ALINA'S POV

No.

Tears drench my eyes and face as I drop to my knees at the sight before me.

A shuddering breath leaves me, causing my body to fall forward.

I think I'm going into shock.

That would explain why I'm finding it hard to breathe.

Well, you would to if you had this much blood on your hands.

And I mean this literally.

It's pouring out of me.

The bullet is nowhere to be seen, probably lodged right in the middle of my stomach.

The man who's bullet is currently inside me, lays face down in his own pool of blood at the other end of the corridor.

My mouth curves into a weak smile.

I don't have to come back as a ghost to haunt that man for the rest of his life.

Revenge has been served, partially

My fathers eyes bore into mine. They're almost bulging out of his eye sockets. I've never seen them do that before.

I feel hands pull me from under my armpits. I'm encased I'm my brothers hold, one I will cherish forever.

I don't need to look to know it's Adrian.

"You're an absolute idiot Alina" He tells me whilst laughing weakly.

I feel his tears drip onto my hair.

"But I'm your idiot" I reply weakly.

"It's my turn to be your knight Adrian. I left you bottles of my perfume for you to spray on my—well your bear now. I know you can't sleep without something that reminds you of me. I figured it out within the second week. You're predictable, big bro" I tell him with a smile on my lips.

"If you squeeze the left hand, there's a surprise for you." I continue.

I prepared myself in case something like this happened.

I did it as soon as I found out that my family were in the mafia.

You would be a fool if you truly believed I wouldn't get hurt at least once.

I didn't expect to be a one hit wonder though.

"It's still your bear Alina, and you won't be gifting me shit, because you're going to survive this. You've survived everything so far in life, this is just a little graze in comparison!" He tells me, almost as if trying to persuade himself.

I know he'll survive, which is why this is all worth it.

I couldn't leave my big brothers without a father. Not after everything they've done for me.

I see Marco in the corner of my eyes talk frantically into his walkie talkie as a tear slides down onto my palm.

My father drops down onto his knees beside me, his face full of anger, and sadness.

His mouth is moving but I can't really hear what he's saying, because my ears have starting ringing.

But there's one thing I know for certain.

I will not leave this earth before seeing the rest of my family for the last time.

"Mama. Need to see" I say with a shuddering breath.

That's all I could manage to get out.

My dad nods sadly at me, before his face turns into one of determination.

He says something to Marco, to which he nods.

I regret making eye contact with Marco as soon as I see the look on his face.

This is something that will haunt me for the rest of my time on this Earth.

He'll thank me later.

He wasn't ready to become heir, nevertheless forced into becoming the heir.

Although Matheo's the oldest he has no interest in becoming the heir right now.

A gargle and a squeal sound comes out of me as my dad lifts my upper body whilst Adrian takes my feet.

This is the worst pain I've ever felt in my life. I feel as though I am being ripped apart from the inside out.

I feel as though I am drenched in sweat, yet it's blood.

I can feel the red liquid dripping from my fingers

The thought and the feel makes me gag.

Mama will have a wet wipe and a bandage for me, I know it. She always has something to make us feel better.

It's not long before my sore eyes become even worse after a minuscule amount of sunlight infiltrates them.

As soon as I make my way fully outside, I make a sound in which I think a dying vampire would make after coming in contact with the sun.

I have never felt my eyes burn like this before. It's almost as painful as my stomach.

The sudden pain almost stops me from being able to see y family who is frantically pacing and talking to each other.

As soon as they see us emerge from whatever building we are in, there's silence.

Well i can't hear everyone go silent but I can see everyone's mouth close as they look at us.

It's Mama who moves towards us first. And from the way her face contorts I know she's screaming.

The rest follow suit, which is exactly what I wanted.

Whilst looking each and every one of them in the eye, I tell them with the loudest voice I can muster which probably isn't very loud.

"I love you"

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ATHENA'S POV

I will never forget that look in my baby girls eyes.

The look of life leaving her body. Her soul starting to fade away.

I've failed as a mother. Instead of protecting her, I let her get hurt when I vowed to protect her.

I should have never let her become involved in all of this. She could've been safe at home right now if I wasn't so adamant on making her feel as though she belonged.

I don't think I've ever regretted anything like this before.

If I had left this life behind then she would have never had to have gone through this. Any of this.

She would've been brought up with us and treated like the princess she is, and she'd be tucked into her bed sleeping soundly.

Instead she's fighting for her life on the operating table.

She lost so much blood. Too much.

My hands are still stained red after I did chest compressions whilst waiting for the defibrillator with the ambulance crew.

I never imagined I would have had to do chest compressions on any of my children.

I never expected any of them to have a near death experience like this before me.

We're all patiently waiting for the surgery to be done. No one's told us anything yet as everyone's efforts are being used to try and keep my daughter alive.

