*Olivia*
The hospital was especially quiet today, and we were the only ones in the waiting room. The lady at the desk was reading a magazine, flipping through it lazily like she had no care in the world.
“Excuse .” Giovani cleared his throat once we had approached.
“Can I help you?” the woman asked in Italian without looking up. It seed I was beginning to understand a phrase or two.
“We’re here to see Dahlia Valentino,” Giovani said a little rudely in English so I would understand. There was annoyance in his eyes as he looked at the woman, but I felt it was justified.
She finally set the magazine down, popping her bubblegum as she typed sothing up and then said, “Limited visitors–two only. Oh?”
The woman looked surprised as she stared at the screen.
“What?” Alessandro demanded anxiously.
“Looks like she’s getting discharged tomorrow. Her doctor requested a eting with her parents or guardians to go over aftercare.” The receptionist smiled to herself. “Thank God. I heard she stole all the pudding cups.”
“Tell when her doctor is free to talk,” he said roughly then turned away from her. He rolled his eyes, not even bothering to talk with her any longer as he turned to Alessandro and Tallon.
“You two can go see her first,” he offered blandly. “I’ll talk to her doctors once they’re free.”
“Olivia?” Alessandro turned to with a soft smile. “I can stay behind, and you can go first if you want.”
“No,” I shook my head imdiately. “You go. I’ll see her right after.”
Alessandro opened his mouth, probably to argue about this so more, but Giovani was quick as he said, “Go on,” tilting his head toward the doors that led to the rooms.
Alessandro huffed but turned to go with Tallon quick on his heels. Tallon turned around to send a grin before he followed Alessandro.
It was just and Giovani now.
We both took a seat, and I glanced around the empty room, feeling a bit awkward that we had all this space to ourselves except for the receptionist, who had gone back to her magazine.
I turned in my seat to see Giovani. He leaned back in the plastic chairs, his head leaning on his fist and his leg crossed on top of the other. He was gorgeous, his eyes shut as he peacefully relaxed next to .
I didn’t want to disturb him, but there were questions bubbling up in my chest that I needed answered.
“Giovani,” I called out to him.
His eyes opened and turned to with no effort, as handso as always.
“What’s going on with Alessandro?” I asked directly. There was no other option now. I had to be blunt and ask him outright if I was going to get any answers. “He said sothing odd to , and I need to know what’s going on between you.”
Giovani frowned. “Odd? Like how?”
“Well,” I hesitated, then I decided to just throw it out there like a bowling ball racing to the pins. “He said he was going to be more involved with the organization, ‘like he always should have been.’”
Giovani groaned, straightening in his seat as he brushed a hand over his face. “That idiot,” I heard him mutter, almost too low to hear.
“Please,” I grabbed his other hand in mind, staring at him pleadingly. “Just tell what happened between you two.”
He gazed at , silent for a mont, and then sighed, squeezing my hand back.
“It’s a long story,” he said tiredly. “But basically Alessandro had been next in line to be the Don, before . Jas and Becca didn’t want to be involved anymore, and Alessandro was still a baby, so I was given the position instead. If I had to guess, he probably feels like I stole his job.”
It wasn’t much of a shock. I knew that Jas had been the previous Don before Giovani. If that was so, it made sense that Alessandro would be first in line after him... except things didn’t happen that way.
I frowned more the longer I thought about it. The decision had been made when Alessandro was still just a baby, so why did he feel so cheated about it?
Why would Alessandro even want to be the Don in the first place?
I glanced at the dark circles under Giovani’s eyes, the exhausted lines on his forehead. I’d seen multiple scars on his body from who knows what kind of things he’d been through.
Being the Don was dangerous. With the kind of temper Alessandro had, I couldn’t imagine him doing well in the position.
“You’ve been the Don for years, right?” I asked gently. “So why is he so angry now?”
“I thought he’d gotten over it,” Giovani replied. “But apparently not if he’s telling you.”
I nodded my head. The pieces were coming together now.
“No wonder he’s been so flirty with lately,” I said without thinking.
Giovani’s eyes darkened, and I saw a flash of jealousy cross his face as he stiffened next to . His grip on my hand tightened, but not painfully. He always held gently, treating like I was sothing precious.
It was the difference between them, I guess.
Giovani held the things he thought were precious close to him, being patient and gentle, whereas Alessandro bulldozed his way through life, reckless and blunt.
“Hey,” I said sweetly, brushing my hand across his face as I turned his eyes to et mine. “It’s not a big deal. I don’t like him like that anyway.”
But Giovani’s face remained set in stone. He wasn’t happy about this, and I wasn’t sure how to reassure him that I liked him and not Alessandro.
Giovani let go of my hand quickly, placing it back into my lap as he pulled away from . My heart dropped for a mont until I saw Tallon and Alessandro walking toward us.
