SAVING HIS PRINCESS (DRAGONS FURY MC Book 1)

by M. T. Ossler

  "I'll give you something for the pain after we examine you. Lay back and relax," the doctor says then she lays the bed down flat. When she gets to the end of the bed, she pulls the blanket p to my waist and looks at me, "Scoot down as far as you can and place your feet in the stirrups." I do as I’m told. I’m not sure if I’m doing this right because I’ve never done this before. I lay back staring at the ceiling while the doctor examines me down there. I feel like I’m being violated all over again and it hurts like hell as she touches me. As she’s examining me, I feel tears stinging my eyes and a sob in my chest. When will this nightmare be over?

  When the doctor is done, she tells me everything looks good and that I should be able to leave the hospital in the next few days. Then she tells me she’ll send a nurse in to give me something for the pain and a sedative to sleep peacefully.

  I spend the rest the afternoon by myself sleeping and waiting for Jules and Gigi to return. The nurse told me earlier that they left to go home and change. They will be back later this afternoon. The nurse also informs me that Anton had to go to take care of some business and will be back this evening. I'm grateful that Anton's not here. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could look at his evil face after what he’s done to my family and me.

  I’m asleep when Jules come back alone around five. "Bella, wake up we don't have long, he’ll be here shortly,” she says in my ear. I blink my eyes to wake up and stare at her. “I still can’t get in touch with your brothers, I’ve left them and Lorenzo messages filling up their mailboxes. I’m going to call Aunt Cindy, I found her number. I know Gio is the only one who can help us. I’ll call her in the morning. I’m sure she’ll get word to him immediately. Hopefully, I’ll speak with him by the afternoon. How are you feeling?"

  Processing what she's just told me, my heart is pounding in my chest. As much as I want Gio’s help to get us away from Anton, I don't want him to see me as this broken little girl. How will I ever heal from all that has happened without my family? My parents are gone, and my brothers could be gone too, not for long hopefully. All I have is Gigi, and she can never know what that monster did to me.

  Tears slide down my face, and Jules takes me in her arms and holds me as I sob letting all the pain out. My life is a mess, and I'm so glad I have her. She’s one of the only people I can count on in my life.

  Through my sobs, I hear the door open and freeze, tensing up. Jules can feel me and tightens her hold on me.

  “What do we have here, a crying baby? Come on, my Izzy doesn't cry. Toughen up girl, you’re going to be my wife soon,” Anton says laughing at me. I can’t hold back anymore I wanted to tell him where he can shove it, but I never have a chance. I push away from Jules’ and grab the bucket off the table next to my bed and throw up all the water I drank today. Jules holds my hair back and holds me. When I’m done dry heaving five minutes later, the nurse gives me a pill to stop the heaving and another to sedative me. She checks my temperature and administers ibuprofen for the high fever I'm running. She also administers antibiotic and tells me I have an infection after examining me again. The high temperature is my body’s way of trying to fight off the infection.

  I thought I felt like shit before, I was wrong, this is ten times worse. My body is on fire and cold from the fever, my muscles are sore and achy all over. I feel like I have the flu. What did I ever do in my life to deserve to feel this horrible?

  The doctor tells me I need a couple more days in the hospital before she can release me. I will probably be in and out of consciousness from my high fever until it finally breaks. That day I remember seeing Jules and Gigi visiting me, once for a few minutes when I woke up from a deep sleep. Anton came by a few times, I just ignored him pretending to sleep. I’m not the best actress around, but I think I fooled him. I think I remember Jules telling me she got in touch with Gio and everything will be okay unless that was a dream. I always dream about my Gio, my prince, my protector. No one has heard from my brothers yet. I don't remember much of what else she told me, I swear though, I heard Gio name and felt safe all over my body when I did.

