My fingers closed around the door handle.
Cold metal . It bit into my skin . The pounding on the door rattled the nightstand. One . Two . Three .
Alessio didn't looked at the door . He looked at me . Like the men trying to kill us were background noise and I was the main event .
" Hesitating , wifey ?" His body was rough and strained. The blood loss was catching up . " Bad " .
I yanked the drawer open . Scalpel. Surgical thread , Gauze , Antiseptic . A man like him didn't keep band-aids. He kept trauma kits .
" You do this often ?" I grabbed the scalpel .
My Hand was shaking. He was right .
" Often enough " His jaw tightened as soon as I stepped between his knees. The space he'd make for me . " Get the bullet out first , then stitch. "
His dress pants were black . The blood was invisible there , but I could smell it. I dropped to my knees on the white rug . It wasn't white anymore.
" Hold still "
He laughed . No humour . " I don't do still. "
" Lift your arm "
He did slowly . The movement pulled his skin taut again , and the wound wept the fresh blood down his ribs . It cut across his obliques , disappearing under his waistband like I had noticed before .
I set the tip of the scalpel to the torn skin .
" Wait " His hand shot out , around my thigh . Tight enough to hold but not bruise . Hot through the lace of my dress .
" Breathe principessa . You pass out and we both die . "
I wasn't going to pass out . I was going to kill him myself for putting his hand on me like he had right to do . Anyways , legally , he did .
I cut .
He didn't flinch . Didn't make a sound. His fingers just flexed on my thigh once .
The bullet was shallow . Luck , or God , or the devil watching out for his own . I drug it out with the tip of the scalpel and dropped it on the nightstand. It clicked against the wood .
One more piece of metal in a room full of weapons.
" You're good at this ." His voice was lower now . Closer . I'd leaned in without realizing it. My hairs falling towards forward , on his chest .
" I'm good at surviving ." I grabbed the Antiseptic. It would hurt . I didn't warn him .
He hissed when it hit the open wound . His grip on my thigh was as hard as an iron .
Then deliberately , his thumb stroked once .
Back and forth. Soothing me while he was the one bleeding.
" Your hands are shaking, principessa. " he murmured . His breathe stirred the hair at mu temple . " Is it the blood or me ? "
I didn't answer him . I Couldn't as the truth was in my hands . They were not shaking anymore . They were steady on his skin , fingers spread over the hard plane of his chest to keep him still . His muscles jumped under my palm .
His gaze dropped to where I touched him .
Then back to my face . Slow . Cataloguing .
Like he is memorizing what surrender looks like to me . But I wasn't surrendering but surviving. There's a difference.
" Faster principessa! Unless you want them to find you ." Voice was low and commanding.
I wanted to say buy I bit my cheek instead and pulled the thread tight . Each one pulled a grunt out of his throat that he tried to hide .
The pounding on the door stopped.
Silence was worse .
I threaded the needle with the fingers which were not shaking anymore . Anger was steadier than fear for me .
" You know you ar–"
" Shut up and let me work ."
" Make me "
I looked up at him then . Big mistake.
His face was inches from mine. Blood loss had paled him , but his eyes were still black and bottomless . Hungry . He'd call it earlier.
Hungry despite the blood . Men like him go off on violence , survival and claiming.
I was kneeling between his legs in my wedding dress , while his blood is on my hands , His hands on my thighs . What a scene.
The door blew inward .
Wood and metal sharpnel exploded into the room . I screamed and threw myself sideways by instinct–
His arm wrapped around my waist and hauled me down . We hit the floor behind the bed , his body covering mine . His gun already back in his hand like it was already there .
He was bleeding . He was shot . Then also he could so fast before I could even blink .
" Down " He snarled against my ear .
Bullets shredded the silk sheets where we'd a second ago . Feathers and black silk snowed over us .
His chest was heaving against my back .
From pain or exertion of Rage , I couldn't tell . His free hand fisted in the skirt of my wedding dress , holding me to him . Not protecting , possessing .
" Alessio–"
"Three men " He cut me off , counting the shadows through the feathers . Calm .
Like we weren't on the floor , bleeding.
" maybe four . They want you alive and me dead . "
" How do you–"
" Because the stopped shooting. " His mouth was on my throat now . His words vibrating through my skin . " They saw where you went . They won't risk you ."
He shifted just enough to press the cold barrel of the gun into my hand . Wrapping my fingers around it with his own .
" Can you shoot wife ?"
" I have never held a gun before today!!"
"Thinked so " He didn't sound disappointed. He sounded pleased.
" Then you trust me to keep you alive . Again "
He rolled , taking me with him , putting his back to the bed frame . Putting himself between me and the door. Between me and death . Again.
He looked at me . Really looked . For the first time since he said " Now run ," there was something other than a command in his eyes.
" I don't share what's mine " He said . Quiet.
A vow . A threat . " Not my territories , not my weapons , not my wife "
Then he smiled ." Especially not my wife ."
He rose up to his knees , gun up and fire .
The first man dropped. The second man
said ," De Luca! We have your father ! "