Page 153 of The Don’s Omega

“The baby is fine. I had you checked over by a doctor. I promise, the baby is doing great.”

“Thank God.” I swallow, wincing. The inside of my throat feels like someone rubbed sandpaper over it.

“You shouldn’t talk too much.” He leans over to the nightstand and comes back with a glass of water. He holds it to my mouth and I obediently drink.

The water is cool, but it hurts going down. I pull away, wiping my chin when some water dribbles. “How are you here?” I ask.

He gives a guilty grimace as he sets the glass on the nightstand, and shifts toward me. “It’s a long story. We need to talk about everything that happened. I’m not sure if now is the time though. You’ve been through a lot.”

“I need to know what happened.” I swallow gingerly. “How… how long was I out?”

“Since yesterday afternoon. It’s morning now.”

Yesterday afternoon?

I touch my head, holding his worried gaze. “I feel like I’m losing my mind.”

“You’re not losing your mind. You were hit hard in the head. You had a mild concussion. Not counting a ton of bruises and scrapes, the doctor says you’re fine. Nothing is broken.”

“And you swear the baby is fine?”

“Yes.” He frowns. “I wouldn’t lie about that.”

I meet his gaze. “I thought you were on a trip?”

“No.” Guilt returns to his eyes. “I… I did lie about that.”

I narrow my eyes, bewildered. “Why?”

He sighs. “I was trying to find out what you were up to. I… I knew you were hiding things from me.”

I hesitate because he’s not wrong. “How did you find me?” I’d known the guard at the gate would call him, but the guard hadn’t known where I was going.

His glance is chiding. “There isn’t much you can hide from me, tesoro. Dante got the Uber driver’s name and where you were headed. When I saw it was Salvatore’s address, I knew something was up. I texted you a few times but you didn’t respond. So Carlo and I headed over there.”

I wince, feeling foolish. “Salvatore tricked me. He blames you for his son’s death and he used me to hurt you.”

“I know.”

“I was trying to help.”

He grimaces. “I know that too.”

I swallow hard. “He… he said he’d talk to Naldo Ferrante and then the families would stop being angry with you.”

“He used your fear for me to manipulate you. There was no need for Naldo to talk to the families. As I’ve told you before, all that grumbling will die down on its own.” He studies me. “But he knew you wouldn’t know that and that you’d do anything to help me. Because you love me.”

“Yes.” My stomach churns remembering the coldness in Salvatore’s eyes. “He pretended to be my friend, but he was lying and manipulating me the whole time. I was such a fool to trust him. You warned me not to, but I didn’t listen.”

He touches my cheek. “It’s okay, Elio. You aren’t used to this world.”

My eyes burn. “I’m sorry, Marcello. I… I was trying to help, but I fucked everything up. I… I almost got our baby killed.”

“Shhh.” He moves closer. “Elio, it’s okay. You couldn’t know. This is all new for you.”

“But, I should’ve listened to you because you did grow up in this world.” I grimace. “I… I thought you were jaded, but I was just being naive.”

“We both made mistakes in how we handled this situation.”