Page 39

Bia

Cillian keeps me wrapped in his arms, with the beating of his heart in my ear. I relax against him, feeling the safety of being in his arms.

He picks me up and steps out of the car. I don’t move my head away from his chest. I wrap my arms and legs tightly around him.

“I got you, little lamb, we are just walking onto the plane.”

When he steps inside of the plane, I hear him say, “I need someone to check out my wife.”

“Come on back here,”

a man says.

After the door shuts behind us, Cillian starts to try and settle me down, but I squeeze my arms and legs tighter around him.

“I need to set you down so the doctor can check you out.”

I shake my head no as tears start to make their way down my face. No, someone is going to take me away from him. I want to be safe and he is the only one who makes me safe.

“Bia,”

he starts to say but I cut him off.

“No. Don’t let me go,”

I say shaking as I sob in his chest.

“I won’t let go, but for me, please have the doctor check you out.”

“You won’t let go?”

“I promise I will hold you the whole time.”

“Okay.”

And I relax my body against his.

The doctor, who I found out about later is Emilia’s best friend Dr. Walker, asked me to call him Theo. While he was treating me, he distracted me by talking about his partners and his twin daughters.

“I swear, pulling a twelve-hour shift at the hospital is nothing compared to keeping up with toddler twins. One will go one direction and then the other goes the other direction. Love my baby girls, but they wear me out. Well, maybe not as much as Vito and Aurelia do,”

he says winking.

“Would you quit flirting and finish treating her?”

Cillian grumbles.

“Theo, stop being a pain in the ass or I’m telling Vito you were flirting again?”

Vincenzo says as he walks into the room.

“You De Luca men love to threaten me with a good time.”

Theo snickers. Vincenzo pulls his phone out of his pocket and Theo glares at him muttering something about caveman, sexy, Italian assholes. Vincenzo just laughs and tells him payback is a bitch.

“Alright, Bia, you are dehydrated and malnourished, but with the conditions you were in, I’m not surprised. You have second degree burns; I have treated them and covered them up. Let me check Cillian’s chest, then the two of you can go rest.”

“I’m fine,”

he grumbles.

“No, you're not. You got burned and have a bullet in your shoulder, so take your shirt off and let me check you out. Then you can go rest with your wife like I said.”

Cillian glares at him but takes off his shirt, and I gasp when I see how red his chest is and the hole in his shoulder but as I look further down I see a bandage covering his abdomen. I wonder what happened.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Why are you sorry, little lamb?”

“Because you got hurt protecting me.”

“And I would do it again,”

he says before grunting as Theo removes the bullet from his shoulder.

“How about a warning next time asshole?”

Cillian grunts at Theo.

“Oh hush, you will be fine.”

“Your bedside manner sucks.”

“My bedside manner is amazing, but I know you pain in the ass Mafia men and don’t have time for the caveman bullshit. Now hold still so I can sew this hole up.”

Cillian calls Theo a fucker, and he corrects him by saying he is a sexy motherfucker.

Less than ten minutes later, Cillian’s bullet wound is cleaned up and his chest is patched.

“Alright, there are some clean clothes in the bag Vincenzo put in here earlier. Be careful with your wounds.”

Theo tells us.

“No shit dumb fuck,”

Cillian says as he picks me up and carries me into the shower.

“Tell me how you want me to help you. I can stay out here while you change, or I can help you.”

“Whatever you want.”

I tell him as I look down at my feet.

“No, it’s not about what I want. It’s about what you want. What you need. Tell me, little lamb, what do you need?”

“Hold me,”

I whisper, and he nods his head. Cillian holds me, I scrunch my nose at gasoline all over us.

“Can we maybe shower?”

“Yeah, let me help you.”

He says gently, Cillian turns the knob of the shower and adjusts the water before he walks up to me and helps me undress but never moving his eyes away from mine. I watch as he undresses himself.

He takes my hand and helps me step in the shower. I close my eyes as the water pours over my head.

“Lift your head back, little lamb.”

Cillian gently says to me. I do as he says, and he gently washes my hair and rinses it. I look down and see large clumps of my hair laying between our feet. I reach up and feel bald spots on my head.

He grabs my hand, and he kisses the bald spots.

“A head full of hair or no hair. You are still beautiful, if you want, I can have someone come to our home, and we can get you a wig or whatever you want.”

I nod, and he helps me wash my body then he quickly washes himself. When we get out of the shower Cillian continues to handle me with such care that I look in the mirror. I see how bad the damage is, I have bald spots and my hair is all at different lengths.

“Here, let’s get you dressed,”

he says handing me some of my clothes, I quickly get dressed in the leggings and shirt he brought me. Cillian is dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt.

“Here,”

he says handing me a sweatshirt. I put it on, and it comes down to my knees.

“You look adorable in my clothes,”

he says, kissing my temple. “Come on, let’s go sit down with everyone else,”

he says as he wraps his arm around my waist.

Cillian takes a seat away from everyone else on the plane. I try to sit next to him, but he lifts me up and has me sit on his lap.

He lays my head against his chest and holds me to him. His hand runs up and down my back; I wrap my arms around his neck.

I silently cry into his chest as I let everything come out, so much pain that I have kept locked up and can no longer hold it back.

“I got you, little lamb, you’re safe.”

And I know he does. I’m safe, no one will hurt me.

I didn’t realize I had fallen asleep until I feel the vibration of Cillian’s chest as he quietly talks to someone. I look up at his face; he drops a kiss to my forehead.

“Sorry if we woke you little lamb.”

“It’s okay.”

“Come on, let’s get you something to eat.”

He has soup brought over to us and he watches me take every bite. After I finish my soup, he has the dishes taken away. Thankfully we are left alone, they all probably got the hint after Cillian growled at each person who came up to talk to us.

I tried to tell him to be nice, but he told me he is nice enough by letting them be in the same room as me.

I have no idea how to take that.

Not much after that, we land in Spain at the Garcia’s estate. Cillian told me we are here to have a meeting about what happened and to help all the women return home.

“What if they don’t want to go home?”

“Why wouldn’t they want to go home?”

“I know that some of the women were taken because they were living on the streets.”

“I’m sure we can find a place for them, maybe they can get jobs within the different Mafia families. I will bring it up.”

“Cillian?”

“Yes, little lamb?”

“Thalia was taken to a different auction house; I need to find her.”

“I promise we will. Do you know when you were separated from her?”

I shake my head. “No I don’t remember.”

“I promise we will find her.”