Page 30 of His Playground (Owning Vegas #2)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

S omeone is going to pay for this. Whoever the fuck tried to poison me, and in turn poisoned my fucking wife, is going to wish for a quick death by the time I’m done with them.

I set Antonia down on the bed and sit next to her. She’s passed out. Her pulse is fast, but it’s there. “Come on, babe, wake up.” I shake her shoulders lightly, and she lets out a moan but her eyes don’t open. “Don’t go to sleep, Antonia. I can’t lose you again,” I tell her.

I don’t know how long I’m sitting here holding my wife while praying to a god I don’t believe in before Louie comes rushing through the door, Sammie and Emmanuel behind him.

“How is she?” Louie asks.

I look up at my best friend, and I can’t find any words.

“The doc is on his way,” Sammie says.

“The lab report says it’s hemlock. The doc knows,” Emmanuel adds. “She’s going to be okay.”

Louie walks into the bathroom, coming back with a wet washcloth he places over Antonia’s forehead. She’s still wrapped in only a towel. I would usually care if anyone else saw her like this. Right now, I just need her to be okay.

“I can’t lose her,” I tell Louie.

“You won’t,” he says.

Sammie clears his throat. “I’m going to take Jazzy to my place for the night. Lailani is there.”

“She’s already asleep,” I tell him. Although she’ll likely wake up screaming from one of her nightmares soon, and I’m not there to comfort her.

She’s never woken up without me there. Not since coming to live with me.

Fuck. “Someone needs to sit in her room. She’s going to wake up.

She has nightmares, and she can’t wake up alone. ”

“I’ll go.” Emmanuel walks out.

“I want the entire kitchen staff in chains,” I tell Sammie. Whoever did this is going to pay.

“Done.” He nods and exits the room, leaving Louie behind.

“It was supposed to be me,” I whisper.

“I know,” he says.

I never should have let her swap that food. I thought it was odd for the kitchen to send up a different dish, but I put it down to me requesting an extra plate at the last minute and the chef not having enough. I didn’t think it was because someone was out to fucking poison me.

“She told me to kill him,” I say to Louie.

“Who?”

“Her father. She told me to kill him before he killed me,” I explain.

“She loves you.” He nods. “And she’s right. We need to end this.”

“I need to know what’s on that drive first. I need to know why he wants it.” I’ve been slowly going through the files. At the moment, I’m not seeing much.

Well, all of it is enough to put him behind bars. But other than that, nothing would cause waves in our world. I’d never hand it over to authorities. I’m a lot of things, but a rat isn’t one of them.

There’s a knock on the door. The doctor walks into the room a moment later. “Mr. Bianchi.” He nods to me. “How long has she been asleep?”

“I don’t know. About ten minutes,” I tell him.

“Okay, give me some space,” he says, placing his bag on the bed.

“She’s going to be okay, right? You can fix this?”

“I was told she only ingested a spoonful of the contaminated food?” the doc asks me.

“That’s right.” I nod my head. A spoonful too fucking much.

“We need to flush her system. Get the toxins out. I’ll run some IV fluids through her as well. I think she’s going to be okay,” he says.

“You think? Think isn’t good enough. She needs to be okay!” I yell at him.

“Carlo, calm down. Let the doctor do his job.” Louie shoves at my chest, pushing me backwards.

“ Calm down? My wife was fucking poisoned.” I shove him back.

“I’m aware. And as soon as we know she’s okay, we’re going to turn this anger on the people who deserve it,” he says.

Jazzy’s scream has my head snapping to the left. Fuck.

“Go check on your daughter. I’ll stay here,” Louie tells me.

“I can’t leave Antonia. What if she wakes up and I’m not here?” I ask him.

“You can’t be in two places at once.” Louie points to the bed. “And Jazzy can’t see this.”

He’s right. She can’t see Antonia sick like this.

“I’ll be two seconds.”

I sprint out of the room, stopping at Jazzy’s door.

I find Emmanuel sitting on the floor with her in his lap, her head on his shoulder.

He’s saying something to her in Spanish.

She seems settled. She’s not screaming or looking for me.

Emmanuel nods, letting me know he’s got it, so I go back to my wife.

How do people do this? Split themselves between the ones who need them.

It seemed like it took the doc hours to finish doing whatever he was doing with my wife. She still hasn’t woken up, though.

“Is it normal for her to sleep like this?” I ask him.

“Her body needs it. She’ll wake up,” he says.

“Okay. Thank you.”

“I’ll be out in the living room if you need anything,” Doc tells me. “I’ll stay until she wakes up. To make sure she’s stable.”

“Thanks, Doc, appreciate it.” I nod.

“Sammie has them all,” Louie announces once the doc is out of earshot.

“I can’t leave until she’s awake,” I say.

“We’ll keep them entertained,” Louie replies.

“Thanks.” I sit on the bed next to Antonia, feeling utterly fucking helpless.

“She’s going to be okay,” Louie repeats.

“I know,” I lie. I don’t know that, and until she wakes up and tells me as much herself, I won’t believe it. “Can you grab my laptop and the disk? It’s in the safe.”

“Got it,” he says, turning and walking out.

“You have to be okay, Antonia. I cannot… I will not do this life without you. I just got you back. I need you.”

“Hmm,” she groans.

“You’re awake? Shit, thank fuck! Damn, you’re awake.” I lean forward and press my lips against hers.

“I don’t feel good,” she says.

“I know. You’re sick, but the doc is here. He’s going to make you better,” I tell her.

Louie walks back into the room with my laptop and the disk.

“She’s awake. Tell the doc,” I say.

He sets the laptop on the bed, pockets the drive, and walks right back out of the room.

“What happened?” Antonia asks.

“You were poisoned. I was supposed to be poisoned. You ate the soup meant for me,” I tell her.

“I… who would…? Oh god.” Her eyes widen. “My father.”

“Shhh, don’t worry about it now,” I soothe her.

I stand and give the doc room to check her over as soon as he pushes through the door. He asks a bunch of questions, but Antonia keeps her eyes on me.

“Carlo, where’s Jazzy?” she says.

“In her room, asleep.”

“She can’t be alone. You need to go sit with her, in case she wakes up.”

“She’s not alone. Emmanuel is in there.” Of all the people in the world, he’d be the last I’d expect to be comforting a kid over her nightmares. He usually is the nightmare.

A few hours later, Charlotte, Evie, and Lailani are all in my living room. “Call me the moment she wakes up,” I tell Charlotte.

“I will,” she says.

The doc gave Antonia something to help her sleep. I don’t want to leave her, but I need to handle the bastards who tried to kill me. Her father is going to regret the day he walked into Louie’s office offering up his daughter for marriage.

A deal we’ve yet to see any fucking benefit from. Well, apart from the fact that I got my girl. I have a feeling his plan had always been to use Antonia to get shit out of me. To gather intel about our organization. He didn’t count on her choosing me over him, though.

“Whatever you’re doing, do it safely and come back in one piece,” Charlotte says to Louie.

“Always,” he tells her.

“Come on, I have some newfound frustration to get out of my system,” Emmanuel grunts.

I follow him into the foyer. “What’s the frustration?”

“Do you know what Jazzy’s nightmares are about?” he asks me.

“No, she’s never told me. I figured they had something to do with her mom being sick and leaving her with a complete stranger.”

“Yeah, well, she told me she has dreams about them finding her,” Emmanuel says.

“Who?” I ask him.

“No fucking idea, but we’re going to find out,” he replies through clenched teeth.

Who the fuck would be looking for her? Unless they’re trying to use her to get to me, which I will never fucking let happen.