Chapter 10 Massimo
Massimo
The whole fucking room is chaos when I enter and blood is seeping from bandages taped all over my mother’s body. “Somebody give me a fucking update, now.”
Ray, the physician we’ve used for years, doesn’t keep me waiting but doesn’t stop working on Mom for a minute.
“She’s lucky she’s alive. Once I’ve got her sutured up and well enough to transport, I’m going to need images and testing.
She’s going to need the hospital. I’ll admit her as a Jane Doe, and take responsibility for her while she’s in. ”
My eyes flare. “With our fucking soldiers outside the damn door.”
He shakes his head. “We’ll get the logistics worked out but right now, we need to save her life, Massimo.
She’s lost too much blood. I have some being delivered shortly, but as you can imagine, I’m going to need to answer for it.
As it is, I went through some back-avenue methods to obtain it and get it here, but it’s pure and it’s been tested. Okay?”
I inhale a deep breath. “Is it what you need to do to keep her alive?”
Ray nods. “That and stitch her up. I closed her up with some emergency tape when I first got here, but I want to get her chest sterile and close her up now that I can see what we’re dealing with. Any objections?”
I look to Leandro, and he shakes his head. “No.”
I turn to Ray. “You think she’s going to make it, or should we have our brothers and father come in before you start? If it’s their only chance to say goodbye…” I stop midsentence unable to finish.
Ray squints, assessing my mom and then turning to give me his full attention.
“She’s going to make it because you guys got to her in time.
Another half an hour before we sealed her up and it’s anyone’s guess.
We need to get her stitched up though. When I lift this tape, we’re going to need to work fast. I want only little pieces lifted at a time, sterilize as we go, and then peel back some more and keep moving all the way down her body, understand?
It’s the only thing we can do out in the field. Who’s scrubbing in?”
Fuck me. Leandro’s been through enough, finding her like that and keeping her from bleeding out all the way here. “I’ll do it.”
Ray nods. “That sterile liquid right there. Rinse up to your elbows, then I want you to sanitize with the other bottle, and then rinse again. Don’t fucking touch anything and then I’ll help you glove up, and then we’ll switch.
” He looks at Leandro. “I want you to scrub in and be ready, just in case I need another set of hands.”
Leandro’s dark eyes meet mine. He’ll do anything that’s needed but he doesn’t say a fucking word. I’ve never seen Leandro so shut down in all his life.
When everyone is ready, Ray starts at the bottom, peeling the tiniest piece of tape away from my mom’s skin.
“She’s damn lucky that knife didn’t go in any deeper,” he says, cleaning the area and suturing agonizingly slow as I dab at the leakage with the anesthetized material he’s provided.
Little by little we move up. Mom gasps and her whole body convulses.
“She’s arresting! We’re going to start CPR.
Leandro, I need you to start CPR while I clear her airway.
Massimo, you keep that pressure on and don’t let her bleed. ”
My fucking head spins, while I’m left keeping my mother’s guts in place in her stomach. The door bursts open, the guard trying to keep Sophia out but she’s not fucking having it. “Get out of my way or I’ll shoot you where you stand, I can help!”
“Let her through,” I growl, trying to stem the flow of blood as Ray pushes on my mother’s chest. Sophia eyes the situation and starts scrubbing in in the makeshift wash area, then gloves up quickly before taking the opposite side of me.
She pushes my hand around the open area, and dabs at some of the seepage.
“Light pressure, keep it clear and I’m going to finish suturing her up.
” Ray looks up, but his first priority now is on keeping my mom breathing and she’s still not out of the fucking woods yet.
“I’m going to be working fast; it’s the only way I’ve ever been trained. When I say go you go,” Sophia says, totally enthralling me with the way she’s stepped in and taken charge.
She works deftly, and surprisingly skillfully, the needle going in and out so fast it keeps my mind focused watching her, dabbing and pressing, then pulling up layers of the compression tape to free skin for Sophia to sew.
“Fucking miraculous,” Ray says, pulling away from the bed with beads of sweat running down his forehead as he gets my mom’s heart under control. He walks over to my guard. “Wipe my forehead.”