  The police and Anton let Gigi pack some for her things last night because she’ll be staying with Jules for a while. She found the duffle bags of cash dad kept hidden in a secret room in the house. She also grabbed a few of my things to hide at Jules’ too. Jules got our passports all the documents clearing out my dad’s hidden safe in his office. Thankfully, Gigi knew the combination. This will give us enough money to get away from Anton on our own.

  It’s a good thing my sister is sneaky and noisy, or she may not have gotten the things dad had hidden from the world. Dad doesn’t trust many people in the organization, only our immediate family. That has come in handy in this situation to keep Anton and the police away from documents and money they have no business knowing about.

  They snuck into dads office from the secret passage from her room. Dad had them built in when he built the house. Every room has a passage in the wall to a secret room in the basement and another passage to his office, this way we would be safe in our own home, or so he hoped.

  Now it’s time for us to run. I’m not sure where, but we need time to find my brothers so they can protect us and take out Anton once and for all. We need to get underground.

  I’m not one to sentence someone to death that was my father’s job. I never liked that part of his business. I don’t like my dad’s business at all, the drugs, guns, murders and whatever else they are into. I know that’s the business, I just never wanted any part of it. But Anton needs to die for his sins, and I would love to be the one to pull the trigger, even though a bullet is to go for that sonofabitch.

  I hoped that if I saved my virginity all these years that maybe, just maybe, Gio would come back for me and I could give him my special gift. Now, it's gone, and I can never get it back. I wanted to give it the man that I’ve loved since I was a child and if I couldn’t then NO man would ever have it. A man could never love a woman after something like this, right. I’m tainted, disgusting, destroyed, and no man will ever love me, especially Gio. Anton ruined me, not that it matters. This is not the life I was meant to have. I am the Mafiosa Principessa, DAMN IT, not some used up, washed out whore.

  My father and brothers kept me safe and protected from all this for almost 23 years, and in one night Anton came in and destroyed me forever. I would love to be with my parents right now not to have to deal with this pain, shame, and humiliation I feel. but that’s not an option, I have Gigi to think about now. I have to heal and get better to be able to take care of her. Until we find our brothers, she’s all the family I have left, and I’m all she has. God, she's only 13, and she’s lost so much already. I won't let her lose me too unless I have no other choice, then I will make sure Jules cares for her. Jules and Ces are the other people in this world I can trust besides my brothers and Gio if I ever see him again.

  If I have to leave this hospital with Anton, I don’t know if I’ll be able to survive him or what I’ll have to endure from him. I will make peace with leaving Gigi in my best friends capable hands and take my own life if it comes down to it. I know it’s a cop out, the weak way out of a situation instead of standing up for myself, but you don’t know Anton the way I do. He will destroy her and me, this is just the monster he’s turned into. I wouldn’t be any good to her anyway if he was hurting me.

  Okay, enough with the pity party, I’m stronger than this. I am my father’s daughter, I can figure a way out of this shit. I tell myself, it’s time to toughen up and do want I need to do. The only option I have at this point is to get healthy for myself and Gigi. I will get us all away from Anton, but first I have to get better. Get rid of this fever; a little more sleep and I should be good in a day or two. Then I can put my mind to finding a solution to getting myself out of this hospital and then the next step is to get out of the state, underground with Gigi and Jules. Ricco in Chicago may be able to help us if I can get us there.

  I have a lot on m
y shoulders, but daddy taught me well, and I know how to sneak around as well as Gigi. The guards are no match for our skills. Getting out of the hospital shouldn’t be a major problem once I’m healed enough, the problem is who we can trust. I’ll try to figure that out with Jules tomorrow. Tonight I need rest, I’m so exhausted.

  Chapter 5

  Beast

  I wake up abruptly out of a deep sleep with my head throbbing and heart pounding. Mornings with a headache is nothing new in my life, I have one every goddamn day. I drink and fuck the club whores a shitload every day and night to deal with my fucked up head. Booze, pussy, and pussy, booze and sometimes long rides on my old girl, that’s the way of my life. When I can get a decent fight in, I take that and get in the ring for a few rounds with my brothers or the underground fighting ring to make the club some money. It works for now, but I know eventually, the reaper will catch up to my ass.

