Mafia Men: Nikolai's Inferno - Chapter 117: Chapter 117

-Nikolai.
Today marks exactly two months since I had last seen her beautiful light brown eyes.
She was here but not really here. She was alive, her heart still beats, she breathes in and out, and her wounds have healed considerably. She doesn't move, she doesn't react to my touch. She just lays on the bed, ghastly pale.
She lies comatose on the bed, due to blunt force trauma to the head and excessive blood loss. The bastard had cracked her head open in three places. They had to shave her head off for the stitches. If she had been conscious, I know she would have never allowed the doctors to do anything to her hair, she loves it too much to just shave it off. I'm pretty sure she is going to have a complete meltdown when she wakes up... If she wakes up. 1
But her hair had grown back, they weren't too long-but the short hair looked incredibly cute on her. I wish I could tell her that.
For the first month, the doctors kept her in the Intensive Care Unit but then I brought her home. Our home. The doctors said there was a chance she might never wake up and then there was a chance that she could wake up and might have permanent brain damage. There was also a chance that she might wake up and be completely fine-that was what I was clinging onto.
Just like every single day, I washed her hair and cleaned her body with a washcloth and warm water as best as I could with all the machines attached to her. I made her wear fresh clothes, I know how she hates being unhygienic. 1
I traced my fingers over the bullet wound scar on the side of her stomach. Fortunately for us, the bullet didn't damage any of her vital organs, it was a through-and-through abdominal gunshot wound.
I leaned closer and kissed it-just like I do every single day. 1
I dressed her up in clean clothes, pink short shorts that she loved to wear whenever she wanted to torture me, and an oversized button-up shirt because of the machines.
A nasogastric tube was shoved down her nose to deliver necessary nutrition straight to her stomach.
I reached out and softly grabbed her hand, I brought it to my lips and kissed her knuckles. "I love you, I'm going to say those three words to you every second of the day when you wake up. I regret..." I swallowed as a thickness settled in my throat, "I regret not saying those words to you more often. I have been so fucking stubborn about it but..." I softly ran my finger along the curve of her cheek. "but I think I fell in love with you the first time I saw you." 1
I watched her face once more and inhaled deeply, fuck! I couldn't fucking breathe.
"There was just something about you... I wanted to keep you close to me. I never realized why I brought you to my home that day... now I get it. I loved you all this time, even when I thought that you had betrayed me, I still couldn't think of a single fucking way to punish you because you are my heart, Evangeline. How can I hurt my own fucking heart?" 1
I leaned over her and placed a soft kiss on her warm, chapped lips, "And now I just sit by your bed and I keep thinking about how much I loved talking to you. I didn't talk much before you, I hated engaging in mindless conversations but with you, the mindless conversations with you became the highlight of my day. I looked forward to them. You know, sometimes I'd get so fucking frustrated at work and when I'd come home, you'd just open your mouth and spew the longest sentences that wouldn't even make sense and I loved it. I loved every second of it. I daydream about it throughout my days, recalling the snippets of our conversations. Sometimes, I feel like I'm going fucking crazy..."
The room was deadly silent. My voice sometimes echoed back into my ears, along with little sounds coming from the machines that were attached to her body.
I kissed her knuckles once more, "I want you back, please..."
The burning pain in my heart intensified with each tortured breath I took, "You have no fucking idea what it's like to live without you... FUCK!"
I placed her hand back on the bed and ran both of my hands down my face, exhaling loudly.
"I never thought I'd be this desperate, this weak for someone. Everyone has their one person, they'd do anything for. Even a monster has his own person and you... You're my person, Evangeline."
I shook my head, "This wasn't supposed to happen, I wasn't supposed to love you this much. My body fucking aches for you, I have no control over it. You mean more to me than I ever expected, you mean more to me than anyone on this fucking planet and that's so fucking scary. It's so fucking scary to have the most vulnerable part of your body lying in the bed before you... unconscious, unresponsive"
I dropped my head in my hand and sighed, "I want you back, Evangeline... I want you back."
A knock on the door startled me, I jerked out of my trance and got up, walking to the door. I flung it open and saw Scott.
"You are needed downstairs...." he said as his eyes went behind me before he diverted them elsewhere.
"Give me a second," I closed the door, walked back to her, and placed a kiss on her cheek. "I'm gonna send a nurse in here, I'll be back later tonight, alright?" placing a kiss on her forehead, I headed out of the room, gesturing for the nurse waiting outside to go on in.
Comatose wife or not, a devil's work is never done. I descended the stairs and entered my study to see two men on their knees, their hands tied behind their backs, snot mixed with blood dripping onto the floor- the reason I got rid of the carpet.
They were FBI informants double agents and even after all these years of losing to me, they still hadn't given up. A smile stretched over my lips as I walked closer to them. They were given the same fucking deal they had offered Elijah, immunity in exchange for exposing me.
"Don Niko, please, I have a family-"
A bullet-straight to the head; right between his eyes.
His partner let out a shrill scream watching his body slump to the ground like a sack of fucking potatoes.
"That was so fucking aggravating," I commented over his scream and then shot him as well, twice because of that ugly-ass scream.
"Send in the cleaners."
Scott smirked, "Yes, boss."
I always leave Evangeline's Nikolai in that room with her and down here, I am still Don Niko-still the same just a little more vicious because she fucked me up and now the thought that any threat to me could pose a threat to her made my fucking blood boil. And I'd burn the whole fucking world down but I'd never let anything or anyone touch her ever again.
This is who I was, I was Don Nikolai Costello of the Costello Family, this is what I was always supposed to be and what I will always be, and amidst all that, I found an angel. An angel that has me weak for her and only her, no one else.
I work, just like I did before. Some days started with spilled blood, some didn't but my nights were always the same... I sleep next to her, holding her.
I attended the Costello oil company's grand opening; putting on a brave face. Afterward, I drove to Costello's headquarters and worked until the sun went down.
Then at night, Scott, Marco, Lorenzo and I were in the warehouse, still holding some of the Moretti men captive, hoping she would be able to handle things with them when she woke up. Finally, I made my way to the nightclub as I numbed the dull ache in my chest with alcohol.
I set the empty whiskey bottle aside and stood up from behind my desk. I ran a hand down my tie and on my way out, I patted Scott's shoulder. This man had not only saved my life but also my wife's. "Go home, Scott, get some sleep."
I drove back home to her. I slowly climbed the steps, opened the door, and without uttering a sound, the nurse stood and silently exited. Only the silent beeps from the machine permeated the air.
I loosened my tie, "It was a long fucking exhausting day, baby girl."
I freshened up, changed into my sweats, and went to lie on my side of the bed. I looked to my side and saw her, a part of me wished, she'd just open her eyes and give me that beautiful smile I hadn't seen in so long.
I sighed, moving swiftly closer to her, softly placing my hand over her stomach and closing my eyes, letting the sleep take over.