Chapter 79: Chapter 79

Room 309

◇ KEL ◇

When Miles left the hospital with his other bodyguards, I heard they used the Falcos' private plane to meet up with Stefano.  I had no choice but to wait for them to return.  Miles promised me, so I would wait and stay optimistic.

With no alternative option but to hide in this private hospital, I counted down the hours.

It had been forty-eight, lonesome, dreadful hours.  I preferred to take less painkillers to be more awake, but the stitches and bruises definitely hurt worse.

"Let's wait a little while for other test results. Okay, Mykaela?" the Italian doctor said this morning.

Waiting for my wounds to heal was taking painstakingly long.  But it wasn't like I could argue—Miles didn't let me.

"Don't even try. You're staying here," he warned me the other day.

No phone, no internet, no going out...

Two days of it had already drained my energy and motivation.  Cable TV here didn't amuse me.  Out of boredom, I would fall asleep at least every four hours but would wake up every time someone stepped into the room.

The nurses checked my IV and cleaned my stitches regularly.  They were mostly quiet and comforting, which I appreciated.  But every time I heard the door open, my gut instinct would just jump back to full alert.

Every time the door opened, I hoped it was Miles, or my mom and Jill.  But, no.  I could only wish.

It exhausted me even more—the waiting and the boredom.  Although Miles let me call my mom and sister to tell them I'd lost my phone, I couldn't explain anything else besides me having to stay with him here in Brichese for a few days.

Big fat lie, but, better if they knew less for now.  My mother would go utterly ballistic if she knew what really happened to me.  I wouldn't want her to go 'full on panic' mode and then suffer a nervous breakdown.

I sighed and stared at the white ceiling, taunting me and draining my patience by the hour.  Miles was smart enough not to give me a new phone.  Clearly, he hated the thought of me contacting Enzo.  Miles wanted me to lie low for a while.

"Alessio,"  I called out to the guy in the corner of the room.

"Signorina?" Alessio got up from the couch to approach the hospital bed, where I sat hunched over, trying my best to stop sulking.

"Can I use your phone?"

"Erm..."

I had to talk to someone. Anyone! Ugh.  I was seldom homesick, but now I missed home so bad.  I frowned. Worse that I had to pretend nothing was wrong and I wasn't under lockdown in a small hospital.

"Certo," Alessio replied after a long pause.  He was brown-haired, tall, muscular as expected, serious and buff like the other guards, but a little friendlier to me because I'd known him for almost a year now.  "But no long distance except your family."

Great.  This was way worse than getting grounded.  I couldn't really talk to the guards.  They were all reserved, tasked to take their jobs seriously—too seriously.

Alessio, Miles' most trusted bodyguard, had stayed with me since Miles left.  Alessio was keeping an eye on me and every hospital staff that would step into the room.  But he wasn't much of a talker, either.  He stayed on the couch and sometimes by the door, and, I imagine, with a loaded handgun securely tucked beneath his belt and concealed by his jacket.  "You need the phone now?"

"Please." I sighed. "Need to call your boss."

◇

No messages. No emails. No calls.

It had been an hour.

Maybe two more tries?  Three?  I didn't care anymore if it made me look desperate.

Where was he?  The waiting just left me restless but weaker.  Miles had promised he would be back by today.  But the clock was running out of hours.

Now it read a quarter past four.  Come sunset and still no replies, then that meant he wouldn't be here anytime soon.

My palm gripped the phone I borrowed from Alessio.  He stood by the door, back and shoulders squared, lips shut tight, pretending not to notice my apprehension and bad mood.

"Still no answer," I muttered mostly to myself.  Pretending not to be upset just irritated me more.

"I'll call and ask the other guys if they're on the way," Alessio replied. He walked towards the hospital bed, only to get his phone back.

"Thanks."

"Anything else? You want something to eat?"  Alessio raised his dark and bushy brows at me.

"I'll just...go back to sleep. Please turn the lights off."

"Okay."

I snuggled to the soft pillow that smelled of sanitizer.  The temporary comfort was not enough to quell my restless thoughts.  It would be a miracle if I slept through the night without any disruptions.

My eyelids were just about to give in to gravity when loud and frantic knocks on the door echoed in my head.

"Mykaela! Sta' indietro—"

Thud.

A guy shouting profanities.

Loud grunts.

"Mykaela, aprira la porta."

That voice...

Crap!  He's here.  My breathing froze the instant I recognized who was shouting my name from the other side of the locked door.

"Mykaela?"

Oh no.

Even Alessio tensed up now.  He stood right by the door, his stance failing to hide his scowl and loaded gun. And here I thought this was the safest place to be right now.  Not even three days later, and they already caught up to me.

Darn it. Why wouldn't they just leave me alone? Let me recover in peace?

"Mykaela..."  The guy outside sounded truly desperate now.  "I just wanna talk."

Instead of replying, I kept still under the covers and listened for what else he had to say.  I guess he easily  figured out I was back here in Brichese with Miles, but how did he know where I was exactly?

It's shocking that he easily found me and got here in just a few days.  How the heck did he even know which hospital I was in and where my room was?

The door muffled the guy's voice, but the desperation in his words just pierced my doubtful heart.  I hadn't seen him since that awful, physically and mentally scarring day on the private island.

Perhaps he just wanted answers.  Maybe even forgiveness?

That's if...he's no longer clueless about what actually happened in San Pietro.  But maybe he wasn't here to apologize for what happened.  Maybe he was here to talk to me in behalf of his brother.  To make sure I wasn't going to press charges or do anything drastic that would harm their family business and reputation.

Ugh.  I just wanted to get out of here so I could finally go home and go back to my life.  But I guess I would have to talk to him first.  Settle some issues with him first before I could get out of the country to go back to New York.

"Mykaela.  Please."  A long pause.  Everyone just fell silent.  "I'm not leaving till we talk."

◇