The Dragos ⬇️

The Bonferronis ⬇️

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(Arie's POV)

Tequila wiggled its gnawing claws into my mind, making it hazy and completely irrational. Nonetheless, I followed Mike and Leo through my two shots of drunken hysteria into the hallway Lina hurriedly lead them into. As I turned the corner, all I saw was Leo sprinting ahead and falling to his knees by a body on the floor while Mike pulled out his phone and began frantically typing.

My heart sped up as I walked further in and noticed Verona on the ground whimpering and squirming with a knife embedded in her stomach. Almost immediately, my blood ran cold witnessing her state which prompted me to rush forward when Leo gripped the end of the knife to pull it out.

"Don't do that!" I halted his action by grabbing his wrist and kneeling on the other side of Verona. His head whipped up to face me, fiery rage bubbling in his blue eyes that were revolving around a shade of red. "You don't know what muscle or organ the knife must've hit. If you pull it out, you might risk harming something else."

His jaw twitched but not a single word escaped his mouth as he yanked my hold off in anger and gazed down at his wife who was quivering in excruciating pain. His eyes grew soft as they raked over her distressed features. The pain on Leo's face reflected Verona's while his thumbs wiped away the tears that streamed down the sides of her face.

"It h-hurts," she sobbed in agony, viciously trembling in fear and torment.

Cupping her face, he held her tenderly and kissed her lips. "Hold on for me, tesoro," he whispered in the softest brittle tone that was foreign to my ears as if the volume of it could break his hurting wife.

Verona nodded as efficiently as she could and gazed at her husband while he propped her head on his lap with caution. Leo looked over his shoulder and snarled at Mike. "Where the fuck are they?" he screamed in rage, his cheeks burning red and his hold tightening on Verona.

"They're coming," Mike retorted and knelt beside Leo whose chest heaved in rage.

Verona looked weak and frail as life was slowly leaving her body along with the immense blood that was sputtering out with each cough, each cry of distress, and with each whimper. "Shit!" I cussed at the alcohol coursing through my system that was also slowing my cognitive ability. Immediately, I tore a good chunk off the bottom of my flimsy dress and covered it around the wound without touching the knife in attempts to stop her from bleeding out. "Verona," I called out her name in a hushed whisper which caught her attention.

She turned her head to me and so did Leo who seemed to be drowning in unbearable pain that squeezed my heart itself. As if Verona's suffering was his, his orbs were beginning to get glossy. The honest concern, misery, and love clinging to his features were tangible and it all seeped into me with leisure. He loved her and there was no doubt about it when he told me about her four years ago, and right now, it glowed on his face more prominently than ever. It was clear that losing Verona would kill him, and I couldn't have that.

I forced my eyes away and directed them to the bleeding woman before holding her flaccid hand. "Verona, can you just focus on breathing for me?" I asked in order to distract her from the blood flooding around her.

She nodded, managing to flash a tight-lipped smile back through her distress. "It h-hurts a lot, A-Arie," she informed me in a breathy tone, wincing and mewling.

"I know," I sympathized, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. "Don't think about it. I know it's hard but focus on something else. Something you love."

Her blue eyes flickered up to Leo's at once and an effortless smile graced her fragile, pale lips. The bloody tips of her fingers stroked Leo's jaw like a soft caress, and instinctively, he leaned into it with a meek smile. "I love you," she whispered, another glistening drop crawling out her tear duct. "B-But I'm going to d-die."

Leo shook his head in outright refusal to her statement that was taking a toll on him. He spoke in Italian, his voice low and heavy with pain, as I looked away at the wound in attempts to examine it.

The tip of the knife seemed to be stabbed into her flesh, but the majority of it was still sticking out through the smeared blood. I swerved the piece of cloth clogging the blood by an inch to peek at the injury. My fingers slightly pushed down on the flesh which forced a wail out of Verona.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Leo turned to me, utterly enraged. This wasn't what I wanted his first sentence to me be, but shit, it stung.

"I'm trying to see if it's safe for me to pull out the knife so that she doesn't bleed to death out here," I met the same edge in his voice.

"You're drunk," he gritted through his teeth.

"A little, yes," I admitted shamelessly. "Which is why it's taking me a bit long, but I know what the fuck I'm doing." A rageful snarl left my lips like a rusty iron rod mushing up against a brick wall. "So how about you focus on your wife and keep her distracted because this is going to hurt."

