Arya's POV -

I couldn't stop staring at the ring as Rome and I walked out of the house, to the car, and now while driving to the hospital.

'We're matching,' I say in my head, sneakily looking at Rome's tattooed hands covered with silver rings.

A warm chuckle fills my ears and that's when I realize I actually said 'we're matching,' out loud.

"We are, huh sweetheart?" He says with his hand now resting on my thigh and I blush wildly.

Glancing out the window I nervously ask, "How much farther are we from the hospital?"

"Not much longer, 5 minutes or so."

Resting my head on the glass I close my eyes for a few moments, "I hope Izzy is okay."

Now that I think about it, I didn't tell Rome that Izzy was the one who contacted Ivan. I'm pretty sure he'd turn this car around so fast I'd get whiplash if I did.

It's probably better to wait until after I see her, I want to know what kind of condition she's in.

"I'm sure she'll be fine." Rome says back to me, gripping my thigh tighter in his hold.

Biting my cheek, I decide to stay silent for the rest of the ride.

Sure enough 5 minutes later we reach the hospital and I get ready to sprint to the double doors but I get tugged back by Rome's hoodie I'm wearing.

My boyfriend gives me a pointed look and I give him a sweet smile, deciding to walk instead of run.

Walking side by side, we go to the front desk where a younger looking man is sitting.

"Hi, we're looking for someone's room." I say and he looks up from his computer to me, giving me a nice smile.

"First and last name, dear?"

Rome tenses next to me at the endearment and I almost roll my eyes.

"Izzy Jones," I wait patiently as he begins typing on his computer. I look up to find Rome giving a dark glare towards the man and I giggle.

His eyes soften down at me before narrowing playfully. He lightly pinches my side and I thrash a little.

"Room 214, the elevators are down that hall and to the right. Do you need anything else, dear?" He asks with another grin but before I can answer Rome grabs my hand and quickly drags me away.

"Thank you, that's all!" I say back to him and Rome tugs on my hand making me glance up.

"What?" I ask simply and he shakes his head.

Eventually finding the elevators after a bit of searching, I press the up button and the doors close.

I nervously shift on my feet and shift with my new ring, worrying for Izzy.

"It'll be okay, darling." Rome comforts, giving me a reassuring look and I nod.

Once the doors open I prepare to run but then remember Rome's dark look from earlier. So I decide on walking again.

We pass room 200.

201.

202.

It's a bit of a walk but we make it to 214.

Glancing in from the window, I see Izzy laying in the hospital bed with both her parents beside her.

I haven't seen Izzy's parents in a long time, most of the time they're travelling. However I'm happy to see that Izzy is awake and not in a coma like Elijah.

The hospital door is open but I decide to knock anyways, the three pairs of eyes inside snapping to me.

I give a little wave and step in with Rome behind me. "Izzy," I whisper and her eyes fill with tears.

Rushing to her I give her a tight hug despite everything. Thank god the bullet didn't do worse damage.

"How are you?" I ask and she sniffles after pulling away. "I-I'm okay."

"Izzy told us everything that happened," Izzy's mom says and both Rome and I tense but they don't see it.

She told them everything? Like everything?

"Everything?" I ask and her mother nods,

"Yes about the robbery at the store. She said she was caught in the gunfire."

My eyes go wide with shock and I'm sure Rome is equally confused but I quickly cover it up, nodding slowly.

"How did you hear about it already, Arya?" Izzy's dad asks and I sputter for a quick response.

"It-It was already on the TV, I saw it a little bit ago." That's a complete lie but It was all I could come up with in a matter of 2 seconds.

"Of course It's already up, the news never stop." He shakes his head and I give a little smile of agreement.

"And who is this?" Izzy's mom gestures to Rome.

"Oh! This is Rome, my boyfriend. He decided to tag along since he's met Izzy before."

"That's sweet of you, It's nice to meet you Rome." He gives a slight nod in return and I laugh internally at his refusal to talk.

"Well we're going to go get you some food from somewhere. You don't want the hospital food right?" Izzy's dad says and she shakes her head.

"Nope and I wanted to talk to Arya and Rome anyways."

"Alright then, we'll be back." Both of her parents give her a quick kiss on the forehead before saying goodbye and leaving.

Right as they leave I ask the question both Rome and I are wondering,

"Why did you lie to them?"

She licks her lips and grabs her hand in mine, "I already messed so much up. I-I put everyone in danger again, especially you."

"What?" Rome asks and my body covers in goosebumps. Oh shoot.

Izzy's eyes fill with confusion. "Arya didn't tell you...what I did? No wonder you look so calm right now." She turns sad and I open and close my mouth like a fish out of water.

Coughing a few times as a distraction although it does nothing, I sneakily peer up at Rome to see him staring down at me hardly.

"I love you," I mutter and he rolls his eyes.

"We'll be talking afterwards." He replies and I sigh. "But I love you too."

I smile.

"Did anyone else get hurt?"

My throat clogs up at her question, thinking back to Elijah.

"Yeah," I play with the silver ring on my finger again, "Elijah did, he's in a coma because he was shot as well."

She covers her hand with her mouth, another small cry leaving her. "I'm so so sorry, I-I didn't-"

"I know Izzy."

Rome looks completely puzzled next to me, clueless to what Izzy did. I know he's going to be extremely angry once I do tell him.

I will once we're away from Izzy so he doesn't do something irrational.

"I'm glad you're okay Izzy. The good news is that Ivan is gone."

