THE MAFIA’s PET

I WILL NEVER FORGIVE MYSELF

CHAPTER SIX

I kept waiting for her to move, to say something, anything. She couldn’t just sit there like that. Her eyes were wide with shock, as though she couldn’t understand what had just happened.

Then the second shot rang out.

Her body slumped on the floor.

Everything stopped.

All I could see was Alessia.

“No…”

The man holding me loosened his grip, probably because he thought I was going to faint.

I tore myself away from him and ran to her.

“Alessia!”

My knees hit the floor so hard I felt the pain shoot up my legs, but I didn’t care. I grabbed her shoulders, trying to hold her upright as blood spread across her clothes.

“No, no, no. Please.”

I pressed my hands against her, not even knowing where I was supposed to hold her. My fingers slipped. There was so much blood.

“Alessia, look at me!”

Her head lolled to the side.

I shook her gently, then harder when she didn’t respond.

“Wake up. Come on, stop this. Please, stop this!”

Tears blurred my vision. I wiped them away with the back of my hand, only to find more falling.

“You can’t do this to me. Do you hear me? You can’t just leave me here!”

I didn’t know what I was saying anymore.

Alessia had been there when I had nowhere else to go. She had shared her food with me when we were broke, listened to me complain about my life, and laughed at my stupid jokes even when they weren’t funny.

She was my person.

And now she was lying in my arms, bleeding because of me.

Because I had been stupid enough to think I could walk away from that club and leave everything behind.

I brushed the hair away from her face.

“Alessia, please. Please, baby, open your eyes.”

Her eyelids fluttered.

I froze.

“Alessia?”

Her lips moved, but the sound that came out was barely a whisper.

I leaned closer, desperately trying to hear her.

“Lucia…”

“I’m here.” I held her face between my hands. “I’m right here. You’re going to be okay, all right? I’m going to get you help. Just stay with me.”

She swallowed painfully.

“For…forgive me Lucia”

My heart cracked.

“What?”

A tear slipped down the side of her face.

“Forgive me.”

“No.” I shook my head, sobbing so hard I could barely speak. “No, don’t say that. You have nothing to be forgiven for. Please, Alessia, don’t talk like that.”

Her eyes searched my face.

Then they slowly closed.

“Alessia?”

I shook her shoulder.

“Open your eyes.”

Nothing.

“ALESSIA!”

I pressed my ear against her chest, terrified of what I might hear.

For a moment, I thought I felt something.

Or maybe I was just desperate.

“Somebody help!” I screamed, looking up at the men standing around us. “PLEASE! SOMEBODY HELP HER!”

Nobody moved.

I looked towards Antonio.

He was already putting on his coat.

He hadn’t even looked back at her.

“You can’t leave!” I screamed. “You bastard! She’s bleeding! She’s—”

“You brought this upon yourself. Deal with it,” he said.

I stared at him in disbelief.

“Deal with it?” My voice broke. “She’s a person!”

He paused at the door and looked over his shoulder.

“I’ll be in touch, Miss Lucia. Don’t do anything stupid.”

Then he walked out.

The others followed him, leaving me on the floor with Alessia in my arms.

I don’t know how long I stayed there. I kept talking to her, telling her about all the things we were supposed to do. The apartment we wanted to rent someday. The little business she kept saying we’d start together. The stupid argument we’d had last week that neither of us had properly apologized for.

I told her she could have all my clothes if she wanted them, and she could eat the last piece of chicken in the fridge.

Just please, please, don’t leave me.

My pajamas were soaked with her blood. My knees hurt. My throat burned from screaming, but I couldn’t stop.

I couldn’t stay there anymore.

I carefully lifted Alessia onto my back, struggling to keep her there as I stumbled towards the door. My legs were shaking, and my pajamas were soaked in her blood, but I didn’t care.

“Somebody help me!” I screamed as I stepped outside. “Please! Somebody help my friend!”

Nobody answered.

The place was practically in the middle of nowhere. There were no houses nearby, no shops, not even a single person I could run to for help. Just an empty road stretching out in front of me.

I started walking.

I don’t even know how long I walked for. My legs hurt so badly that I wanted to sit down and cry, but every time I felt myself slowing down, I remembered Alessia’s face.

She had to be alive.

She just had to be.

“Please don’t do this to me, babe,” I whispered, adjusting her weight on my back. “You can’t leave me alone. Who am I supposed to talk to now? Who’s going to listen to me complain about everything?”

My voice cracked.

“Please, Alessia. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

I kept talking to her, even though she wasn’t answering.

By the time I finally reached the main road, my legs were practically giving out. I waved frantically at the first car I saw, but the driver slowed down, took one look at me covered in blood, and sped off.

“Are you f*****g kidding me?” I screamed after him.

I couldn’t even cry anymore. I was too tired.

Thankfully, another car stopped a few minutes later. The woman driving it looked horrified when she saw Alessia, but she helped me get her into the back seat and drove us straight to the nearest hospital.

The moment we arrived, nurses rushed over with a stretcher.

“Please, help her!” I begged as they lifted Alessia away from me. “She was shot. Please, she’s my best friend. You have to save her!”

One of the nurses tried to hold me back as they rushed her through the doors.

“Ma’am, please wait here.”

“No! I’m coming with her!”

“You need to let us work.”

I watched them disappear through the double doors.

And just like that, I was alone.

I sank into one of the plastic chairs, staring at my hands. Her blood was everywhere. Under my fingernails, on my palms, all over my pajamas.

I rubbed my hands together, trying to get it off.

It wouldn’t come off.

“Please be okay,” I whispered.

I don’t know how long I sat there. I kept looking towards the doors every time someone walked through them, hoping one of the nurses would come out and tell me Alessia was going to be fine.

Thirty minutes later, a doctor approached me.

I stood up so quickly that the chair scraped against the floor.

“How is she? Can I see her? Is she awake?”

The doctor looked at me, then glanced down at the file in his hands.

“I’m sorry, miss. We did everything we could, but we couldn’t save her.”

I stared at him.

“What?”

“I’m sorry.”

“No.” I shook my head. “No, you don’t understand. She was talking to me. She was talking to me before we left. Please, just go back and check again.”

He tried to say something, but I grabbed his arm.

“Please! I’ll pay you. I don’t have the money now, but I’ll find it. Just do something!”

“Miss, please—”

“No!”

My voice echoed through the waiting area.

“NO! YOU CAN’T JUST TELL ME SHE’S DEAD!”

The doctor gently freed his arm and gave me a look I couldn’t bear to see.

“She lost too much blood. If she’d arrived earlier, there might have been a chance.”

Earlier.

I could have gotten her there earlier.

I should have run faster. I should have begged harder. I should have done something.

Instead, I’d watched her get shot. I’d held her while she bled. I’d spent all that time carrying her, telling her she’d be fine when I didn’t even know if she was still breathing.

And now she was gone.

“No…”

My knees gave way, and I grabbed the edge of the chair to keep myself from falling.

Alessia was gone.

My best friend was gone, and I was still here.

I thought about the last thing she’d said to me.

“Forgive me.”

I covered my mouth, but the sound that came out of me was ugly. I couldn’t even recognize it as my own voice.

She had asked for forgiveness.

For what exactly.

And Antonio Dante— he was going to pay for what he’d done.