For Cam (Chicago Syndicate Book 4) (34 page)

“But you were—”

“What? Staring at you? You know damn well that you look like my wife. The girls must have talked about that. You’re fired. Get out!”

As she scurries away, I plow my hand through my hair and sigh tiredly. 

How can I continue like this? 

Need slams into me, and I curse my weakness for Cam.

But then, deliverance comes when my phone buzzes in my pocket and I fish it out to see Marc calling me. “Marc?”

“Cam’s awake, Adriano. She’s awake! Come to the hospital.” His voice is full of enthusiasm.

“What?” I break out in a run, grabbing my car keys as I go.

***

I
race like a maniac to the hospital, skimming red lights and finding myself sprinting down the hall. As I rush into Cam’s room, disappointment drowns me when I see that she’s still lying on her back but without the breathing tube down her throat.

I run up to her bed and cradle her face. “Cam? Sweetheart?” My voice is barely a whisper.

I hear feet shuffling inside and glance back at Marc.

“You said she was awake!” I accuse.

“Adriano,
calmati
, She
has
been awake. This is good. She won’t wake in an instant and remember everything. It’s a gradual process, but this is good. She’ll be awake again soon. Her body is adjusting.”

“I fucking missed it!” A dagger pierces my heart.

“Don’t worry. She won’t remember it. Stay here. Within a couple of hours, she’ll wake again, and you need to be here because she might be scared and confused and searching for you.”

“Trust me; nothing can drive me away from here now.”

Camilla

––––––––

B
eep...beep...beep.

My eyes open languidly, and I shut them, shielding them from the blinding light, and groan. Then for a second time, I peek through my eyelids and let my vision adapt slowly. Confused, I blink and blink.

Where am I?

I’m in a white room. There’s a tube down my airway, pumping oxygen into my lungs. Abruptly, the door creaks and I squeal – or try to – and lift my arm, which is noticeably heavy. Lethargically, I attempt to turn my head.

“Camilla, you’re awake.” A nurse closes the distance, and I press myself into the mattress. “Don’t be scared. You’re in the hospital. I’m getting your doctor, okay?”

She pushes a button beside my bed, and I panic from sheer bewilderment.

Where’s Adriano? Where’s my family?

My gaze flies around the room wearily to find the one person I want to see not here.

Beep, beep, beep.

“Everything’s alright.” The nurse tries to calm me.

My body feels sluggish and my eyelids droop...

****

S
omething’s pressing on my middle, and someone’s gripping my hand. I blink profusely and concentrate on my sight, but when I take a breath, I grimace through my sore throat; the nurse removed the tube.

When a familiar cologne reaches my nostrils, I view the one person I ache to see with his head on my cleavage, facing away from me.

I lift my hand, sifting my fingers through his hair, and croak dryly, “A-Adriano...”

Rapidly, his head whips to me with an expression of shock. “Cam?!”

From the look of it, he’s been in an ill humor, because half his hair is standing straight up as if he ran his fingers through it like he always does when he’s upset. His beard is scruffy, and his tired, yet hopeful, face inspects my features as if I might vanish into thin air at any moment. Our eyes lock, and Adriano’s eyes are teeming with moisture.

“Hey.” I attempt to smile but flinch when the dry skin on my lips pulls tight.

“Cam!” Adriano cups my face with both hands, his thumbs stroking my cheeks and slipping down to caress the corners of my mouth.

I frown when I see tears dripping down his cheeks for the first time ever, so I graze my palm over his beard, and he kisses it.

“You came back to me, sweetheart.”

A blur of memories attack my mind, and I’m suddenly lightheaded. And thirsty. Drowsiness pulls at me. 

“I’m thirsty,” I manage to mumble.

Adriano takes a cup with a straw from the nightstand, bringing it to my lips, and I gulp down the water, letting it soothe my throat.

After I’m finished, he sets the cup back down. Then he cradles my head and presses his lips to mine, kissing and holding me as if he’s kissing me for the first time. It starts out softly, but then Adriano threads his fingers into my hair, tracing his tongue over my lips and parting them gently, almost worshipfully. He kisses me with the same hunger I feel in my soul. His touch breathes life back into my body, and I take it. All of it, with so much pleasure.

