Page 61 of His Cruel Exception

“I need to go after Alexander. What if there are still more of those bastards out there?”

“There aren't,” Marco assures me. “We've been busy rounding them up this past week. We put them in the warehouse since the repairs are done.”

Good. But I'm not convinced Alexander is safe, and I won't be until I have him back where he belongs.

With me.

I pull the IV out of my arm and press a piece of gauze against the puncture, ignoring Marco's disapproving look. Enzo gets my clothes and tosses them onto the bed, already accepting that there's no point trying to talk me out of this. The others don't look pleased either, but none of them makes another attempt to stop me.

They know me well enough to understand that I'm leaving this fucking hospital whether they like it or not.

Chapter

Thirty

ANTONIO

Every movement hurts, but I grit my teeth and push through the pain, careful not to put too much strain on the dressing covering my neck. Getting dressed with one arm is a fucking nightmare, and by the time I manage to pull on my pants, I'm sweating and my entire body is protesting.

The door opens, and Father walks in with my uncles and aunt.

“What’s going on here?” Father asks, his eyes moving from me to my cousins before settling on the clothes scattered across the bed.

“He insists on going after Alexander,” Marco, the fucking snitch, answers.

Dad lets out a sigh and approaches me. “Antonio, you only just woke up, and we've been looking for him. He isn't in New York as far as we can tell, and he left his phone at his apartment, so we can't track him.”

I clench my jaw, trying to ignore the frustration building inside me. The fact that Alexander has gone to such lengths to make sure no one can find him only makes me more determined to get to him.

“Then I'll go to all fifty states until I find him.”

I don't give a fuck how long it takes or how many people I have to turn to for answers. Alexander is out there somewhere, and I refuse to sit around waiting for someone else to find him.

“Can you give us a minute?” Dad asks the others.

My cousins leave the room with their parents. Once the door closes, Dad takes a seat on the couch while I remain standing beside the bed, holding myself upright by sheer will. The pain in my neck is getting worse, but I refuse to sit down.

“Antonio, if you were feeling better, I wouldn't tell you not to go after him, but you have to consider your health. Alex wouldn't want you to jeopardize your recovery.”

“Dad, you don't understand.”

I know he's trying to look out for me, but I can't make him understand how fucking unbearable it is to wake up after two weeks and find out that the person I love has disappeared.

I can't stop thinking about everything Alexander has been through. Those bastards tortured him, and while he was still trying to recover, another group came after him. All of this happened because of me, because my enemies knew exactly how much he meant to me and decided to use him to get to me.

And where was I when he needed me the second time? Lying unconscious in a fucking hospital bed. I couldn't protect him, and now he's so terrified that he's run away, probably after deciding that being with me isn't worth the danger.

“What do you think I don't understand?” Dad asks, interrupting my thoughts. “That you're in love? Son, I know exactly what you're feeling. I've been there.”

I'd almost forgotten how batshit crazy Dad went when Mom was kidnapped in Campania during one of our family vacations. I was fourteen when it happened, and after he found her, he burned down every property belonging to the kidnappers, with them and their families still inside. He didn't stop until there was nothing left of the people who had taken her from him, and I remember thinking there was no way I could ever love someone enough to go that far.

Now, I'm beginning to understand exactly how he felt.

I sit on the edge of the bed before my legs give out beneath me, bracing my good hand against the mattress as I look at my father.

“I cannot lose him, Dad. It feels like my chest is going to rip apart.”

My voice sounds strained, and I hate how helpless I feel. I never thought I'd feel this way about anyone. Ever. I've spent most of my life believing I don't need anyone outside my family, But somewhere along the way, my innocent little stripper has become the most important person in my life, and I don't know what to do with myself now that he's gone.