The Italian man stared me down for a long second while I did the same, but he didn't dare utter another word and looked away at his wife. Scrunching my eyes shut, I tried to gain control of myself and shook my head to scurry away the wooziness clouding my mind. Upon releasing a deep breath, I eyed the wound warily. Now that I was analyzing the situation closely, I could carefully remove the knife without harming anything, but I didn't trust my shaky hands.

Peering up, I started to ask Mike to do the favor, but my plan came to a halt when Athena rushed in with Lina following her. She hurriedly knelt beside me and handed me a clean white cloth before giving the wound a quick glance and turning to Leo.

"This is going to hurt really bad," she warned, then gazed at Verona whilst caressing her hand with a pained expression lathered on her face. "I'm sorry."

Without another word, Athena went ahead and yanked out the knife in a swift motion, ripping a torturous screech through Verona's mouth. Leo hugged his wife close in anguish as I hastily jammed the cloth onto the open flesh. Athena maintained pressure on top of it as we all watched Verona who went completely silent and limp.

I immediately checked for her breathing but got nothing. "She's going into cardiac arrest," I declared, forcing Leo to lay Verona down flat in sheer panic. He placed his hands on top of each other and started performing CPR. He pushed down hard again and again for a while, then did the rescue breathing with the mouth-to-mouth procedure. But nothing. No signs of breathing.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" he swore in frustration, his brows pinching together and agitation radiating off his stiff back. "Don't die on me now." Amidst the sinister tension circling above our heads, his compressions got stronger with each shove on her chest, much harder than it needed to be. Immensely shaken up by the sudden tribulation, he wasn't considering that he might break her ribs with the force he was using.

"You're going to break her like this, Leo." Mike forcibly pulled his best friend away from Verona, allowing me to take over.

I performed thirty consecutive compressions then breathed into her mouth. "Fuck," I muttered under my breath and continued CPR, but it was to no avail.

"Let me!" Athena jerked me aside and took the task upon herself. "C'mon, Verona. Wake up!"

Through the fiasco, I glanced up at Leo who was starting to get nauseated. The crimson color on his face was getting buried under the ghostly pale as the situation began settling in, however, his reddened eyes remained glued to his wife's body.

"We need an AED," I suggested whilst sustaining the pressure on the stab wound.

"I got it!" A woman in a Harley Quinn outfit hurried into the circle with a couple others behind her.

"Took you long enough, Martina," Athena barked, continuing the task at hand as the other woman quickly set up the AED.

"Sorry," Martina apologized, hastily trying to retrieve the defibrillating pads from the package. Her hands shook in fear, and it was clear that she was hammered too.

"Lina, put pressure on this," I ordered the girl before frustratedly ripping the package from Martina's hold and pulling out the two pads myself.

Tearing open Verona's shirt, I applied one pad to the right side of her upper chest under the bra strap and placed the other one under her left breast as Athena kept the CPR going. The scars scattered over Verona's torso didn't go unnoticed by my eyes either. They were faded but still stood out against her fair skin.

Looking away, I turned on the AED. "Stay clear," I warned, forcing everyone to step back. The device began analyzing the rhythm before a shock was administered, allowing me to continue CPR for a minute straight. My arms started to kick into fatigue which compelled Athena to take on the role for another minute. The defibrillator reanalyzed and delivered another shock. I leaned down to check for any signs of breathing but got nothing in return.

Athena, Martina, and I vigorously kept the cardiopulmonary resuscitation going along with the defibrillator. Three to four shocks later, there were still no breaths. I glanced around the area and saw the hope fading away from the look on everyone's faces. Leo's hands shook in trepidation, fear assembling in his eyes. Those shimmering orbs fluttered to me painfully, almost pleadingly. Any longer and his wife would be gone for good, and the reality of it was notably tearing him apart.

"Allow me." I patted Martina's shoulder and assumed the role of the compressor again. After thirty seconds, I gave her two rescue breaths by using the head-tilt, chin-lift scheme and pinching her nostrils. When the defibrillator was ready, it studied her heart rhythm for the fifth time before giving her another shock.

After it was cleared, Athena put her ear to Verona's mouth and let out a long sigh, her hazel green eyes darting to Leo who grew antsy in anticipation. "She's breathing," she declared with a victorious smile.

