I have another rant but I didn't want to make a separate chapter for it so I'll just do it on this chapter. Please read this. This is important and I need to address this more.

I want you guys to know that I fully support LGBT rights. I believe all of us have the right to be who we want to be and love who we want to love. No sick, twisted, or deranged person can take that away from us.

I think most of you have heard what happen last night in Florida. 50 people are dead in the worst shooting of United States history.

I felt so sick when I heard the news. Over 50 people are dead you guys. I can't even start to explain how I feel about this right now.

I just feel so sick and tired of seeing all the negative things that have been happening lately. First it was Christina Grimmie who was shot dead and now 50 other angels joined her. I can't believe how horrible this week had gone.

This needs to stop.

This hatred that brews in us. It needs to stop. We have to stop hating on other people and start loving them for who they are. This world is filled with so much destruction and violence because we made it this way. We're the only ones to blame for this.

Do not blame the religion, blame the sinner. Do not blame the country, blame the one who ruined it. Do not blame the world, blame yourself.

When I heard the news, two comments stood out to me the most.

"He had been a muslim. Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"I care about gays being killed of becausef?"

Those comments pissed the fck out of me because they showed no type of remorse or sorrow at all. None. They were filled with hate even if they sound so simple.

No, I don't think all muslims are terrorists. Some are the most kind hearted people that I have ever met. They are humble, kind, courageous, wonderful human beings who are wronged because of terrorists who call themselves muslims. BUT GUYS! BEING MUSLIM DOES NOT MAKE A PERSON A TERRORIST! Just as me being a Vietnamese does not make me a communist. Or being a Latino does not make a person a rapist. Or being a German does not make someone a Nazi. Please don't blame another person for the action of someone else.

No, I don't think that the LGBT community is full of sinners. What's so wrong about falling in love? What's so wrong about being with someone of the same sex? Did they rob you? Did they kill you? Did they hurt you in any single way? No. If they didn't anything wrong other than falling in love, how are they sinners?

We all have different religious and social beliefs. But that does not mean that it's justifiable for us to hate someone to the point of killing them. We all of the right to life. We all deserve to experience the good things in life.

No matter who you are, what you believe in, who you love, please remember. We all deserve to be happy.

Don't ruin the life of another person because you are not happy with who they turned out to be.

And for all of you out there who feel like you're misunderstood, remember that you're special. That you do matter. Don't let anyone take that away from you.

With that being said, enjoy this chapter.

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Chapter 23

Dante caught her before she could fall. 

She wiggled in his arms for a few seconds before becoming still. 

Dante' eyes widened and he gently slapped her cheeks. "Ashley, come on. This isn't funny. Open your eyes."

Worry crept inside of his body and he made no move to stop it.

She didn't move. She laid limp in his arms. The only sign of life was the low inhales and exhales that kept decreasing by the minute.

Dante's heart raced in his chest as he stared down at her unmoving body. No. This can't be happening right now. She didn't just faint. She's going to wake up. She's going to be okay. But the rapid slowing of her heartbeat and breath proved something else.

"No." he whispered.

He ran to the kitchen with her in his arms. "Help me, please." he shouted to her brother and father.

A plate dropped to the ground, shattering and breaking into tiny pieces. Someone gasped while another dropped to the ground behind him.

"Ashley!" Samuel shouted, running over. He took Ashley into his arms and started shaking her slightly.

Dante felt cold and empty when Samuel pulled Ashley away from him. His hands fell to his side as Samuel tried to wake up Ashley.

"Don't just stand there! Someone call the ambulance."

"No time." Samuel hissed. "I'll take her. Come with me Mayla."

Dante watched as Samuel and Mayla ran out of the kitchen and out of the house. He stepped forward to follow them when a hand stopped him.

"Stop." A woman commanded him. Fury swam in her eyes and threatened to come out of her hands. "What did you do to my daughter?"

Dante shook his head, tears coming down his face. "I didn't mean to."

