Vow to Me: A Mafia Arranged Marriage (The Romano Empire Book 1)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Marco and i are just walking into a meeting with the Irish to discuss a new deal when my phone rings and Enzo’s caller id appears on my screen.

Why the fuck is he calling me while he’s out shopping with Izzy and making her help in whatever cocked up plan that he has to stalk his girl? Me and her will be having fucking words when I get home, she should just leave him to it before he thinks he can drag her into whatever the fuck he’s up to and think she’ll be at his beck and call whenever he needs her.

He probably just wants to try and piss me off, knowing him it wouldn’t surprise me. The little shit loves getting on my nerves and Izzy is the easiest way to do that. He knows I’m beyond territorial when it comes to my wife.

I swipe the screen to decline the call and sit down opposite Finn O’Brien, ready to discuss business. But before I can even get a word out. Marco’s phone rings. He glances at the screen and rolls his eyes before answering. Whatever he hears on the other end of the call has his face paling and he swallows before his wide eyes meet mine and I just fucking know that somethings wrong.

“We need to go. Now.”

I know he doesn’t want to reveal whatever the fuck has happened in front of the head of the Irish so we give him our apologies before we turn and leave the restaurant, before I can ask Marco what the fuck is happening, he’s running towards the car and jumping inside, I follow and jump in the passenger seat, and he pulls out into the traffic as soon as my door closes.

“You better tell me what the hell is going on Marco,” I say. I can hear the desperation in my own ears. Whatever it is, it’s fucking bad if it has my brother spooked.

“Someone rigged Enzo’s car to blow when the passenger door opened,” he says and he swallows before continuing, “he managed to shove Izzy out of the way, but the blast knocked her backwards and she hit her head, he knew we usually use our own doc, but he didn’t have a choice. An ambulance turned up at the scene and he put a gun to the EMT’s head and told them to fucking fix her. They’re on the way to the hospital now, she still hasn’t woken up,” he says and looks at me with haunted eyes.

No. Fuck no. There”s no fucking way.

I can’t fucking breathe; my heart feels like it’s about to fly out of my fucking chest and I have to force myself not to picture the scene or I’ll lose my goddamn mind.

She’s fine, I tell myself. She fucking has to be. I can’t fucking lose her when I’ve only just found her. She’ll be okay. You’ll be okay, baby.

I lean my head against the headrest and close my eyes, trying to fight the nausea crawling up my throat.

“Get me there. Take me to her, Marco,” I whisper, pain evident in my voice.

Marco breaks every speed limit there is on the way to the hospital, getting us there in under fifteen minutes. He doesn’t speak, there’s nothing he could say to me right now that will make me feel any better. As soon as the car slows down in front of the entrance, I’m jumping out the door and leaving Marco to deal with parking.

I enter through the ER and glance around but I don’t see Enzo or any of my men he called in as security so I make my way to the desk, as soon as I tell the girl my name her eyes widen, and she points me to where I can find Izzy. At least Enzo had some sense and got my girl a private room.

I walk down the corridor and spot two of our men stood outside Izzy’s door, I enter the room and the sight that greets me nearly brings me to my fucking knees. Izzy is laid in bed, looking so fucking fragile with a bandage wrapped around her head, I can see dried blood matted into her blonde hair. She seems so fucking small and the thought that I could have lost her guts me.

Enzo’s sat in the chair next to her and he looks as bad as she does. In fact, is that a piece of fucking metal sticking out of his back? Jesus Christ.

“What did the doctor say? Is she okay? When will she wake up? Why haven’t you been seen yet?” I fire at him as I make my way to her bedside and take her hand in mine, brushing my thumb over her wedding ring. It was only this morning I went to the jeweler to get her an engagement ring and now she’s laid in the hospital, fucking unconscious.

“They did a scan, and everything looks fine, the doc said she should wake up soon and he suspects a mild concussion, but he’ll have to check her over thoroughly once she’s awake. I haven’t been seen because I’m not fucking leaving her side until she’s awake. I can’t, it’s my fault. I should have protected her better, I should have noticed something was wrong, I’m so fucking sorry, brother.” He closes his eyes and tips his head back before swallowing and turning to me. The regret in his eyes is clear as day.

“It’s not your fault little bro, and once I find whoever did this, they’ll wish they were never fucking born. Hell, I might set Izzy on them, she can be fucking terrifying when she wants to be.”

I stand and walk to the door, telling my men to get a doc in here to check Enzo over.

It feels like an eternity waiting for Izzy to wake up, it’s been an hour. Enzo got checked over, the doc had to remove a chunk of metal from his shoulder and stitch him up from where he sat next to her bed because he refused to move. Marco arrived and called our dad, they’re both waiting in the waiting room, wanting to give us some space. I’d kick Enzo out and tell him to wait with them, but he’s so fucking broken up over this I don’t have the heart to do it.

