Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 43928 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43928 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
I'm sorry, little mouse. I'm so fucking sorry.
Blood pounds in my ears, drowning out the sounds of chaos and death reverberating through the mansion. All I see is Aurelia, her sweet face burned into my mind. Her cries of pleasure ringing in my ears.
"Mattia!" Rafe drops to his knees beside me, pressing down on my wound in an attempt to staunch the flow of blood. There is no stopping it, though. Not this time. "Don't you fucking die on me, Mattia."
"R-Rafe," I gasp, pain and weakness threatening to pull me under. My vision blurs, but I force myself to stay conscious, if only for a moment longer. "P-protect her. T-tell her…ti amo."
"Damn it, Mattia, don't you dare talk like that," Rafe growls, his voice cracking with emotion. "You're going to survive this, and you'll tell her yourself."
But he's wrong. I'm not.
As my strength fails me, I cling to the image of my little mouse, her love blazing like the sun in the darkness. The thought of her touch, her warmth, and her fierce fucking spirit stay with me even as darkness swims forward.
"Mattia! Goddamn, you!" Rafe's broken cry is the last thing I hear before the world fades away, leaving nothing but her.
Aurelia.
Chapter Fourteen
Mattia
Beads of sweat trickle down my forehead, the sterile scent of disinfectant in the air as I struggle to open my eyes. They feel so fucking heavy. My vision blurs before finally focusing on the white ceiling above me.
The steady beeping of a heart monitor fills my ears while the pain surging through my body sends shudders down my spine.
What the fuck happened?
Flickers of memory flash through my mind, hazy and disjointed. None of them make much sense. All I remember is…Aurelia.
Where is she?
I turn my head to the left, and my gaze lands on her. My heart jolts against my ribcage. She's curled up in a chair by my side, fast asleep. Her raven hair cascades around her round face, framing it. Even in her sleep, she looks like an angel.
"Aurelia," I whisper, relief washing over me at the sight of her. She's here and safe.
"It's the first time she's slept in days," Rafe says, his voice hoarse.
I roll my head to the right, following the sound of his voice to find him leaning against the wall by the door, watching me. He looks fucking exhausted, with dark shadows under his eyes and wrinkles creased into his suit.
"How long?" I rasp. The words feel like razor blades inside my raw throat.
Rafe strides toward me, grabbing a cup from the table beside the bed. "Eight days," he says.
Eight days. Dio.
I've been out for eight fucking days?
"What…?" I pause when Rafe holds the cup out to me, allowing me to take a drink. The cool water feels like liquid gold sliding down my throat. Christ, it's good.
I drink until I can't breathe and then lean back, grimacing at the pain that courses through me with every movement.
"What happened?"
Concern flickers through Rafe's dark gaze. "You don't remember?"
I hesitate, trying to pull forward a memory…any memory. Everything is chaotic and jumbled, like shattered glass in my mind. But I sift through them anyway, trying to fit them into place.
"Brio stabbed me," I finally mutter, the fragmented memory surfacing like a phantom pain.
"Yeah," Rafe growls. "He nearly killed you." He swallows hard, as if the words are difficult for him to say. "No. He did kill you. For four minutes, you were dead."
"Jesus." The truth settles over me like a shroud. I almost broke my promise to Aurelia. I nearly left her behind, alone and unprotected.
"Don't ever fucking do that again, Agostino, do you hear me?" Rafe rasps, his eyes bright.
I nod, my chest pulsing with emotion as I glance at his sister. The last thing I intend to do is fucking die and leave her alone.
"I never should have kept the truth from you," I confess to Rafe. "You deserved to know about her from the beginning."
"Yeah, I did," he agrees, his voice steady. "But we're past that now, Mattia." I glance back over at him, his obsidian eyes fixed on mine. "She loves you."
"My heart beats for her," I say simply. It's nothing but the truth. I've spent a lifetime alone, accepted by the Valentino family, welcomed into it, but not really part of it—not entirely, anyway. I've always been an outsider looking in. My family was taken from me when I was seven. I've been on my own ever since, living half a life. Until Aurelia. With her, I feel alive. I have a purpose. My life has meaning. She's my family. She's my purpose. She's the meaning. Without her, my life is just blood and death and black and pain. I've had enough of that bullshit.
Rafe jerks his chin in a nod. "I know. The few times you've said anything over the last eight days, it's been her name. If anything kept you alive, it was her." He sighs, rubbing a hand over his face. "I'm mad as hell that you married her without even fucking telling us that she existed, but I know you did it for the right reasons. You've always put this family above everything. I can respect that."