Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
Alessandro looked off to the side for a long moment. He spit and a small puddle of blood appeared on the ground.
Alessandro straightened up and stared at Antonio again.
The older man turned toward us, and a cold feeling of dread shot through me.
“You ladies best be on your way,” he said coldly. “You don’t want to see how this is going to play out.”
I started to argue, but Alessandro turned to look at me and nodded toward the car. I swallowed my words and nodded back. I took Mom’s hand, and we turned our backs to the men and hurried into the car.
As soon as the door was closed, I turned to look out the window. I didn’t want to leave Alessandro like that, but I knew that I had to get out of the way.
He had a plan, right?
My breath caught in my throat as I watched Antonio pull a gun from his waistband and aim it directly between Alessandro’s eyes. Mom gasped, and I felt her hand grip my knee tightly.
I couldn’t look away.
Our driver started the motor and started to back up. The sound of screeching tires cut through the air. From behind us, several cars sped toward the men.
Antonio turned to face the approaching cars. Alessandro took advantage of the distraction and tackled him, knocking the gun from his hand.
Antonio Junior and the burly bodyguard rushed toward him. The car we were in whipped around as explosive noise erupted around us.
Everything was in chaos, and I couldn’t follow what was happening. Alessandro’s men were here, but that didn’t explain the sound.
Then I realized.
It was gunfire.
I ducked my head and put my arms up to shield myself. We were moving rapidly, but there was gunfire all around us. My heart was thudding against my ribs, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe as fear rushed through me.
I reached for my mom. My hands gripped her shirt, and the world went still as I slowly realized that the fabric that I was gripping was warm and wet.
I shook my head. This couldn’t be happening. We were supposed to be alright. Alessandro’s plan should have worked, and then we were supposed to be safe.
I felt tears burning in my eyes as I remembered the day dad was shot. My entire world had been changed for the worse. My heart felt like it was going to stop and at that moment, I wished that it would. I couldn’t go through this again.
I wouldn’t survive it.
“Mom?” I asked hopelessly.
I lifted my head and looked up at her. She was slumped forward with her head pressed into the window. Broken glass was scattered across her lap, and her shirt was soaked in blood.
The car turned without warning and threw us forward. The motion seemed to jar me out of my shock. The sounds of gunshots and screaming came back and I realized that we were still close to the chaos. Only a few seconds had passed.
We were speeding away from the fighting.
“Help!” I screamed. I slid from the seat to the floor and grabbed her shoulders. I laid her back on the seat and lifted her shirt, looking for the injury that had caused her to lose so much blood.
“Mom, say something!” I cried.
She didn’t react. Her eyes were closed. Her chest was heaving as she struggled to breathe. She was still alive, but the pool of blood was only growing.
I turned toward the driver. “We need help!” I screamed.
He didn’t respond. He just kept driving.
I looked at the rapidly bleeding hole in the middle of her abdomen and a sob stuck in my throat. That bastard Antonio had taken my dad from me, and now he had shot my mom too.
This couldn’t be happening.
“Mom?” I asked.
I shook her shoulders, desperately hoping that she would open her eyes.
She didn’t.
I started to scream.
*Caterina*
My voice was the only sound in the room besides the humming and occasional beeping of machinery.
I was reading an article from one of Mom’s favorite magazines out loud. I wasn’t paying attention to what the article was about at all. I personally found it boring, but the doctors told me that talking to her could help. Apparently, it was good for coma patients.
Mom hadn’t woken up since she was shot. The doctor told me that even though she had lost a lot of blood, the wound to her abdomen was actually pretty minor. He said that at some point during the shootout, she’d hit her head. That was what had really hurt her.
Her brain function was normal, and he was confident that she would wake up. He just couldn’t say when.
It has been two months already. I was struggling not to lose hope.
Alessandro and his men were tirelessly hunting for Antonio and Junior. Somehow, they had managed to escape in the chaos of the fight. No one would admit it, but I was sure that it was because of me.
The driver of the car Mom and I were in had rushed us to the hospital. He had relayed what had happened at some point.
Alessandro had rushed to the hospital. I was sure that if he had stayed to deal with Antonio himself, things would have been different.
I tried not to dwell on it. They would find him. I was confident in that.
School had started already, but I wasn’t going. I hadn’t dropped out for the semester yet, but I knew I might have to. This was far more important than school. I could go back when things had been resolved. Right now, it wasn’t safe.
Elio has been staying close to me, which has helped a lot with my feeling of security. If I were on campus without him, I was sure I would be a disaster.
When he wasn’t in the hospital with me, he was looking for the bastards responsible for this. I smiled a little at the thought. I really needed to thank him again for everything. I was here every day, and he always stopped by at least for a little while.
Right now, he was picking up lunch for us. I didn’t want to leave Mom’s bedside if I didn’t have to. I couldn’t shake the feeling that if I wasn’t with her, something terrible was going to happen.
I knew that it was paranoid, but Elio didn’t try to talk sense into me. He just made sure that I ate and took me home after visiting hours.
I turned the page of the magazine and continued reading. The article was about something technical, and I was having trouble pronouncing some of the words. I wasn’t sure why Mom had even subscribed to this thing.
I sighed and closed the magazine.
“Sorry Mom, this is just really dull,” I said. “Maybe after I eat, I’ll be able to focus on it.”