  I lift my head to my window and see the sun is already out for the day. I turn around way too fast to grab my annoying ringing phone, that won’t stop. It’s the apparent cause for my abrupt awakening this morning. After grabbing my pounding head to stop the throbbing, I snatch up the fuckin’ irritating as hell phone. The display says it’s Friday morning at 7:38 and I have three missed calls from my mother. She never calls this early unless there’s a problem.

  My phone rings again, and I answer it straight away. “Mom, what the fuck is goin’ on? Why the hell are you call me so early?” I say still half drunk and half asleep. I just went to bed about two hours ago. She better have a good fuckin’ reason for calling me at the butt fuckin’ crack of dawn. And someone better be hurt, or I’m gonna hurt someone.

  “Giovanni Sebastiano Valentino, you watch the way you speak to your mother, son. I raised you with more respect than that,” mom yells at me in stern tone reminding me to show her respect. I never speak to mom this way, but my patients are running thin.

  “Sorry, mom, what’s goin’ on? Why the early mornin’ wake-up call? Are you okay?” I need her to start talking soon before I actually lose my shit. I lay my head back down on the pillow closing my eyes to relieve some of the throbbings and waiting for her to explain.

  “I’m fine, but Gio, something is going on up north. I received a disturbing call early this morning from Julia. She was in a panic and wouldn’t give me any details on the situation. All she would say was that it was imperative for me to get in contact with you to call her immediately. She sounded so scared and worried, I’ve never heard her speak with such fear.”

  Why the hell would Jules calling mom for me to contact her? I have no ties left up north and haven’t spoken to her in ten years. I only talk to Val every so often, and that’s just to keep tabs on Bella. I just spoke to Val last week, and everything was good. The guys headed to Italy a few days ago to meet their cousins to handle some family business. Mr. C. was sending Val, Romeo, Bash, and Lorenzo to the meeting. Val started taking over part of the business responsibilities.

  “Mom, I just spoke to Val last week, and things were good. What else did she say?” There has to be more to this. Jules wouldn’t call unless... Oh shit, unless something happened to Bella. Oh fuck, please let this not be about my Bella.

  “Gio, I wasn’t on with her long. All she said was it's important you contact her immediately. The connection was horrible, she mentioned Bella’s name once through all her babbling panic and tears. She gave me a different number than I have for you to call on, I think it’s a burner phone. Something awful is going on, you need to find out what it is,” mom says lighting a fire under my ass just with the mention of Bella’s name. Jumping out of my big king size bed and running to my desk.

  I rummage through my drawers for a pen and paper. Mom gives me the number, and I hang up with the promise to call her when I find out what the hell is going on.

  Before calling Jules, I grab a quick shower to wake myself the fuck up and get rid of the cobwebs in my fuckin’ head.

  I need to find out why the fuck she called and what the hell could possibly be going on that has her panicked and scared. The girls are under so much protection they should never be afraid. Why call me especially if it has to do with Bella? If Bella wanted to talk to me, she could just pick up the phone and call me. I would take her call in a heartbeat and do whatever she needed me to do.

  Before I work myself up too much, I throw on a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Then sit at my desk and boot up my laptop before calling Jules back. I search the internet for anything about up north and find nothin’.

  Without any further delay, I retrieve my phone and call her back. The phone rings four times and then a generic message answers. I leave Jules my number and tell her to call me back straight away. I need to know what the fuck is going on and why she called me of all people. When I hang up, I try Val and receive the same response. Not being a very patient man, I try Romeo, Bash and even Lorenzo receiving the same response. I leave them all a message to call me to let me know what the hell is going on.

  In the meantime, I search their phone records and see they haven’t used their phones since arriving in Naples.

  After an hour of search various things on the internet, I become antsy waiting for all my calls to be returned. I try Jules once more with the same results. I’m in desperate need of coffee to rid myself of this headache.

