Page 111 of Sinful Wrath
I can barely see through my tears as the medics cut open my father’s shirt to reveal the multiple gunshot wounds in his chest and abdomen.
“He’s dying.” I sob, my knees buckling beneath me.
Mikhail tightens his arms around my waist and keeps me locked against his body as the paramedics get to work readying him for transport.
“Papa!” I cry.
“They are just putting him into the ambulance.” Mikhail holds me back as they bring out a stretcher.
“I need to go with him!” I cry, fighting Mikhail. “You have to let me go! He’s dying!”
“I’m coming with you.” Mikhail hauls me into the back of the ambulance. “It’s going to be okay, Lucia.”
I want to believe him, but I’m not sure I can.
I barely rememberthe drive over to the hospital or the doctors rushing my father to emergency surgery. I block out the sounds of the machines and the doctors assuring me they’re going to do everything they can to save him.
It’s as if I’m watching everything from above, not quite believing that this is real.
Time seems to slow down as I pace back and forth around the waiting room.
Mikhail never takes his eyes off me, even as he answers calls from his brothers.
Looking down at my blood-stained wedding dress, I feel as if I’m living a nightmare.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” I whisper, sinking back down into the seat beside Mikhail. “I-I thought moving the wedding was meant to be safer? I thought…”
My voice cracks, and I bury my face in my hands.
“I will find whoever did this.” Mikhail reaches out to tug a loose curl behind my ear, and I can’t help but recoil.
“Please just…stop.” I wrap my arms around myself.
“What’s going on? You’ve been acting strange for days, and I’ve been trying to rack my brains as to why, and I’m coming up short here, Lucia.”
“Really? Well, maybe you need to think a little harder.” I get to my feet to put some distance between us.
When Mikhail looks just as confused, I decide to rip the band-aid off.
“I overheard you and Anton talking the other day about how you want me to call off the wedding.”
Mikhail frowns, but then his expression turns to one of disbelief.
“Lucia…” He gets to his feet, reaching out his hand.
“I don’t want to hear it, Mikhail.” I turn my back on him.
“Lucia, look at me.”
I screw my eyes shut at the sound of his gravelly voice, the voice that provided me with comfort, that whispered sweet nothings in my ear as I lay asleep in his arms…
This time, when Mikhail reaches for me, I don’t have any fight left in me to push him away. I let him turn me around and lift my chin so I have to look at him.
“I won’t lie to you. It was like that at first.”
My chest tightens.
“After that first night, when you left me naked in Coney Island, I was pissed off, and I said some things to Anton. I told him I planned on making you hate me enough that you’d want to call off the wedding. And then…” He looks away for a moment, the muscle in his jaw flexing. “And then… Well, you know the rest.”