"What did you do to her?" Antonio spoke up for the first time. "What did you do to my daughter? You hurt her again!"

Dante shook his head again. He walked backwards until he hit a wall. Sliding down, he buried his head into his hands. "I-I don't know what happened."

For the first time, he's showing them weakness. For the first time, someone other than Ashley and his mother saw him at his most vulnerable state. For he didn't care. How could he care about how pathetic he looked when the love of his life could be in danger.

And the babies.

What if something happened to the babies?

He would never be able to forgive himself if something happened to the babies. Even if they weren't his, he knew that they were still innocent. Everything about them was still pure. He prayed that nothing will happen to the babies.

He felt himself being picked up by his collar. He looked up and met the furious eyes of a man. His face burned with rage and his eyes were dark with danger.

"What did you do to my cousin?" The man asked, landing a punch onto his face.

Dante pushed the man away and glared at him. Something possessed him and he pounced on the man, throwing a punch back. He straddled him and started to land punch after punch onto his face.

The man blocked every single one of them and flipped them over. He was quick with his moves, landing another punch to Dante's nose.

Blood dripped down Dante's nose as he pushed the man away and stood up. His hand held onto his nose that was probably broken. He looked at the man and noticed a cut on his jaw. Dante shook his head and looked around the room.

Disgust was the only thing that he saw in their eyes. He stepped back and looked into the eyes of the man.

Hatred and fury burned in them.

Those eyes scarred Dante's heart because those were the same eyes that stared back at him only an hour before. Only they were the eyes of a different person.

"I'm sorry." Dante muttered before running away.

He got into his car and shoved his keys into the ignition. He stepped on the acceleration and sped down the streets, not looking back once. His hands gripped on the wheel tightly and his brain replayed today's events over and over in his mind.

He didn't realize it until he got there and parked the car. He ran into the building, heading straight for the receptionist's desk. He was out of breath when he got there but he wasted no time. "Ashley Hastings." he huffed out.

The receptionist gave him a weird look before typing on the computer. She frowned at him and shook her head. "Sorry, I don't have any Ashley Hastings in here."

Dante stood up straighter and he looked down at his left ring finger. There was nothing on it. He had to remember that he are divorced now.

"Ashley Denorro." He gulped the ball that suffocated him. His heart beat painfully in his chest at the thought of the worse thing that could happen to Ashley.

The receptionist nodded her head and smiled at him sadly. "I'm sorry but only family are allowed in." She saw the heartbroken look on his face and sighed. "What's your name? I might be able to pull some strings." 

"Dante Hastings," he paused, "her ex-husband." 

He didn't know why but a scowl made its way onto her face. But then she smiled sweetly at him and pointed down the hall. "Third floor, fifth door on your right. It's an office. The doctor in there will brief you on everything."

Dante sighed in relief and thanked her. He ran towards the elevator and smashed the buttons. His foot tapped on the tiled floor as the elevator moved up. When it opened, he ran out of there and into the room that the receptionist had told him to go.

He opened the door and dashed in. The office had been empty. He paced around the room, wishing for the doctor would come in to talk to him already. He couldn't handle the anticipation any longer. He needs to know if Ashley is okay or not.

His phone vibrated in his pockets. He pulled it out and answered it quickly. "Thomas, what did you find out?"

"It's real but before—"

Gone was the worry he had for Ashley and back came the hatred for her. 

He knew it. 

He knew those pictures were real. They all lied to him. Her whole family is full of manipulative people. He should have known better than to actually believe that she had been innocent. There's no part of her that is innocent. 

"I knew it." he hissed out. "I knew she cheated."

"Listen to me first." Thomas demanded.

"Fine. But nothing is going to change my mind again. I shouldn't have come to Italy. This had been a mistake. I'm going to get on the first plane back. I don't want to be here any longer." Dante shouted into the phone.

"Just listen for once in your life." Thomas shouted back.

"What is there left?!"