Relieved breaths left our mouths at once as Leo rubbed his eyes exhaustingly before gazing up with a lazy smile. He scooted forward and kissed Verona's cheek for a long second, his hand raking through her hair. "Almost killed me, tesoro," he whispered softly before he let a few men prop Verona's unconscious body on a stretcher and roll her away to undergo surgery.

"Get Dr. Tan here immediately," Leo ordered Martina angrily. "I don't want you operating on her."

"Y-Yes, sir." She bowed in fear and scurried behind the other men.

Leo spun on his heel and gawked at me. "You wanted to know how she's alive? This is how she has been alive." He ground his teeth together in rage, pinning all his frustration on me.

My brows furrowed in puzzlement with a tinge of anger. "Why the hell are you mad at me? I didn't do this."

Shaking his head, he snorted and started to walk away without answering me. This was definitely going to haunt me in the morning, but the alcohol in my system rocketed my fury out of proportion and provided me with an unknown sense of courage that I was trying to bury ever since I was forced to mingle with these people.

"You got something to say, say it to my fucking face, asshole," I snarled like a vicious animal, losing the control I was trying to maintain over my tongue, but everyone in this family had been testing my patience itself.

"Watch your mouth," Leo warned, turning around with a dangerous glare.

"Or what, bitch?" I challenged him under the sudden wrath igniting within my chest. "You can't do shit to me. You wouldn't dare."

"You are drunk," he spat, stepping toward me in an intimidating manner. "Think and speak very carefully, Arie, or you'll regret this."

"I'm quite aware of what I'm saying," I countered, trudging forward to jostle his chest. "So say whatever you got on your mind."

After biting his tongue for a few seconds, he finally opened his mouth to defeatedly ask, "Why are you even here? You could've stayed back in the States when you saw me, but you decided to come along. Why?"

"I'm not here for you." I poked his broad, hovering chest back. "I'm here for Sophie, and that's it."

"So I'm supposed to believe that you suddenly reunited with the friend you hadn't spoken to in over four years?" he scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You knew she was my best friend, and coincidentally, she's marrying your fucking brother!" I yelled.

His face scrunched into a scowl. "You left her without an explanation, for fuck's sake, and I made sure she wasn't in contact with you because I didn't want to see you. Ever."

"Then why even hook her up with your brother?"

"I didn't," he retorted agitatedly. "Wren fell for her, and I wasn't going to stomp on his happiness when you weren't even present in Sophie's life."

"And I'm supposed to believe that?" I played his game and shook my head at his sentence that also made me chuckle.

"Believe whatever the fuck you want to believe. I don't have to explain myself to you," he snapped and swung around to walk away from me.

"And you're just going to walk away now?" I screamed, but the man ignored me as he continued striding away next to Mike.

"Arie," Athena imprisoned my wrist in a tight hold. "Now isn't a good time to do this. Sober up and then talk to him."

Gritting my teeth together, I yanked her hand off. Anger rippled through my body and hit the ceiling itself. Fuck this! Removing my sandal, I flung it hard and slammed it to his back. Through the gasps breaking out in the place, Leo stopped in his tracks as his bloodied hands balled up into tight fists with his rigid back still facing me.

"You're fucking pathetic!" I bellowed, taking a couple steps forward as Mike tried to usher Leo away. "It's a good thing that I left you while I could."

"Exactly. You left!" Leo let out a fierce growl that echoed off the high ceilings and walls as he turned around and stomped in my direction. "You," his finger almost poked my shoulder before he pointed it to himself, "left me. You fucking left me like I meant nothing to you."

The hurt vibrating in his voice and the buried emotions rushing to his face were ferociously palpable. His brows were drawn together while his large frame towered over me menacingly for the pain I caused him. Like an intimidated girl, I gulped, however, I still stood my ground firmly.

"What did you expect?" I spoke in a soft tone. "My world was falling apart, and I couldn't put my only family at risk after what happened with Aunt Wendy."

"And I wasn't important enough to be your family?" he demanded.

"I loved you, Leo," I stated truthfully, my voice faltering and my eyes welling up. "But I couldn't stay."

"And I loved you!" he choked out as his hands cupped my face, his eyes gazing into mine with tremendous agony. "I gave you my heart, Arie, and you tore it to pieces when you decided to leave me and I let you go because I loved you." He abandoned my face, taking a step back. "I willingly gave you that power over me and you didn't hold back when you did that."

