Don Vidal

34 - What happened to me?

Marnie

My God, my head is pounding. It feels like someone is banging a drum right next to my ear. Like they have been for hours on end.

I open my heavy eyes. The light is dim, but still, it hurts my eyes. I look to my left and smile. Draven is sleeping with his head on my hand.

Why the hell isn’t he in bed with me?

I look around the room, then down at my right hand. I have an IV!

What the hell?

Oh God, I’m starting to panic! I’m in the hospital, in a bed with a blue knitted blanket over my legs, and... Where’s my baby?!

“Draven!”

His head shoots up, eyes blinking fast against the sleep he’s fighting, and I’m crying hard in fear.

“Shh,” He jumps out of his seat, taking my hand and a seat on the edge of the bed. “Hey,”

“Draven. Please tell me my baby is okay. Please!” I think I’m going into a panic attack. I can’t breathe properly!

Draven takes my face in his hands, and instantly, I feel calmer. He has that power over me, even when I’m terrified. “Marnie, calm down. The baby is fine,” He brings my head toward him a little and kisses my forehead. “I promise.” Oh, thank God. I breathe through a sob of relief. “It’s okay, my love, everything is okay.”

“I was so afraid, Draven.”

“I know.” He lets go of my face, lifts off the bed, turns, and takes a seat beside me, lifting me a little. He wraps his arms around me, pulling me into him, holding me so tightly I can hardly breathe, but my God, do I feel safe in his arms. “Everything is okay.” He tells me softly while kissing my head again.

“What happened to me?” I ask because I’m able now that I’ve calmed a little, knowing my baby is okay. I know; well, I think I remember my brother coming around and demanding I leave Draven and that he wanted to kill my baby. I refused, and so he hit me. Hard.

“It seems the person...”

“My brother.” I cut him off with a whisper. I wrap my arm around his waist tighter. I just need to feel him against me.

“Hmm. I know,”

I close my eyes.

Of course, he knows, even if I hadn’t told him, once the panic of me being hurt had settled, he would’ve checked the security footage from outside the house and seen who was last to knock on the door. He would have then tracked them down and killed them. Which I have no doubt Draven has ordered his men to do, kill my brother. Unless he wants to do it himself. He strikes me as that kind of man. Hurt what’s his, and he’ll kill you.

“He attacked you. He wanted you to lose the baby and go back to Paul.” I swallow hard; the thought of that is scary to me right now. “He will not get away with what he did to you, Marnie. When I walked in that house and saw you lying there… God, my fuckin.g heart stopped for a moment. Goddammit, he could have killed you, Marnie! You a concussion.” So that explains the thumping headache. “You have stitches in above your eye.”

Again, this explains the bandage.

Yeah, it’s all coming back to me now.

“Where the hell was Tom?”

I swallow hard. “I don’t know,” I whisper. “I thought he was outside. I yelled for help, but he didn’t come.”

Draven grits his teeth. “Another one to end!”

I shake my head in protest. I don’t want Draven to go around killing everyone because they messed up.

Draven nods. “There isn’t a person alive who will live another day should they hurt you. Those who fuc.k up will end up the same way.”

“I don’t want you to do anything if it means you getting in trouble. I don’t want to sound clingy, but I need you, Draven. I don’t know who I am anymore without you.”

That sounds pathetic, I know, but I’ve come to love this man, and I need him with me. I’ve never been with anyone who treats me the way Draven does. This big, bad, scary man that everyone seems to be afraid of. A man who commands respect from everyone around him, including me, and I give it to him because he deserves it. A man who has stolen my heart in a way I’m not sure anyone ever has before or will again.

He pulls me closer and kisses my head tenderly. “You have nothing to worry about. I’m going nowhere. You’re stuck with me.” I giggle and kiss his cheek, making him smile before snuggling into his chest. “But I have to deal with your brother. You understand that, right?”

I nod my head. “Just be careful.” I know he has the police in his pocket along with whoever else, but it doesn’t stop me worrying that someone will turn on him at some point, and I’ll end up losing him.

How can I not be scared when there are no doubt hundreds of people out there just dying to end this man?

The five minutes of fame it would bring to that person, the glory, the pride.

Who wouldn’t feel those things after ending one of the most dangerous Mob Bosses of our time?

I know he says that nothing will happen to him; he’s too smart and too well-protected.

But didn’t he tell me that I was well-protected also?

All the top-notch gadgets, all the bodyguards, and men in the world can’t protect a person one hundred percent. Assassinating Presidents is proof of that.

However, I have to put my faith in the fact he’ll be all right, that he’ll step things up so that our baby and I are never going to have to go through the horrors that people will no doubt put us through just for being related to Draven.

Maria and Avery don’t live in fear of what-ifs, but then, they’re used to this life, and I am not.

I’ll get used to it, right?

Regardless of how scared I am right now, I so want to tell Draven how I feel, but I’m afraid to do so. He’s told me many times not to expect anything from him, that he will never love me. I’ve accepted that. I’ve accepted that I’ve lost my heart to him, and he’ll never give me his. However, I know he has feelings for me somewhere inside of him. I don’t know how deep those feelings will ever go. I doubt I ever will.

I am also terrified that if Draven kills my brother, I will never be able to find... I can’t go there right now; it will drive me insane, but I know I have to tell Draven what I hide from the world. I have to if I’m ever to bring to life the part of me that has long since died. Oh, how I miss them. It might seem like I never think about them, but they are all I think about daily. They are always on my mind, and I have to find a way to bring them home. I know Draven will help me, and I will confide in him.

How could I not?

We’re getting married, and I cannot keep this secret any longer. I don’t even want to. I just want everything to be okay, and I know it won’t be until they are with me for good.

Draven told me once that he would do anything for me, no matter what that was, and I have to believe that he’ll do this for me. I just have to.