Chapter 16
I thought I was going to get stabbed, but the pain I’d expected never came. I whipped my head up and realized that Dante had shielded me from the attack. He was clutching his abdomen with one hand, but it was bleeding profusely anyway.
Swaying, he ended up crashing on top of me.
“Dante!”
I quickly tried to keep him steady as I called for an ambulance. The only thing I could think of was to stop his bleeding at once.
“Have you lost your mind?” I cried out as I pressed down against his wound.
My fingers were covered in his blood.
Dante was already losing consciousness. His face was colorless, but he struggled to keep his eyes open and look at me. With a faint smile on his face, he said, “Now I know… how much it hurts… Was this the pain you felt back then?”
My heart clenched, and my nose prickled.
Dante only fainted when he heard the siren of the ambulance just moments before it pulled up beside us.
The surgery lasted three hours. The doctor said that none of his vital organs had been injured, but he’d lost a lot of blood. Exhaling in relief, I slumped onto the cold chair and watched as Dante lay unconscious on the hospital bed.
I had mixed feelings. I couldn’t believe he’d actually blocked the attack for me.
Dante’s family had rushed to the hospital. When Maria saw Dante, she had a meltdown and confronted me. “What the hell do you want? Does he owe you anything? You left without a word on your wedding day, and now he’s in the hospital because of you! Can’t you stop causing trouble for him?”
I kept my head bowed, silently allowing her to rebuke me. I didn’t bother explaining about the wedding. There was no point in doing so. Moreover, he had indeed saved me that day.
Maria was about to continue her rant when Dante called out hoarsely, “Nina.”
