Chapter 503 – Losing Lives

It had been nearly eleven hours since Angela fell asleep. She didn’t wake when the doctor checked on her—a doctor on their paycheck who gets out of bed at odd hours into the night without questions. Not even when there was a little rouse because the people around him insisted Gael get checked first because his shoulder was hurt, her eyes remained closed.

Pissed off, Gael had grabbed the doctor’s shirt and had threatened him that if he didn’t check Angela first… “I’ll shove the stethoscope far up your ass and make you listen to every crack of bone I’ll break when I beat the shit out of you.”

That was over ten hours ago. The hard walls around them drove him crazy, reminding him of the weeks he spent there recuperating from the gunshot wound and the surgery. The Bunk, while it was theirs and could be called a home, was undeniably suffocating when they were hidden several meters under the ground.

Angela had a cut on her lip, the side of her head, some scratches on her arm, bruises on her wrists and legs, and a shallow cut on her arm—probably from her fight with Lauretta and the knife—that thankfully and luckily avoided the veins. It would leave a scar, but that was better than her losing her life.

Gael hadn’t gone to sleep yet, not wanting to miss it when she woke up. After last night, they all went to The Bunk through a secret passage only their family knew about. Their people knew what to do when something like this happened, a plan that took place when shit like last night would implicate all of them.

They lost soldiers. Some of their people called to check in, unable to come and personally do it. And others showed up one by one. They hoped that more would come, but if not, the headcount made his stomach curl on itself.

After last night, they lost fourteen people, including two staff from the club—whom Trigger confirmed were Jake and Katya, lovers and traitors, who opened the door for Filippo and his mercenaries. Except for Ace, all of Gael’s men were wounded and injured but alive. Uncle Pietro, Val’s father…didn’t make it past the threshold and died with a bullet to his head. And Alessandro was currently recuperating from a gunshot wound to his thigh a few doors down.

Releasing a long, exhausted sigh, he sunk into the armchair by her bed and closed his eyes. He swallowed the lump in his throat as the images of last night played through his head. Giovanni and Trigger told him what happened after Angela went into the bathroom. He felt sick having to picture it in his head. Angela, taken against her will, nearly raped by a sick fuck—who if he weren’t dead yet, Gael would have murdered him himself.

But taking all of that into his thoughts, he was…proud. Gael was so proud she was able to protect herself, knowing she was probably so scared. Angela had been taken by these vile men thrice in her lifetime, but she came out of it strong every single time. Now… He just hoped she would recover.

She killed two last night, including Lauretta—all while defending herself. Gael knew how he felt the first time he ever killed a person, so he was afraid how Angela would take it once she came to. She was only sleeping now. Long and calmly. The doctor said that it was probably her body’s way of healing itself. Gael came to think of it and remembered all the other times she slept so long.

A small creak behind him told him that someone had just come in, and by the sound and rhythm of the footsteps, Gael knew who it was but didn’t move an inch.

“She’s still asleep?” Giovanni wondered as he leaned against the wall beside him.

“Mm.” Gael slowly opened his eyes and gave his uncle a once over, taking in his well-groomed appearance as if he had just been in a business meeting. Perhaps he really was, considering it was a Friday, and he vaguely remembered they had important stuff in the office today. Other than a few bruises here and there, Giovanni looked fine. “Where were you?”

“Just got back from Artscapes.” When Gael knitted his brows in confusion, Giovanni sighed and added, “That new art magazine you said we should fund?” The confusion slowly ebbed away at Gael’s face, and Giovanni continued, “Yeah, they were interested with the deal but requested revisions on some clauses. Otherwise, I think it’s a go.”

Gael nodded. At the moment, he could care less about work. But he was still thankful that Giovanni stepped up because Gael wouldn’t ever leave Angela’s side until she woke up. Shifting in his seat, he asked, “I meant last night. You suddenly disappeared. Did you go home?”

“Oh…” Giovanni stared at nothing in particular before he cleared his throat. “Just around. Had to get some fresh air.”

Gael narrowed his eyes at him for a second before moving his gaze back to Angela. “How’s The Manor?”

“Burned to ashes.” Giovanni’s voice was hard. And it was understandable, given many things happened in that club—full of memories, mostly good, some evil. It was more valuable to Giovanni because he took a lot of care and pride for that club. A lot like Gael did for The Phantom’s Empire. “I took care of it. We don’t have to worry about anything traced back to us.”

Gael nodded, and it was quiet in the room for a moment until he softly chuckled. “Lieutenant Clark is probably having a field day right now.”

“Ah… He’s not going to bother us for a while.”

“How so?”

Giovanni chuckled. “He was transferred a few days ago. Temporarily… But he’s gone for now. So the investigation isn’t going to bite us in the ass. Probably just prick us a little, but it’s nothing we can’t handle.”

Huh. Would you look at that? Out of all the luck they had lately, Clark out of their tails at the moment was definitely fortunate.

“How’s Val?” Gael wondered. He meant to check in with her. Uncle Pietro was one of the good guys, even though they weren’t very close. And losing him terribly hurt—didn’t matter that he had cancer and was a few weeks to months was all he had left in this world—he was gone too soon—and gone in a way he shouldn’t.

“She’s hanging in there. You know how she is.”

Yeah. Val always acted tough and indifferent to many things, but she was close to her father.

“Seb’s helping her arrange the funeral,” Giovanni added.

A few things Gael were also thankful for—one, the kids were already sent home long before the attack; two, the women were back home safe; three, Sebastian left with the kids so he wasn’t there during the attack; and four, Gabby was far away from all this.

“We should call Mariano.” A courtesy call they needed to make over ten hours ago. Gael had a lot of things to do today.

“Yeah, we—” Giovanni’s words were cut off by the ringing of his phone. He looked down at the screen but didn’t make a move to answer it, just staring.

Gael cocked a brow. “You gonna get that?”

Giovanni’s jaw flexed, and he cleared his throat before answering in a harsh tone, “You better have a good reason—” His jaw went slack, and Gael couldn’t make out the change in his uncle’s expression from hard to…surprise? Then Giovanni’s voice softened, “Hi… How are you?”

Gael’s brows rose to his forehead. He had never heard Giovanni talk to someone like that. It was strange. He was about to ask who Giovanni was talking to but before he could, his uncle turned around and strode out of the room, closing the door behind him. Gael blinked fast, unsure what that was about. He swore Giovanni had been keeping secrets from him the past few days.

“Ngnnnh…”

Gael snapped his head forward to the sound of Angela’s whimper. She was shuffling in bed as if trying to get the blanket off her but failing. In a second, he was sitting on the bed next to her, gently touching her shoulder. “Hey…” Her eyes lazily opened as she scanned the room until her gaze landed on him. “Baby, how are you feeling?”

Angela opened her mouth to speak but coughed from her scratchy throat. He helped her drink some water until she was satiated. Her eyes zeroed in on the bandage on his shoulder. Looking so worried, her chin wobbled. “You got shot.”

Gael also had a few bruises on him, but the wound on his shoulder was the worst he got from last night. “It’s just a bullet graze. I’m alive.”

She grimaced, her hand tightening around his hand. She drank more water, feeling so parched she thought she needed gallons of it before it was enough. “Where are we?”

“Underground. The Bunk. You’ve been asleep for eleven hours. Do you remember what happened last night?”

Angela was quiet for a while; he thought she wouldn’t answer, but then… “I killed two people.”

Shît. And then the dam broke. She gasped and began sobbing. The sight of her like this felt like a knife drove into Gael’s chest.. And all he could do was hold her.