At the hospital, Armando speeds up to the curb of the Emergency area. “Hey, caging,” Marco rasps. “Don't worry about me. Just a flesh wound.” He throws open his door and tumbles out, somehow managing to stagger toward the entry.
“I should go with him.”
“Stay,” Armando growls, his gaze on his cousin for a moment longer before he guns the car and peels out.
He circles the hospital then pulls into the parking area and shuts off the car. Armando's hands shake as he pulls out his phone. “I need to call Leo,” he mutters, gaze darting around the parking lot as if expecting another attack at any moment.
“Leo, it's me." Armando's voice is thick with urgency when Marco’s brother answers. “Marco's been shot…. In the alleyway at Garden of Eden. He was protecting Hannah. It was meant for me. Yeah, we're at Cook County now. Meet me here. And Marco said to keep this from your ma.”
The conversation ends quickly, and Armando slips his phone back into his pocket.
When we get out of the car, he’s still scanning me for injuries, like he thinks I secretly got shot and didn’t tell him.
“Are you hurt?”
I shake my head.
“Let me see,” he insists.
He wraps an arm around my waist, guiding me closer to him. His touch sends shivers down my spine, but it’s exactly what I need to quiet the shaking in my limbs. It grounds me.
Armando's hands move gently over my body, checking for any injuries. He growls at the scrapes on my knees from the pavement. “Fuck, Hannah. Thank God you weren’t hit.” He drops his forehead against mine.
“Armando...” I begin, unsure of what to say or do.
“I’m sorry, Hannah.” Armando's arm remains wrapped around me, his breathing ragged as he surveys our surroundings, his gaze darting from one shadowy corner to the next. I sense the tension building in him. “Sorry you’re caught in my web.”
“I’m not,” I say softly. And it’s true.
If Armando hadn’t killed a man in my shop last week, I wouldn’t have the privilege of knowing him. Of knowing what it means to be possessed by a man like him.
And I wouldn’t give that up for anything.
But his expression is blank, like the shooting tweaked his PTSD. He just shakes his head. “I wanted you safe from all of this.”
“Hey.” I place my hand on his cheek, forcing him to look at me. “I am safe. And Marco will be okay too, Armando.”
His dark eyes meet mine, and for a moment, I see something raw and vulnerable there. “I don't know what I'd do if that had been you, Hannah.” He swallows hard. “I can't stand the thought of you getting hurt because of me.”
“Everything’s going to be fine. I’m fine. Marco soon will be.”
Armando shakes his head. “Nothing is fine right now. But I’m going to make damn sure it will be.”
Chapter Two
Armando
Hannah’s colorful platform heels click against the sterile floors, echoing in the emergency room as she paces.
Leo sits with his ankle across his knee, his foot jiggling. “Have you told the don?” he asks.
I shake my head. “Not yet.”
There was a time when I would go to Don G in a heartbeat. About everything. But I feel so disconnected from La Famiglia now.
Of course, I have to report this. I have to tell him what’s happening. But I want to be able to tell him that I have it figured out when I do. That I have it in hand.
The trouble is, I’m so fucking far from having it in hand. I need answers, so I can finish this shit.