  I enter the kitchen around ten and to my surprise all the guys are up fixing themselves breakfast. Maggie one of the club whores has made food for everyone. I grab a cup of coffee and pile up a dish of food before joining my brothers in the dining hall.

  They're all talking when I walk-in taking a seat between Blaze and Hawk. Hawk slaps me on my back. “Nice of you to grace us with your presents this mornin’, brother,” Hawk says laughing, and I growl at him. I’m not in the mood for his shit today. I’ve got too much other shit going on and hear Bella’s name after all these years is screwing with my head.

  “Back off, brother, it’s not a good fuckin’ mornin’,” I growl annoyed, he sees the look in my eyes, I’m serious. I’m in a shitty ass mood, not to be messed with, so he backs off.

  “What’s going on, brother? No pussy last night for you?” Blaze asks jokingly as all the brothers at the table laugh around me.

  “Fuck off,” I growl out and let them have their fun while I finish my food and coffee.

  When I’m finished, I head to the bar for a beer. Tiny one of our prospects is tending bar this morning. He knows not to bother the brothers just place a beer or drink on top of the bar. No questions asked.

  Ace joins me not saying anything for a few minutes.

  “What’s up, man?” he asks concerned. Ace is one of my closest brothers, knows when I’m not right in the head. We’ve had many deep conversations since boot camp and became fast friends. He’s also one of the few brothers that know about my past. Specifically, what Bella means to me, even after all these fucked up years.

  “Not sure, waiting on some calls from back home. It’s just driving me fuckin’ crazy waiting, man,” I say look at my beer.

  Then I turn to him. “Jules call mom early this morning, freaking the shit out of her. Some fucked up shit is going on up there. According to mom, Jules was crying, panicked and scared. She never cries or panics, she not the ‘get scared kind of girl.' Those girls grow up tough and can handle themselves. In that life you have to be strong,” I pause to think of how Bella always held her own around the guys with a smile on her beautiful face. When she needed to, she would put us all in our place whether it be with her words or her little fist.

  “She didn’t call from her cell either. She used a burner phone which could only mean it’s bad. She mentioned Bella’s name, but hung up before she could go into details.” At her name, he gives me a look of understanding.

  As I said, he knows everything and knows how to read me. Bella is the most important person in this world to me. He knows the lengths I’ve gone to staying away to protect her.

  “Fuck,
man.” Yeah, fuck is right.

  We sit there in silence drinking for a couple of hours into the mid-afternoon. Friday afternoons are quiet around the clubhouse, most of the brothers are at their day jobs. Ace, Blaze and I own a chain of Tattoo Shop and Bars in Downtown Orlando. We work by request at the shop, taking a client once in a while. In the meantime, we have a manager to cover the rest.

  The quiet is not good for me, giving me time to think, all I can come up is that my Bella is hurt. Did she have an accident and hurt or is some prick bothering her? That would be the only reason Jules would call me if Bells needs something, but where’s her father. Mr. C. can handle anything so she wouldn’t need me. What the hell is going on up there? Maybe I should just get on a plane and find out for myself in person.

  I grab my phone to search for flights. I can’t keep sitting here waiting anymore. I need to get up there and see for myself what happened. In the middle of checking direct flights, Jules calls.

  Out of nowhere, the sight of her name on my screen causes me to panic. Before answering I take a couple deep breaths and look up at Ace who’s staring at me.

  “Jules, what the fuck is going up there? Is Bella alright?” I spat out as greeting needed answers last week. I need to know my Bella is safe so I can finally breathe.

  “Oh Gio, it’s bad. Uncle Dominic and Aunt Amelia were murdered. I don’t know the details. I can’t get in touch with the guys and Bella… Gio, I don’t even know where to begin or how to tell you. We need your help, and we need it now,” she says fast in a panic. I can hear the fear in her voice and hear her tears falling.