          My lips quivered as tears threatened to drop like a tragic waterfall. "You never came back."

          "I promised you that I wouldn't." He shrugged and cleared his throat nonchalantly. "I had to take care of my wife anyway."

           The yap of sheer laughter that roared through my mouth even surprised me. "Your wife, huh?" My chortle immediately turned into a breathy, tearless sob. "The wife that you told me was dead?"

          "Well, she clearly isn't dead," he riposted like a smug, arrogant bastard.

          Snorting at his mocking remark, I clenched my teeth together. "Go fuck yourself, Leo."

          "You go fuck yourself," he opposed my statement pettily.

          Releasing a low growl, I subconsciously raised my hand to slap him, but he grabbed my wrist and jerked me closer. The warmth from his body blanketed me wholly, his daunting eyes sending my heart into a frenzy. "Don't ever do that again." His alcohol laced breath fanned out slowly while his fingers tightened on me. "You lost every right when you left."

My nerves knotted in outrage, my hands shaking. "Don't touch me!"

He freed me with a light push. "Stay out of my way while you're here, and stay the fuck away from my wife."

          "I hate you." I rammed his chest back with force, but his strong body didn't budge an inch.

          "That's all you got?" he provoked me with the witty remark.

          "Leo, stop," Mike tried to intervene.

          "I'll show you what the fuck I got, asshole!" I hissed through my teeth and launched myself forward before a hand around my upper arm lurched me back. "Let me go!" I snapped, glowering at Athena who held me back.

          "You've lost your damn mind!" she exclaimed and dragged me away forcefully through the throng of Leo's cousins who had gathered at the scene. We maneuvered through one hall and exited to a vacant side of the palace before she plunged me forward in rage. "What has gotten into you?"

          Not bothering to answer her, I rushed and threw up my guts into a nicely groomed bush. "Fuck! I needed to do that."

          "If you can't handle your booze, why do you even bother drinking?" she quipped.

          "Well, I didn't plan on it." I wiped my mouth and laid down by the stairs. "Shit..."

          "When I said I wanted you to talk to him, that's not what I had in mind." She threw my legs to the side to make room for herself.

          "Bitch," I grumbled and managed to sit up with my head that was beginning to pound. "It wasn't how I expected it to go either."

           Silence spread through the cold, starry night as I kept replaying the event in my head. Regret wiggled into me which made me want to bang my head against a wall. I blew up more than I needed to and everyone knew it by now. But Leo instigated it in the heat of the moment, and I didn't hold back from giving him a piece of my mind.

          "Did you do it?" Athena asked all of a sudden.

          "Do what?"

          "Stab Verona."

          "Fuck, no!" I shouted out loud to drive it home. "I actually like her, but Leo has to be a bitch."

          "You can't blame him; after all, she's his wife."

          I rolled my eyes. "I know."

          "Everyone here is going to be on his radar after this, including you and me, which is why he's on edge." She sighed, staring at the blood on her hands. "Verona means a lot to him, Arie, and you need to understand that. He'll do anything for her."

          "I can tell," I muttered under my breath.

          "He has been very careful with her after she got back."

          "Got back from where?" I interrupted. "She just walked back into his life after dying?"

          "After Astor died, Alicio had the remaining of his men search through the properties in Ireland, and they found Verona there in the worst possible condition, so no, she didn't just walk back in," she spat in vexation. "If you want to know more ask Leo or Verona."

          "Everyone keeps saying that."

          "Stop asking the wrong people then."

          I groaned in frustration. "Why can't you just tell me and save me the hassle?"

          "Because it's Verona's story, not mine." Her shoulders lifted up slowly and settled down with an exhale. "I respect her more than anyone in this damn place. Even more than Leo." I was a bit taken aback by her bold statement but didn't utter anything as she looked at me. "Once you get to know her, you'll love her. Trust me."

          "She'll make me want to 'swing the other way' kind of love?" I narrowed my eyes.

          "It's a possibility."

          "Bitch." I laughed, causing her to chuckle with me.

          "I know I am."

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Yay or nay?

How do you guys feel after this chapter?

Leo and Arie finally talked, but under the wrong circumstances.

Who could've stabbed Verona?

What could be Verona's story? Hit me with the theories!

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~Reet