"W-What? He's gone? As in-"

"Dead." Rome finishes, his eyes darkening. "Gli ho sparato un sacco di volte al petto e poi una volta alla testa per buona misura."

(Shot him plenty of times in the chest and then once in the head for good measure.)

"What did he say?" Izzy asks me thinking I speak the language and I shrug.

"I ask myself that question every time he speaks Italian." I laugh and she quietly laughs as well.

"I'm really glad he's gone." She says.

"Me too." I whisper.

"How's your wound?" I wince as I ask.

"It's okay, no terrible damage done. I'll be out of here in no time."

That's good to hear.

"Oh! How could I forget your birthday! I'm sure you'd rather be home right now."

"It's alright, Izzy. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

After talking a bit more, we decide to head out once Izzy's parents show up with bags of food 30 minutes later.

"So what have you not told me?" Rome gives me a slightly dark look once we've sat down in the car and I grin, shrugging.

"No idea."

"Arya."

"What?"

"Tell me."

"Can I tell you once we get back home?"

His eyes soften drastically and now I'm left disoriented. Just two seconds ago he looked a bit angry.

"Okay," He mutters, "We'll talk once we reach home."

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"What did you just say?" Rome snarls.

So I just told him what Izzy did, that she's the one who told Ivan where we were at the time of the attack.

And let's just says he's not happy.

"He threatened her-"

"So what?!" He throws his hands up in frustration and then runs them through his black locks many times.

"Ivan had told her he wouldn't hurt me-"

"And she believed him?! Oh, cazzo di inferno."

(Fucking hell.)

That was kind of my reaction too. I'm not entirely sure why she trusted Ivan not to hurt me after he made threats towards her own family.

I'm still angry but I did my best to hide it. I'm not sure what to do about that situation. Should I stay angry?

"Merda, voglio sparare a qualcuno in questo momento." He continues to rant, pacing back and forth in the bedroom while I watch with wide eyes.

(Shit, I want to shoot someone right now.)

He looks enraged right now, his knuckles clenching together tightly and eyes turning a deeper shade of green.

"You shouldn't see her anymore." Rome finally says once he stops pacing and I open my mouth to argue,

"I-I'm not going to stop seeing her. The threats from Ivan are gone. Ivan's gone so we don't have to worry."

"Yeah? And what happens when a new threat emerges and decides to threaten Izzy, hm?" He speaks and I don't have a response to that. I don't even want to think of any new threats at the moment.

"I...I don't know." I mumble, staring down at the floor and he harshly sighs.

His footsteps get closer and he cups my face in his hands, tilting my head to look at him.

"She already put you in danger twice, sweetheart. I won't loose you, comprendere?"

(Understand?)

"I know Rome," I smile, "I'm angry at her and I'm not going to let her off the hook so easily, but I don't want to leave Izzy totally behind."

Tilting his head back, he looks at the ceiling in contemplation.

"Va bene, ma non è più dalla mia parte."

(Fine, but she's no longer on my good side.)

I have no idea what he said but I nod anyways and he tilts his head, pressing his lips to mine making me hum.

"I love you." He says against my lips and I feel my cheeks burning.

"I love you too."

A call from my phone interrupts our kiss and Rome groans in annoyance, trying to reconnect our lips when I pull away.

I giggle and playfully push him away, looking at my phone to see an incoming call from mama.

Oops, I forgot to call her earlier after I said I was busy.

"It's my mama." I say to him and he frowns but then sits on the bed, pulling me onto his lap and sneaking his arms around my front.

Pressing the accept button, I lift the device to my ear, "Hi, mama."

"Arya why haven't you answered! I haven't been able to wish you a happy birthday and It's almost 7 pm!"

"I know I know, I'm sorry! Rome took me out today and we were super busy so I was barely on my phone."

She sighs, "I guess It's fine, well happy birthday! Papa and I want to give you your gift once you come home."

"That sounds good mama, thank you." I smile and Rome presses a kiss to my cheek, definitely listening in on the call.

"Papa wants to say happy birthday, one second." She says and there's shuffling in the background before Papa's cheery voice comes through.

"Happy birthday, honey! You're finally 18!" Dad yells and I laugh, leaning back into Rome's chest. He's so comfy.

"Thank you Papa, I miss you guys."

"We miss you too and can't wait to see you. When do you think you'll be able to?"

"I'm not sure, maybe...next weekend?"

"That will work, how is Rome?"

A warm feeling invades my chest at the thought of Papa caring enough to ask about Rome.

"He's doing well, he got me a gift. It's this super pretty silver ring. I love it so much."

And I love him so much.

"That's good to hear honey, well we'll let you go since It's getting late. Your mama and I love you."

"I love you both too, see you soon." I hang up and turn around in Rome's lap so I'm facing him, cuddling into his warm chest.

He chuckles and lays back in the bed, snuggling us up against the pillows.

Luckily tomorrow is Sunday so I don't have to worry about school. I'm not sure if I'll go Monday or not but we'll see.

Rome presses a swift kiss to my head, "Happy birthday, my ragazza perfetta."

(Perfect girl.)

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The next morning I woke up feeling like today was going to be a good day.

But I was completely wrong.

There was frantic shouting and I quickly shot out of bed. Rome wasn't in here either.

Looking over the balcony, I saw James trying to get inside the hospital room but Rome was holding him back.

"What's going on?" I whisper to myself but my question is soon answered.

"Let me through!" James shouts.

"You need to let Wyatt do his job, James. Especially if his condition is getting worse."