I keep whispering to her, telling her I need her to wake up but it’s no fucking use. I feel helpless, there’s nothing I can do but wait. Trust me, I asked the doctor.

I stand up and pace around the room, muttering to myself as I hear her voice.

“My head is fucking killing me.” My head snaps towards her, and the relief I feel to see her staring back at me is like nothing I’ve ever known.

“Iz? Are you okay? How do you feel?” I rush towards her, and of course, the stubborn as fuck woman that she is tries to sit up. “Lay the fuck back down, woman. You’re not going anywhere.”

“Fuck, sis, you cared the shit outta me,” Enzo says and presses the call button to alert the doctor she’s awake.

I take Izzy’s hand and bring it to my lips, pressing a tender kiss to her knuckles while they both recall what they remember from the attack. Honestly, I’d rather not fucking hear the details—because I hate the fact that she got hurt—but I need the details if I’m going to find the asshole that dared to hurt my wife and brother.

Enzo leaves to update Marco and our dad, finally giving me some alone time with my wife.

“Fuck, Izzy, I’ve never been as fucking scared as I was when we got that phone call, you’re not getting out of my sight for the foreseeable future.” I lean down and press a kiss to her forehead and her lashes flutter. Even banged up and bruised, she’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.

“I’m fine, Luca. I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere.”

“Damn fucking right you’re not, I’m gonna speak to my father at some point later today, I want to take you way for a couple of weeks. Give you a honeymoon and give us both a break from all the chaos. What do you think?” I ask, and I’m suddenly nervous.

Will she want to go away? Does she even still want to stay married after what happened? My life put her in danger so it wouldn’t be a surprise if she didn’t.

“You should know by now that I’d follow you anywhere,” she says with a sweet smile, and I give her one in return before I press my lips to hers in a light kiss, I pull back after a couple of seconds. I don’t want to hurt her further.

Three days. Three fucking days we’ve been stuck here in this hospital. The doctor checked Izzy over and declared she did, in fact, have a concussion and insisted on her staying here under observation. Izzy argued that it was unnecessary, but I put my foot down. I wasn’t fucking risking anything happening to her if she left the hospital before advised.

I spoke to my father-in-law and told him what had happened, he thanked me for letting him know and hung up on me without even asking if his daughter was okay, asshole.

Marco has been busy tracking down the fucker who set up the explosive, he asked Alec for help hacking the security cameras around the area and they found footage of a man fucking with the car while Izzy and Enzo were in the bookstore. Enzo and Marco managed to find him and currently have him waiting on ice for me in one of our warehouses.

I also spoke to Dad about getting Izzy away from the city for a while once she’s recovered. While it may not be the best timing given the circumstances, he agreed that I should take her away and even offered us the island he bought for my mother before she passed. He and Marco will take over my responsibilities while I’m gone and keep me updated on everything that’s happening back home.

I haven’t left the hospital once while Izzy’s been admitted, like fuck am I leaving her side. I had Tomasso bring me some clothes to change into and everything Izzy needed from the apartment rather than me having to go home.

We”re currently getting ready to go home, the doctor finally gave Izzy the all clear and gave me instructions to keep a close eye on her.

Close eye on her? Not a fucking problem. I’m not letting her out of my sight.

“I’m going to change in the bathroom, don’t fucking follow me Luca, it’s time I start doing shit for myself without you hovering.” I go to tell her that I’ll help her anyways, but she carries on talking before I can. “You heard the doc, I’m fine.” She huffs before standing and gathering her clothes.

Fucking stubborn woman.

“For fuck’s sake, fine. But I’ll be right outside the door if you need me,” I say and plead with her with my eyes not to argue and she sighs but nods in agreement.

“Can I use your phone? I need to arrange a team to follow us home and mine is dead,” I ask.

She unlocks her phone and hands it to me before retreating into the bathroom. I call Tomasso and arrange for three cars to escort us home, I’m not taking any fucking chances of an ambush on the way home. We still don’t know the reason behind the attack, the man we have in the warehouse was hired by someone, and we won’t know who hired him until I go over there and torture it out of him.

I hang up the phone call just as a text comes in. My brow furrows when I see it’s an unknown number and I click on it to see the message.

Unknown

I miss you, little one.

Who the fuck is this asshole and why the fuck is he telling my wife that he misses her? I trust Izzy with my life, I know she would never go behind my back. It’s probably someone from her old life in Chicago. Rage bubbles up inside me at the thought of one of her past lovers telling her he misses her. Fuck that, she’s fucking mine. I swipe and delete the text from her inbox before locking the phone and leaving it on the bed for her and gathering the rest of our things.

I’m ready to get the fuck out of here and get my girl home where she belongs.