They hadn’t noticed us yet, so I turned in my seat, acting as if nothing had happened.
As they approached, Giovani said, “You can head back now.”
“By myself?” I asked in wonder.
“Sure. I have to talk to them about sothing,” he said dismissively.
I felt a little hurt by the way he was acting–like he was saying I could go now, and I wasn’t needed anymore.
I knew he didn’t an it like that, so I sighed as I got to my feet. Just as Tallon and Alessandro arrived, I brushed past them, a little annoyed.
“Where are you going?” Alessandro reached out to grab my wrist, but I was quicker this ti.
I pulled away from him, only pausing for a second as I said, “Going to see Dahlia.”
I jogged the rest of the way, too far away for them to catch now as I pushed through the doors and into the hallways. I rembered the way from yesterday, keeping an eye on the room numbers as I passed through.
The halls were suspiciously quiet and were a bit creepy, if I was being honest. I quickly found her room and entered, a little giddy at the thought of seeing her again.
“Dolly,” I called out as I stepped inside. The minute I did, I paused in my tracks. I was downright shocked and confused as I saw the scene before .
“Mmhmm,” Dahlia humd in delight as she scooped a spoonful of a pudding-like substance into her mouth. I wasn’t sure what it was exactly, but there was a tower of empty pudding cups on her bedside table.
I was pretty sure this wasn’t her first of the day.
“You’re having fun.” I laughed at the lovestruck look on her face.
“Olive!” She peeked up at , having just noticed as I stood there.
I grabbed the seat next to her bed.
She bead, setting down the empty pudding cup, but she kept the spoon in her mouth as she licked it clean.
“What are you eating?” I asked, happy to see her so up and active. I couldn’t guess what had been in the empty cups from just the leftovers. She’d pretty much scraped them clean.
She popped the spoon out of her mouth, setting it on the table in front of her as she grinned.
“Tiramisu pudding,” she said, delighted. “They’re to die for. I’ve had, like, twenty since I’ve been here.”
“And that would be why the receptionist was complaining,” I laughed.
“Hmph,” Dahlia crossed her arms playfully. “If they didn’t want to eat them all, they shouldn’t have made them so goddamn delicious.”
We laughed and my heart felt so much lighter. It was like nothing had happened at all, and we were just two girls just getting off the plane to have the adventure of a lifeti.
“When you co ho tomorrow, we’re going to lay around and do whatever you want–within reason.” I hurriedly added the last bit as I saw her face light up.
She grinned, shrugging even as I kept the restriction. “I’ll hold you to it, Olive,” she bead. “I’ve got so much planned for us. We can’t go out clubbing, but I do have a movie marathon planned.”
“Sounds aweso,” I smiled.
There was no doubt she was going to stick to it. The last ti we’d had a movie marathon had been years ago. We used to have them every Saturday night, tucked up in a pillow fort with bucket loads of snacks and soda we’d bought.
The mories still brought a smile to my face as I thought back to everything we had been through together. Dahlia was like a sister to , and I’d almost lost her.
I grabbed her hand, smiling tearfully at her as I gazed at all the injuries she had sustained.
“I’m so glad you’re alive. If you had let -”
“No, no,” Dahlia clasped my hand, shaking her head fervently. “Don’t even think about it. There’s no way I’d let you take all the cute guys by yourself.”
I laughed through the tears I felt developing, brushing them away as I tried to get myself together. The last thing she needed was a weepy best friend on her case.
Dahlia was suddenly serious as she stared at her lap like it was the most interesting thing in the world.
“Have they been caught yet?” Dahlia asked testingly, looking like she didn’t care... but I could sense the stress in her eyes as she talked about it.
They told us that Dahlia didn’t rember much of the incident. It was probably due to trauma, they’d said, but I knew there was more that she wasn’t saying.
I shook my head, “Giovani is working on it. Alessandro said he’s staying to help investigate, too.”
Dahlia nodded, a somber look in her eyes as she brushed her fingers over her casted wrist. “I’m a bit tired, Olive. Mom and Dad just left to get a hotel, so they’ll be back soon. I think they need to talk to the doctor or sothing. They missed him.”
I nodded, sad to leave her, but I understood she needed so ti to rest right now. Despite her bravado, Dahlia had just been through sothing horrific.
There was going to be a long recovery.
“Okay.” I smiled. “I’ll leave you to sleep.”
I got to my feet, and Dahlia waved to before she turned over in her bed, pulling the covers up to her chin. Wrapped up like that, she looked even more vulnerable than before.
I sighed as I left her room and traced my steps back to the waiting room. I wished I could do sothing to help her but once again, I was useless.
The minute I stepped into the waiting room, my senses went on high alert, and I imdiately knew why.
Giovani and Alessandro were standing opposite of one another, both staring the other down as they leaned into each other’s faces.
They looked like they were going to kill each other.
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