her for the whore she was.

"Romeo?" my mother questions with concern, but I ignore her and start to pace.