Chapter 35: 31: ℝ𝕖𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕧𝕒𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕖

𝘙𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘷𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦- the joy of meeting or finding someone again after a long separation; rediscovery

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Rose's POV:

I feel as if I'm underwater. Memories dance around in my head as I hear voices echoing in the distance. I'm not conscious enough to make sense of any of it, but I do recognize the voices. Slowly, they begin to morph together into a chant, "Wake up Rosary! Wake up!"

Suddenly, as if I'm being pulled out of the imaginary water by some unknown force, my eyes shoot open and I gasp for air. In a panic, I whip my head from side to side looking for anything that might hurt me. When I see nothing threatening and no signs of Mr. Rossi or any of his minions, I relax a bit.

As I sit in silence, the hours before I passed out run through my head. I remember shooting some guys and running away, and I remember getting cornered and jumping off the roof. Then what happened?

Giovanni.

He called out for me and then I passed out. Wait, where is he? What happened? Did Mr. Rossi hurt Giovanni? My heart sinks at the thought. Despite my raging thoughts, I try to calm myself down enough so I can think properly.

I decide to take a moment to observe my surroundings. I'm lying in a bed in the middle of what seems to be a hospital room. To my right is a wall made solely out of floor-to-ceiling length windows allowing tons of natural light inside. Thin, blush-pink curtains stand on each side of the window wall. In front of the windows is a plush, cream-colored couch. On the wall parallel to me is a door leading to a clean, luxurious bathroom.

Vases filled with mostly pink and white flowers cover every surface available including the table with wheels on my direct right. The room itself is relatively homey compared to how I imagined a hospital room might look. A soft smile finds its way on my face as I take it all in. Someone did all of this for me?

A soft knock on the door interrupts my thoughts. I open my mouth to say something along the lines of "come in", but nothing comes out due to my incredibly dry throat. As the door opens and a lady wearing pink scrubs enters the room, a coughing fit attacks me. By the time I'm done hacking my lungs out, tears are gathered in my eyes and the woman is handing me a glass of water. I take it from her and quickly drink all of the water.

"Hello Rosary," she says in a kind voice. "My name is Sadie and I'm your nurse today. How are you feeling?"

It takes me a few tries to find my voice, but when I finally do, it's almost a whisper. "I-I'm goo-od. Wh-where's-s G-Gio?"

Sadie's eyes light up in realization. "That's right! Mr. Antonelli had to leave for a little bit but wanted us to let him know if anything happened while he was gone. Do you mind if I quickly alert the receptionist that you've woken up so she can contact him?"

"N-no, you c-can go-o tell the-em," I answer.

She smiles at me before saying, "I'll be right back cutie but while I'm gone, you can watch some TV if you'd like using this remote." Sadie replies and hands me a remote that is connected to the bed.

Then she points to a big red button on the top of the remote that says "HELP" in all capital letters. "If you ever need help with anything, don't hesitate to press this button and someone will come and assist you."

Not wanting to talk, I give her a nod and she leaves. A feeling of loneliness washes over me once she's gone but I try to push it away. She seems like an amazing person. Maybe we could be friends!

Letting curiosity take control, I pick up the remote and press the "on/off" button. After looking for something to watch for a few minutes, I settle on watching a kid's show and it's honestly more entertaining than I thought it would be.

Another soft knock can be heard coming from my door and this time, I'm able to respond. "Come i-in."

Sadie walks in and smiles when she sees me. "Mr. Antonelli is on his way over here to see you."

Excitement fills me and I nod while saying, "O-okay!" then add, "Yay!"

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Pure joy overtakes my entire body the moment Giovanni walks through my hospital door.

"G-GIO!!!!" I scream and then cough a few times.

The only man I've ever cared about swiftly crosses the room and brings me into a huge bear hug. Despite my scratchy throat, I find myself giggling and then coughing a little.

"Fragolina," Gio whispers into my hair.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sadie smiling and quietly exiting the room.

"Baby, I'm so sorry. I've missed you so much," he says earnestly and pulls back enough for me to see his face. It's times like these when I wish I was Cam Jansen and had a photographic memory so I could take a picture of this moment in my mind and remember it forever.

"I-It's okay. I m-missed you too-oo even i-if I was uncon-onscious." Not wanting to be separated from Gio any longer, I bury my face into his chest and inhale his comforting scent.

"How are you angioletto? Does anything hurt? Do you need anything?" he asks with concern.

"I'm h-happy now th-that you're h-here," I answer honestly with a smile. It dims a bit though once the reality of my situation hits me in full force. "So what happ-pened?" I ask quietly, almost afraid of the answer.

Gio lets out a quiet sigh as if thinking about it hurts him. "I came to rescue you but I was too late. You hit the ground before I could catch you. Leviathan and his men ran away like the cowards they are and I rushed you to this hospital." At the mention of someone named Leviathan, Giovanni's eyes harden slightly.

I gently take his hands in both of mine and run my thumbs over his palms to try and calm him down.

"Wh-ho is Le-eviathan?" I ask and his hands tense again but quickly relax when I kiss both hands.

"Leviathan Rossi? Your father? Please tell me he didn't tell you his name was something else."

"O-oh, Mr. R-Rossi? He-e told me t-to just ca-all him M-mr. Rossi."

"Hm, interesting."

It's quiet for a moment before I decide to ask Gio a question that's been on my mind since I woke up, "D-did Mr. Ro-ossi hurt you-u?" I would never forgive myself if I was the reason Giovanni got hurt.

A look of genuine disbelief flashes over Giovanni's features. "No, but it wouldn't matter if he did. Besides, I'm supposed to be the one worrying about you, not the other way around." I simply nod, not knowing what to say.

Fear begins to creep its way into my mind as I think about how mad Mr. Rossi will be when he finds me. Guilt soon follows my fear when I realize how much danger Gio just got himself into by saving me. "I-I'm sorry I wrapp-ped you int-to all of this. I understand if y-you don't w-want to be wi-ith me anymore beca-ause it's to-oo dangerous."

As soon as the words leave my mouth, Giovanni grabs my face in his hands. "First of all, you didn't wrap me into anything; I chose to look for you. Second of all, nothing in this world

could ever make me leave you. I love you more than life itself and nothing will change that. Not even your sociopathic father."

Slowly, he leans in and captures my lips in a sweet kiss. Boy did I miss him.

"Rosary, I need to tell you something," Gio admits after a beat of silence. "I haven't been completely honest with you and you deserve to know the truth about me."

"O-okay. Whatever it i-is, I tr-rust you Muffin." A small, pain-filled smile graces Gio's lips when I say his nickname.

"Baby... I'm an Italian mafia boss."

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