[BL] The Mafia Boss Wants My Body

Chapter 303: Chapter 303: Too Late to Say “I Love You”

In an instant, Adrian’s tearful words from that night came crashing back into his mind.

"I died in there, Matteo... and you couldn’t find me."

Matteo’s face drained of color.

"Get the medical team!" he shouted, his voice breaking with terror. "Take him to the hospital! Right now! Move!"

In an instant, the silent, sleeping villa erupted into absolute chaos. Alarms blared through the corridors as bodyguards ran up the stairs, shouting orders. The lead guard scooped Adrian’s limp body into his arms, rushing him down the grand staircase toward the waiting convoy of black SUVs.

Downstairs, the security team immediately locked down the entire estate. Nobody was allowed in or out. The security detail instantly pinned Bella against the wall, their weapons drawn. "You were the last one in his room! What did you do?"

Bella’s eyes widened in faux terror, her mind racing as she executed her backup plan to shift the blame. "It wasn’t me! I swear it wasn’t me! It was Chef Selene! She’s the one who prepared the food! I just carried the tray up!"

As the main convoy sped away toward the hospital, tires screeching into the midnight air, the remaining guards dragged both Bella and Selene into the center of the main hall for immediate interrogation.

"You’re lying!" Selene gasped, her face pale as she looked at Bella in utter disbelief. "I have worked for Mr. Marcone for years! I would never hurt anyone in this house!"

Bella pointed a trembling finger at her, tears spilling down her face to make her lie look convincing. "You’ve always been secretly in love with Boss! Everyone knows it! You worked for him long before Adrian ever came into the picture, and you thought you were going to become his wife. You hated Adrian because he took your place!"

"That is a disgusting lie!" Selene shouted, her voice shaking with rage and fear.

"Then why did you have to kill him?!" Bella screamed back, intentionally escalating the panic. "Why did you poison his food?!"

"No one said he’s dead, Bella!" Selene countered, trying to hold onto logic while a bodyguard kept a cold pistol aimed directly at her chest. "He might just be having a severe fever or a medical emergency!"

"No, he’s dead! I saw him! You’re wicked, Selene! You killed him!" Bella wailed, burying her face in her hands, secretly celebrating how perfectly her trap was working while the rest of the maids stood frozen in the corner, too terrified to move.

At the private hospital, the emergency room doors flew open as the bodyguards rushed Adrian inside. The trauma team took over immediately, wheeling him into the resuscitation bay. Nurses and doctors swarmed his bed, hooking him up to monitors, checking his pupils, and running a barrage of emergency toxicology tests.

Outside in the hallway, the guards paced frantically, the hospital’s heavy silence pressing down on them.

After what felt like an eternity, the lead doctor stepped out of the emergency room, pulling off his latex gloves. His expression was grim, filled with heavy defeat. He looked at the heavily armed men. "Are you the ones who brought him in?"

"Yes," the lead guard stepped forward. "How is he?"

The doctor let out a slow, heavy sigh. "I’m sorry. We did everything we could... we ran every stimulant and cardiac protocol, but the substance in his system completely paralyzed his respiratory system hours ago. He didn’t make it. He was already gone before he reached our doors."

The words hit the hallway like a physical blow. The tough, hardened bodyguards looked at each other in absolute despair. None of them knew how to pass this information to the man who ruled their world.

Right on cue, the lead guard’s phone vibrated. It was Matteo.

The guard swallowed hard, his hand trembling as he pressed the phone to his ear. "Boss..."

"Put the doctor on the phone," Matteo demanded, his voice hollow, a terrifying edge of desperation slicing through the line. "What did they say? Is he awake?"

The guard closed his eyes, tears burning his eyelids. "Boss... I’m so sorry. The doctor... the doctor just confirmed it. Sir Adrian didn’t make it. He’s gone."

There was a horrific, suffocating silence on the line. Then, a raw, agonizing scream tore from Matteo’s throat, a sound of pure devastation that rattled through the speaker. "No! No, this can’t be true! I didn’t fail him! I gave him my word! I didn’t fail to protect him!"

The line went dead abruptly, the call cutting off as Matteo completely broke on the other end.