Thomas inhaled. "The girl in the picture. It can't be Ashley and it's not. They hired an actress or something but whoever that girl in the picture is, it's not Ashley. "

Dante's heart dropped in his chest. The fury slowly left his body and worry came back. "What do you mean?"

"Mayla and Ashley were together the entire time. The timestamp of the picture does not match the timestamp of Ashley. Dante, the girl in the picture is not Ashley. Someone impersonated her." Thomas explained.

"So you mean to say," Dante swallowed the ball that began to form in his throat again. "That Ashley—"

"She's innocent. The child is yours. Dante, I'm sorry. You're on your own now. You made the mistake, now you have to fix it before it's too late," he paused, "actually I think it already it too late."

He then hung up. 

Dante let out a sob and tears dripped down his face. He couldn't believe it. She's innocent. She had been innocent all along and he blamed her for everything. He staggered back at the remembrance of the words that he threw at her.

He called their children bastards and signed away his parental rights. He then threatened to take them away from her. What father would do that to his own children? How did this happen? How could he have allowed it to happen?

God, he's a horrible human being. Through all this time he blamed her and made her the bad guy when all along it had been him. He was the one to blame. He didn't trust her enough to dig deeper. He just accepted whatever was thrown at him.

She's right.

He is a coward. He ran away from their problems instead of trying to fix it. He never confronted her about it. 

He didn't even think about it. 

He saw a way out and he took it. And he will never regret anything more than the day he walked out of that door. The day he demanded for a divorce before trying to find out the truth.

Thomas is right. It's too late now. He had already done too much damage to their relationship. Everything that went wrong had been his fault. No one else's fault but his own. He is the only one to blame for this.

He vow to himself that the moment she wakes up, he's going to repent, hard. He's going to beg for her forgiveness and do whatever it takes for her to forgive him and left him back into her life. He will do anything for her to let back in and allow everything to return back to normal. They're going to be okay again.

Everything will change from this day forward. He know that it would be hard to gain her trust again but she loved him before. She can love him again. She will love him again. They can be a happy family.

Once she wakes up, everything will be okay again. He will make sure of it. No one will stand in their way ever again.

Someone cleared their throat. Dante wiped away all signs of his weakness and turned around. 

His eyes met with that of the man who he didn't hate until this evening. "Dr. Morcelli." he hissed out.

The doctor looked at him, bored. "Mr. Hastings. How unlovely it is to see you again. Have a seat. We have much to discuss."

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Samuel's phone went off. He took it out of his pocket and read the text. He looked up and saw Ashley smiling at him. He sighed.

"You need to stop scaring us like this Ash." Samuel said, brushing her hair back. He kissed her forehead and smiled at her. "We should just rent a room out for you."

Ashley smiled at him and looked down at her belly. "I'm just glad nothing happened to Isabella." A tear slipped down her face. "I don't know what I would do if she leaves me too."

Samuel and Mayla both shook their heads. "She won't. She's like her mother, a fighter." Mayla said, holding Ashley's hand. "You just have to believe in her."

"I do." Ashley whispered. She smiled at both of them. "Thank you guys. For being here for me in times like these. I don't know what I would do without you."

Samuel smiled sadly at her and gripped her hand tighter. "Don't worry about it. We're family. Family is always there for each other."

"Ohana means family and family—" Mayla started.

"Means no one gets left behind." Ashley finished with a grin on her face. 

"Disney losers." Samuel muttered under his breath.

Ashley gasped and threw her pillow at him. "Get out of my room."

Samuel rolled his eyes and got off the chair. "Gladly."

"You can do better than him, May." Ashley joked.

Samuel flipped her off and laughed before walking out of her room. He closed the door behind him and placed a mask back on. He walked towards Morcelli's office. Without knocking, he came into the room.

A smirk came to his lips. "Did you start without me?"

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I really hope you guys read my rant. Lemme know if you did. Comment, PM, it doesn't matter. I will respond to ALL comments that deals with my rant.

Love you all of my lovely owlers!

~Amber <3 <3 <3