His lips press against the corner of my mouth and my jaw, and then he rests his forehead on mine. “I missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too. What happened?”

Adriano’s palms keep stroking my face and my arms in reaction to my obviously distressed expression.

“Shhh...you’re okay. You’re at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Cam. Do you remember that you were being held at Yakiv Medlov’s estate?”

An array of memories flit across my thoughts. “Oh my god, the tape?!”

I cough and Adriano rears back, giving me more water to drink. Then he cocoons us again in our own little world as he frames my face. I weave my fingers over his scalp, and he groans in satisfaction. A simple gesture that we’ve both yearned for.

“I have the tape,” he answers. “You don’t need to worry about that. Medlov has been caught and sentenced, and I have the tape of you and Santino in my possession.”

My heartbeat settles to a normal pace, but I wonder what happened that put me in the hospital? “I remember escaping Medlov’s mansion and following him into another house because he told me about the tape and I wanted to get it. And...I called you. And then I remember nothing.”

Adriano’s tries to sit back up, but I clutch his dress shirt, so he stays close to me.

“
Calmati
.” Calm down. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“I feel strange,” I confess as emotions and words clash inside. “And my body feels weak.”

“Marc is your doctor, and he says that’s normal, sweetheart. Give it a few days for your mind and body to catch up with everything. I’m going to tell you what happened afterward, and listen to me carefully, okay? Don’t panic, because everything is fine now.” 

I frown but nod once in conciliation.

“You did call me, and we were disconnected when the cottage you were in blew up. There was more than one cottage on that estate. You had a head injury and were rushed into surgery. You’ve been unconscious ever since.”

In reaction, my hand flies to my head, but I don’t feel any soreness, just heaviness and a mild headache. “For how many days was I unconscious?”

Adriano swallows and mournfully stares down at me. “It’s been much longer than days, Cam. You’ve been unconscious for
four months
.”

“What?!” I sit up with my elbows on the mattress, but blood rushes from my head, leaving me dizzy, so I collapse back.

“Cam,” Adriano states in a commanding, yet concern-filled tone. “Please stay calm.”

“Four months?” I repeat disbelievingly. “So it’s...”

“March.” He studies me to analyze my reaction.

Skeptical, I glance around the room to look for a clock or a calendar. “How?”

“You slipped into a coma,” he explains, sadness glimmering behind his eyes.

Again, the confusion and panic pull at me, and I’m totally astounded. 

“But...
four months
?” I repeat, yet again, in barely a whisper. “So what happened in four months? Where is everyone? I can’t believe I lost four months of my life?!” Suddenly, I start to cry. Tears break free, and I merely sob. 

Adriano climbs onto my bed and pulls me into his arms. “Shhh. But you’re awake and healthy now. Why are you crying, sweetheart?” His arms secure around my middle, and his chin rests on top of my head. 

“I’m not sure. I’m overwhelmed. Please take me home.”

“You
are
home, because
I’m
here. Marc told me that you might be a bit frightened and mixed up, but all this confusion will settle, Cam. I’m so happy you came back to me.”

My ear is pressed to his chest, so I listen to the calming beat of his heart while he rubs my hair and neck to soothe me, and I drift off to sleep as I grasp his shirt in my hand like a lifeline.

***

I
scream and thrash on the bed as monsters in the night crawl over my skin. All I see is white light, and something tells me that Adriano isn’t with me, but someone’s holding me down.

“No! Adriano? Adriano!” I yell.

“I’m here. I’m here.” I can hear him speaking to me frantically through a murmur of voices. “What’s going on with her?”

“It’s perfectly normal. Keep talking to her.”

A warm hand touches my forehead and lips press against the shell of my ear. Finally, I can feel the heat of his presence as if it sears through me.

“My love, take a deep breath for me. Can you do that? Just take a deep breath.”

His comforting voice relaxes my nerves, and then I feel him tangling our fingers, so I grip his tightly.

“That’s it. Hold on to me, Cam. No one’s hurting you. You’re perfectly fine, and I’m watching over you always. Shhh...”

Tranquility returns to my body now that I feel Adriano, and then blackness swallows me. 