The guard looks at him like he’s fucking crazy but doesn’t argue when he sees my face.
He uses the back of his hoodie sleeve to wipe Ray’s sweat from his brow.
Doc doesn’t waste any time returning. But he doesn’t take over the job Sophia’s doing.
He looks at me. “If you want less scarring, we’ll let her continue her work.
I’ve not seen such fine stitching in a very long time.
I can keep an eye on your mom then. Better to have me free as long as we have a well-equipped set of hands. ”
Sophia doesn’t look up, too intent on her job. “Let her keep going,” I tell Ray, continuing my job as Sophia moves up my mom’s sternum and right below her breasts. The minute she’s finished Ray takes over. “Excellent job young lady.”
“Sophia Roselli, my wife,” I tell him.
His eyebrows arch but he doesn’t question it.
“Nice to meet you, Sophia. Here’s the plan,” he says, looking at me.
“Let’s get some more fluid and blood into her.
Once she’s stable enough, I’ll have one of you take me to the hospital.
I don’t want to call the emergency system; it will just bring questions that no one here wants to answer.
She’ll go in under my care as we discussed.
In the meantime, if you want to have your father and brothers come and see her, now’s probably the time if we’re going to keep her identity under wraps at the hospital. ”
Leandro and I nod at the same time, but I know that I’m going to have to make the damn call. “Excuse me for a moment.” I wash my hands while Sophia washes up next to me. “Thank you for what you did, kitten. How’s your sister?”
Sophia looks up at me with moist eyes. “I think she’ll be okay, but time will tell.
I’m going to go back in with Anna, okay?
” I give her a kiss on the top of her head and wrap my arms around her waist as we walk out the door into the hallway.
“As soon as mom is good, I’ll send Ray in for your sister.
I’m going to call dad and my brothers now. ”
“Love you,” she says, reaching up and kissing me on the lips before walking back into her sister’s room and closing the door behind her.
I don’t know how I got so lucky, why destiny brought her to my door.
And no matter what has happened or the trouble that’s knocked on our door I’ve always thanked the fucking stars that she’s mine until seeing my mom flayed open like a fucking fish.
Half gutted all the way down her middle, left to die and rot in her own blood for all the world to see.
That’s what being a target brings you, and being someone a don of a notorious crime family loves puts that fucking target on your back and pretty soon, far sooner than I had hoped, I’m going to be stepping into that role.
And then it will be Sophia who all the rival families are after in order to get to me.
Only she doesn’t listen the way my mother does.
She’s already been taken once and was damn lucky we learned she was missing so fast and could get resources in the air as soon as we did.
That’s not always the case. Fuck, we’re lucky my mother didn’t bleed out before we even located her, and if it weren’t for Sophia remembering her father’s old boating spot, she would have died.
That’s not going to happen to mom or to Sophia or my baby sister. No, the women in our house, they’re going to be more than protected from now on. My mom and sister, I can handle, but Sophia, she’s got a mind of her own, Cassone blood that is likely to get her killed if she stays with me.
Sophia is having to assimilate. Her love for me is making her dark.
The light she possessed that pulled me away from the dark is having the reverse affect.
Instead of pulling me into the light, I’m pulling her into the dark.
And putting the light out in Sophia’s eyes, I already know, it’s something that I can never do.
Dad answers the phone. “We’ve got mom, Dad.
She’s in bad shape, but doc believes she’s going to pull through.
I need you to come to my house, and not tell anyone, none of your men, not even one, Dad.
Jimmy’s on his way to pick you up and I’m having all the boys meet you here. Leandro’s already with me.”
My father’s voice cracks. “She’s going to make it?”
“Come now, Dad.” It’s all I can say, because after what I’ve learned about the rats I’m not telling him any more than he needs to know until we’ve eradicated every stinking one of them from our home.
I make the same call to my brothers, one by one, and disconnect, leaning against the cool wall of the hall, just inhaling a breath, trying to dispel everything about this fucking night.
What if this happens in ten years, fifteen years, but Sophia is the one someone grabs, and what if there are children involved? There’s no way I can live with myself for pulling her into the dark. There’s only one way to fix this. There’s no way around it, I have to put her back.