Everyone here knows who we are, so they know to come to us as soon as there's any news.

Everyone including me is feeling incredibly guilty right now.

Salvatore is feeling the worst. He thought he had safely secured Alina, Adrian and Marco behind him.

The only time he let his hand off of them was to reach for his spare gun.

He didn't expect Alina to jump in front of him, he didn't expect her to sacrifice herself like that.

None of us did. It was her rescue mission.

I will never forget the faces of my children when we saw the extent of Alina's injuries.

When I saw the bruises, I could have killed everyone there.

But it was the state of her body that angered me the most:

Specifically the fact that it was obvious she had been starved. Her ribs were clearly visible again.

Did they not know how hard she worked to gain some weight?

What kind of psychos starve a child?

Her infected cuts couldn't heal because of this.

When I find any remaining survivors of that group I will have absolutely no mercy.

I have my men and women on the business at the minute as nothing is more important than family.

I can always chase after these idiots.

They're not my priority.

I just need my baby girl out of surgery. It's so hard not being able to see her when she's in such a vulnerable state.

"She'll be fine right? According to the doctors, 88% of people survive a gunshot wound to the stomach, with the right care!" Adrian tells me as he attempts to hide his tear stricken face.

And that's true, if they weren't suffering from an infection prior.

Due to that her survival rate decreases. But she'll survive, I know she will.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— MARCO'S POV

Alina looks worse for wear. I can vividly remember the last time we were in this hospital. I thought she looked rough then, but that was nothing compared to this.

She must have at least double the amount of wires coming out of her body.

She looks so pale that I need to consider asking for an autograph as I mistook her for Casper the ghost.

I know Alina would find that funny if I told her.

But for now I'll just hold it dear to my heart knowing she would.

It's how I cope. With humour.

She lost too much blood on the journey over here.

My arm aches from the needle that was in my arm only moments ago.

A constant reminder that it's my blood that's pumping around her body, keeping her alive.

She's only been back for around 3 minutes but everyone seems to have risen from their slumber.

I got to see a glimpse of her earlier during the transfusion.

I was the only one that was a perfect match, so it's my blood that got used.

My brothers are very jealous, and I won't let them forget it any time soon.

I'm just happy I managed to do something to help my baby sister.

Raphael looks distraught and has spent the whole time keeping his pinky finger entangled with Alina's.

The rest of us have taken it in turns to hold Alina's hand.

Something about feeling her pulse still beat gives me peace of mind.

She's still here with us.

We've all made sure to talk to her and to give her words of encouragement because we're hoping she can hear us.

There's nothing worse than being hurt and being alone.

If we can help in anyway then we will.

That's what family is for.

Our family is trying to keep a strong front but I know and understand how they're feeling inside.

They feel useless at the fact we couldn't stop any of this happening.

They're absolutely distraught at the state of Alina's condition.

I don't think a dry eye has been seen since she was taken from us.

Some cry openly whilst others cry in the dead of night trying not to show weakness.

Mom has resulted in making sure Alina's hair looks amazing and the at she has a different style every day.

Dad makes sure that she's always tucked in.

And we make sure she understands how loved she is.

We may have also decorated her room with everything she loves.

Romeo has been pacing around holding her plush dragon which he originally gave her for as long as we've been here

We found it in her backpack. She carried it with her for luck with her competition.

He wants something that she recognises by her side when she awakes.

Hopefully it wound be long now before I can hear my baby sister speak again.

I just want to embrace her with her embracing me back.

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3 WEEKS LATER

RAPHAEL POV

"Come on Alina. Just hang in there. You've got this" I tell her as I continue to watch her.

It's been 3 hard weeks.

3 weeks full of tests, and waiting

She's almost regained all of the weight she lost from the ordeal thanks to her feeding tube.

She looks as beautiful as ever though

She's looking better on the outside but it seems as though everything internally has come to a standstill.

But that's ok. I'll wait for however long it takes for her to get better.

Whether that he tomorrow or forever.

My ears perk up at the sound of Alina's door opening.

Everyone I know that should be here is in the room already, so who could this be?

I see the doctor in the corner of my eye and a sigh comes out of my accidentally.

He runs tests everyday on Alina. He always demands space, making us all leave Alina's side.

I understand why he needs the space but it doesn't make anyone here very happy.

And above all else, they're filled with very short needles, ones I know Alina wouldn't like.

I expect him to make his way over but he doesn't.

Instead he makes his way over to Salvatore.

"What is it Doctor?"

"I'm sorry Don, but it's been 3 weeks. If she doesn't come off of the machine now then she never will. You can either take the risk of Alina possibly recovering or letting her be and having her live comatose forever"

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A/N - thoughts?

Sorry about so many povs. I wanted to fit in a couple