****

I
believe this is the fourth time I’ve tried to wake up, but time is a foreign concept to me while I’m breaking out of my fog entirely and returning to the world of the living. I recognize that my mind is clearer this time. And like each time before, I instantly search for the man I long for, and he’s right by my side.

“Good morning, beautiful.” 

“Hey.” I scrape my fingers through Adriano’s beard that’s been trimmed neatly but is still very thick. The dark shadows on his face have disappeared, and he looks exactly like my sinful man, his hair combed back in perfect disarray.

“What?” He cocks his head. “You’re looking at me funny. You feel okay?”

“Yes. I thought I woke up earlier?”

“You did. You woke yesterday. Do you remember what I told you?”

“I was in a coma for four months.”

“You panicked and fell asleep again and then awoke twice during the night, screaming.”

“Oh, I remember you calming me.”

He kisses my hand and sits beside me on the bed. “Adriano, what happened in all that time? Where is everyone? How...how are you?”

He grins widely at me. “I love you so fucking much. Everyone will be back later. They wanted to give you a chance to clear your head so that you wouldn’t be overwhelmed again. And you’re worried about me? Cam, nothing can rain on my parade now that you’re back. But there are a few important things I need to tell you.”

Unease washes over me. “Like what?”

My stomach itches, so I scratch it and frown. Promptly, I lift the sheet and am confronted with a bloated belly. “What the hell?!”

Adriano looks at me expectantly and places his palm on my stomach. “Sweetheart, we’re pregnant.”

“Oh my god...” Words escape me while I stare at my swollen abdomen. Cautiously, I glide my palm over the bump, and Adriano covers my hand with his.

I feel a smile pulling at my lips, and just when I’m preparing to kiss Adriano, he’s already slanting his mouth over mine, whispering in the happiest voice I’ve ever heard, “We’re having a baby. She’s five months old and healthy, Cam. She’s just a little small, so you have to start eating.”

“She? It’s a girl?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t want to find out until you woke up.”

“So the baby hasn’t been in any danger?”

“No. You took care of her,” he says with awe.

“Our baby...” Adriano’s constant, consoling touch on my face and belly triggers a memory. “When I was in the coma, were you always here talking to me and caressing my head and stomach?”

“Yes, I was, hoping you’d hear me.”

“I’m starting to remember more and more, but mostly words and random parts of sentences. Who’s Logan, by the way?”

“Wade,” he replies.

“Huh?”

“Logan is Wade. Richard Wade’s real name is Logan Wade. We call him
Logan
nowadays. He’s now an official member and our first
Capo
.”

Naturally, things have changed over the course of four months. “Oh, okay.”

“Please tell me what you’re thinking, because you’re very difficult to read.”

I look him straight in the eye. “I’m processing all this information. What have you been doing all this time?”

Two tiny pleats appear between his brows. “Taking care of you, of course.”

There’s a question on the tip of my tongue, so I blurt, “Well, I’ve been gone for a long time. Have you...”

“Are fucking kidding me?!” he roars, offended. “You think I met someone else maybe? No, I haven’t. I’ve been waiting every day for you to return to me.”

“I’m so sorry, Adriano. I don’t know what I was thinking,” I quickly respond, hoping to assuage the hurt I see in his eyes.

Grateful for this man who’s my everything, I toss off the sheet and he joins me on the bed, cautiously shifting me to sit astride him. I move slowly because my limbs are weakened from being bedridden for so long and plant myself in his lap, hooking my arms around his neck as he grips my behind.

“And I came back, for you.
Ti amo
,” I whisper.

“I love you too, Cam.”

One of his hands slithers up my spine, causing a tingle between my legs. Then I press myself into him, realizing I’m feeling only two things at the moment: horny and hungry. And evidently, one of those is mirrored by Adriano, because I feel his hardening erection between my thighs.

“Are you horny?” I breathe around a smile.

“Woman, I haven’t had sex in four months and you jump on my lap. I’m about to explode.”

I laugh and break out in a coughing fit, so Adriano gently lays me back on the bed and orders me to drink some water.

That one movement completely wore me out, and I’m about to ask Adriano what my rehabilitation plan is when an army of people, including a man with blond hair, wearing a suit, and several policemen, swarm inside the room.