The devastating news traveled through their inner circle like wildfire. Within the hour, the hospital’s private wing became a sanctuary of grief.

Mark and Charles rushed through the sliding doors, Charles sobbing openly against Mark’s chest as Mark held him tightly, his own face pale with shock.

Frank arrived shortly after, his usual composure completely shattered. He stood frozen, staring blankly at the floor, unable to accept that Adrian, the one they all loved, was gone.

Maya and her husband hurried into the waiting room moments later. Maya’s hands trembled as she broke down in tears against her husband’s shoulder, the weight of the tragedy crushing everyone in the room.

But the most shocking arrival occurred just as the clock struck three in the morning.

The heavy glass doors slid open, and Adrian’s father walked into the hospital wing, flanked by his own assistants.

Everyone fell silent, staring at him in utter disbelief. Since the day Adrian was born, his father had treated him with nothing but cold disdain and neglect, making it clear he wanted nothing to do with him.

Yet, the moment the news of Adrian’s death reached him, his convoy raced to the hospital. It was the fastest, most urgent response he had ever given to anything involving his son in his entire life a bitter, tragic irony that came far too late.

The waiting room was thick with the suffocating weight of heartbreak. Wrapped in a heavy, devastating silence, the people who loved Adrian, and even the one who had failed to love him in life, grieved together, weeping into the dark, bitter hours of midnight.

Medical personnel moved with quiet efficiency, keeping the grieving family at a distance while they prepared Adrian’s body. After he was officially pronounced dead, he was transferred to a private viewing room, where he lay peacefully on a hospital bed beneath a clean white sheet pulled up to his chest.

Finally, the lead doctor stepped out, his gaze sweeping over the tearful faces until it settled on the older man standing stiffly by the window.

With a grim nod, the doctor granted only Adrian’s father permission to enter.

The heavy doors clicked shut behind him, plunging the room into a sterile, terrifying silence. The older man’s footsteps faltered as he approached the center of the room. There, lying beneath a stark white sheet, was Adrian. His face was entirely peaceful, but his skin was a porcelain, lifeless white, completely devoid of the vibrant, stubborn spark he had possessed just hours before.

In an instant, the cold, rigid facade Adrian’s father had worn for over two decades shattered completely. His knees buckled, and he collapsed heavily against the side of the hospital bed, his hands trembling violently as he reached out, not even daring to touch his son’s cold skin.

A raw, strangled sob tore from his throat, the sound echoing painfully against the tiled walls.

"I did not ever want to believe it, Adrian..." he wept, his voice cracking as tears streamed down his deeply lined face. "No... no, Adrian. I did not want to see you like this. Not like this."

He gripped the edge of the mattress, his knuckles turning white as he stared at his son’s motionless chest.

"Please, son... I was still looking forward to the day we could finally sit down," he choked out, the words pouring out like a dam breaking after years of silence. "To talk about everything... to make things right between us. I thought we still had time. So tell me... why did you have to leave before me?"

The guilt he had buried deep inside for years finally clawed its way to the surface, threatening to suffocate him. He lowered his head, resting his forehead against the cold metal railing of the hospital bed.

"I know I’m a terrible father. I know I was cruel to you," he cried, his shoulders shaking violently with every sob. "I know I should have been the father you deserved. I never should have blamed you for your mother’s death... I never should have placed that burden on your shoulders. I regret it, Adrian. I regret everything I ever did to you. I know I don’t deserve to be your father."

He let out a broken, self-deprecating laugh through his tears as his trembling hand finally reached for Adrian’s limp, cold fingers.

"But despite the way I treated you... you never stopped calling me ’Father.’ Every single time you said it, it cut me to the core. It reminded me that I was a man who didn’t deserve a son like you."

"Adrian... please, just wake up. Please, son," he begged, his voice breaking as he tightened his grip on Adrian’s unresponsive hand. "I’m ready. I’m ready to be the father you always deserved. Please, don’t leave me like this. Don’t leave without knowing how much I love you... I only stayed away because I thought it would protect your peace. I thought my presence would only bring you pain."

He pressed his trembling lips against...