Chapter Three: Next of kin

“Serenity Paige, twenty-two year old female. Sustained a head injury from being thrown to the ground in an explosion, she has a fractured femur and multiple…” The voice trailed off as Serenity fell out of consciousness.

“When will she wake up?” Serenity recognised the distant voice, but before she could call out to him she felt her consciousness slip away again. 

“Sir, you can’t be in here!” A voice startled Serenity from her slumber.

“Who are you?” Peter stood protectively before her, blocking her view from whoever had entered the room and Serenity felt fear grip her, worried that whoever caused the explosion was here to finish the job. 

“Alexander Moretti, who are you?” Xander sneered and Serenity felt relief wash over her. 

“Sir, you need to get back to your room, you’re injured.” Serenity still couldn’t see the third person in the room, but assumed it was a nurse trying to have him removed. 

She scoffed internally, Alexander Moretti was notoriously stubborn, not that the nurse knew that. 

“It’s okay.” Serenity croaked, cutting off Peter’s reply as he spun to face her with wide, relieved eyes. 

“You’re awake! How are you feeling?” Peter exclaimed and Serenity winced at the piercing feeling in her head. 

Abandoning her plight to get Xander to leave, the nurse came to her side and used the remote to raise the bed. 

“Sore…” She answered honestly and watched as Xander crossed the room to stand at the foot of the bed in a fresh pair of sweats and a t-shirt with a sling holding his left arm. Even with the multiple cuts and bruises on his face he still looked devilishly handsome. 

“I’ll let the doctor know you’re awake, she’ll give you something for the pain.” The nurse nodded curtly at Serenity and went to leave the room, but not without giving Xander a warning look. 

“What are you doing here?” Serenity directed the question at Xander who seemed to be assessing her injuries with his eyes. 

“I came to check on you.” He frowned deeply. 

“I’m fine, you can leave.” Her eyes narrowed slightly. 

“Fine? You’re lying in a hospital bed with a concussion and covered in bruises, you’re not fine and I’m not leaving.” Xander met her eyes with challenge and their staring match only came to an end when Peter cleared his throat. 

“Peter this is Alexander, my-” Serenity stopped when she saw curiosity spark in his eyes, “Alexander, this is Peter Alvarez.” She pointed at the man to her left. 

“You’re the other victim from the explosion.” Peter stated and the memory of Matteo’s car bursting into flames right before her eyes registered in her mind. 

“Yeah.” Xander answered half heartedly, his eyes never moving from Serenity’s.

“Were you there together?” Peter frowned and Serenity’s eyes cut to him with surprise. The tone he used, left her wondering. 

“Something like that.” Alexander answered, watching her reaction closely. 

“Oh. Was it your car?” Peter sounded deflated. 

“No, it was her brother’s.” Xander narrowed his eyes at the man, he didn’t take well to being interrogated, least of all by Serenity’s boyfriend. 

“Brother?” Peter’s eyes widened and Serenity sighed. 

“It’s a long story.” Serenity mumbled, keeping her eyes pinned on Xander she asked again, this time more forcefully, “What are you doing here?” 

Xander’s jaw ticked, her tone grated on his nerves, but he sucked in a deep breath to keep himself from letting his anger show, “Matteo called, it isn’t clear who the bomb was meant for, all they know is that it was set off by a remote detonator. Lorenzo and Giovanni are on their way.” He forced the words from his lips, she had no business knowing Mafia business.

“What for?”She questioned teresely, she was aware of the guards posted outside her door at all times, she didn’t see why the Don needed to be here as well. 

Before Alexander could brush off her question the doctor entered to check on Serenity’s well-being and gave her more pain medication.

“You should be all good to go home tomorrow, the bruises and concussion will take a few weeks to heal completely, but I’m confident you’ll make a full recovery.” Doctor Ruiz smiled softly, but the smile vanished in an instant when she turned her gaze to Alexander. “I didn’t discharge you so you can mooch about the hospital bothering my other patients, Alexander. Go home and rest.” She glared. 

Xander rolled his eyes, “I’m waiting for Lorenzo to pick me up.” He stated cooly and Serenity frowned at the familiarity with which they spoke.

At the mention of Lorenzo’s name, Olympia’s breath hitched. 

“How do you know Lorenzo?” Serenity questioned, curious about the doctor’s reaction to the mention of him.

“He was a patient of mine before, these guys are frequent fliers of my ER.” She rolled her eyes at Xander, easily steering the topic from Lorenzo, but Serenity had already caught on. 

The doctor was crushing on Lorenzo Lombardi, hard. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Serenity and Xander?” She looked pointed at the tall man, “Get out.”

Alexander rolled his eyes once again, “Goodbye, Olympia. I’ll tell Enzo you said hi.” His smirk did the trick in warding her off and within seconds she was out the door with her curly black hair hiding away the redness that flamed on her cheeks. 

“Is she Mafioso too?” Serenity questioned curiously, unable to help herself and scoffed when Xander’s wide eyes flew to Peter. 

The man was unfazed. 

“Why are you looking at him? He knows who you are.” Serenity cocked an eyebrow at him. 

“How?” Xander’s eyes narrowed, suddenly growing wary of the strange man. 

“Because, Alexander; Peter was the one who freed me from that hell hole. He was the one who found me and rescued me from the men who kidnapped me.”

The shock that registered on Alexander’s face caused satisfaction to bubble in Serenity’s stomach.    

“You’re a Veneno.” Xander’s eyes strayed to the cobra tattoo on Peter’s forearm. 

“I am.” Peter smirked. 

Alexander blanched.