The Godfather’s Forsaken Rose Chapter 24
For several seconds, time seemed to stop.
Dominic stared at me, alive and standing in front of him, and the terror that had hung over his heart for days finally dropped.
Joy and grief crashed through him at once, nearly destroying his reason.
Ignoring the wound in his arm and the state he was in, he rushed forward and pulled me tightly into his arms in front of everyone’s stunned eyes.
He held me so hard it almost hurt.
His body trembled uncontrollably.
His voice was hoarse, broken, thick with fear.
“Thank God… thank God you’re all right…”
Again and again, he repeated it.
It was the fear of losing something and finding it again only at the edge of collapse.
I was trapped in his arms. I could feel his violent heartbeat and the shaking in his body. I could smell blood, mud, rain, and something else on him.
Fear.
For one brief moment, my stiff body softened.
Complex emotion flashed through my eyes. Concern. Shock. Maybe even a trace of being moved.
But reason suppressed it all.
I pushed him away. Firmly, though not cruelly.
Taking one step back, I created distance between us. My gaze fell on his bleeding arm and his ruined clothes. My tone remained calm, distant, and polite.
“Thank you, Mr. Morello, for coming to help despite the danger. I’ll remember this favor.”
Then I looked away and turned back to the frightened children, as if he were only another rescuer who had come to do his job.
Dominic’s arms were empty.
Watching my decisive back, the wild relief in his heart receded like a tide, leaving only cold loss.
He stood there as if all strength had been drained from him.
Outside, the sound of another helicopter landing broke through the rain.
Adrian arrived with a second rescue team and fresh supplies.
He rushed into the classroom and searched for me at once. The moment he saw I was safe, visible relief crossed his face.
Then his gaze shifted to Dominic, who stood dazed with a serious injury in his arm.
Adrian’s expression grew complicated.
Shock.
Scrutiny.
And a faint sense of threat.
At the temporary shelter, medical staff cleaned and bandaged Dominic’s wound.
It was deep enough to need stitches.
Dominic did not seem to feel the pain. His eyes followed me as I moved not far away, helping the children and speaking with rescue workers.
He asked his deputy in a low voice, with a humble expectation even he did not notice.
“She saw the wound just now. Was she… worried at all?”
The deputy looked at his pale, stubborn profile and lowered his head in silence.
The answer was obvious.
The rescue changed something in everyone.
Adrian had seen with his own eyes how desperately Dominic had risked his life to save me. It gave him a real and unprecedented sense of crisis.
He realized Dominic’s feelings for me were far more obsessive and profound than he had imagined. This was not merely unwillingness to let go.
And although I looked calm on the surface, Adrian had noticed the emotion that flashed across my face when I saw Dominic’s injury.
It was not indifference.
He could not wait any longer.
He had to move our relationship forward.
He had to stand beside me openly, with the right to protect me.
Once the rescue work in the disaster area had stabilized, the night before my team was to leave, Adrian did not arrange anything grand.
He chose a quiet moment instead.
On a hillside near the temporary settlement, where the stars were visible, there were only the two of us.
The cool night wind softened the exhaustion and tension of the past few days.
Adrian looked at me as I lifted my face toward the sky. In the moonlight, my profile was gentle and quiet.
“Bella,” he said, his voice unusually serious, all his usual cynicism gone. “There’s something I’ve thought about for a long time. I think it’s time I told you.”
I turned to him, puzzled.
He drew a deep breath and looked at me steadily.
“I know you probably thought I was always picking fights with you when we were kids. Like an annoying shadow. The truth is, I didn’t know how else to get your attention. You were too bright, like a little sun. There were always people around you. That clumsy way was the only way I could make sure you remembered I existed.”
He smiled self-deprecatingly.
“When we grew up, there were a lot of women around me. I looked like a playboy. And I was. Because when I saw you with Dominic, it hurt, and I didn’t know what to do with it. So I numbed myself that way. Maybe I also wanted you to see that Adrian Castellano wasn’t unwanted.”