They Protected My Murderer, So I Walked Away from Them All Chapter 07

They Protected My Murderer, So I Walked Away from Them All Chapter 07

Damian hadn’t opened his bedroom door in three days.

Bianca beat her fists raw against the mahogany. Still nothing. Dead silence.

Panic crawled up her spine.

After Aurora’s first wreck three years ago, the family shrink had been blunt: Damian was barely holding on.

Lose her again, and his head would cave in.

That was why he kept the Gambinos and Valerie glued to Aurora’s side.

It was never just an excuse to see Bianca–it was a leash.

He was terrified of leaving Aurora alone.

Since she opened her eyes from that coma, someone watched her every second of the day.

Until that night on the mountain.

The one time they left her, she died.

“Damian!”

Bianca slammed her shoulder against the panel. Silence.

A sharp knock echoed from the front door.

She raced over and threw it open.

“Thank God you’re here. He won’t come out. It’s been three days.”

Nico and Valerie looked hollowed out, their faces pale and drawn.

The Don and his wife hadn’t eaten since the crash, barely holding together while arranging the closed–casket

funeral.

Nico marched to the master bedroom and banged the wood.

“Damian.”

Nothing.

Valerie shoved him aside, her temper snapping.

“Get your head straight, Damian! You think Aurora wants to see you rot in there?”

Nico caught Valerie’s eye.

“Kick it.”

Two hard kicks cracked the frame. The heavy oak slammed back against the wall.

A wall of foul, stagnant air hit their faces.

Through the darkness, Bianca screamed.

“Damian!”

He lay limp across the sheets.

Nico lunged for the nightstand, snatching up empty plastic vials.

Sedatives. Half a pharmacy.

The doctor had called it right. He couldn’t survive losing her twice.

They rushed him to the family clinic before the pills stopped his heart.

When the red light above the OR turned off, Bianca threw herself at the surgeon.

“Is he breathing?”

The doctor gave a short nod. Bianca nearly collapsed against the wall.

Two days passed before Damian opened his eyes.

His dry lips parted with one cracked syllable.

“Ro…”

His gaze shifted, caught Bianca and Valerie standing by the bed, and went cold as stone.

Bianca burst into tears, reaching for his hand.

“Damian, stop. Please. Aurora’s gone. But you have me. You have our baby. I’m right here.”

Damian yanked his hand back as if she carried the plague.

His voice was dead gravel.

“Nobody touches her place.”

The ward door slammed open.

Nico burst in, gasping for breath?

“Damian! My sister isn’t dead!”

Damian’s eyes blew wide.

He tore the line out, slinging blood across the tiles, and grabbed Nico by the collar with both hands.

“Say that again.”

Nico winced, but his mouth split into a manic grin.

“The body in the wreck isn’t hers! She staged the whole damn crash!”

Nico’s voice rose with petty venom.

“She played us! Did she really think the Gambinos don’t own the morgue?”

“We ran the teeth and pulled the DNA. The body on the slab isn’t hers!”

Then his face fell.

“Only… she’s vanished. Train stations, toll booths, private airstrips–not a single trace.”

Damian didn’t hesitate.

He snatched the phone from Nico’s hand and punched the direct line to his underboss.

“Lock down the state,” Damian snarled into the mic, blood running warm down his forearm.

“Line up every crew Gambino has on the street. Tear this city inside out. Bring Aurora back to me.”