Chapter 8
Chapter eight
Bruno can’t die.
The heavy doors glide back silently revealing the long corridor at the hospital. Lucia and I are escorted by one of Dr. Reggiano’s nurses. As we walk past the multitude of doors, I see some are closed, and others are slightly open. Patients lie on beds with family members surrounding them.
A sickening feeling washes over me. Bruno has always been like a second father to me. He stepped up after my dad died. I can’t imagine losing him too.
Lucia grips my wrist so tight I feel like my hand is losing blood. I wiggle my fingers to try to get some feeling back.
The nurse takes us down a side hallway where a door at the end has a sign that reads:
Restricted: Authorized Staff Only
“You can wait in here. I’ll give you more updates when I can,” the nurse promises as she presses a button. The thick wooden doors part to reveal a private suite.
We step inside to see more members of our family.
Salvatore is making himself coffee from the Keurig at the back table.
Matteo is seated in one of the many leather chairs.
Two of our guards, Enzo and Luca, are getting some snacks from the vending machines.
There is a large TV on the wall that’s silently playing the latest football game.
The men look up when we walk in. They come over to us and we hug.
“You shouldn’t have come here, you should be home resting,” Matteo advises.
“No way. I need to be here. Bruno has been like a father to me…to all of us.” I hug him tight.
“Honestly out of all the people in the family, he’s the last person I ever expected to wind up here,” Salvatore muses.
He walks over to the large windows that give a panoramic view of the city.
“They took him into surgery the second he arrived by ambulance. He’s lost a lot of blood. ” Salvatore hangs his head.
Lucia drops into a nearby chair, looking very pale. “What the hell happened, Sal?”
Salvatore lifts his hands and makes a face.
“Bruno, Luca, Enzo, and I went to the warehouse to assemble the chairs. We wanted to make sure the legs were working properly before we took them away. While we were taking inventory, Bruno got a call. He stepped outside to take it and he never returned. After about fifteen minutes, I went to check on him…” Salvatore takes a shaky breath and makes the sign of the cross.
“We found him in the alley, face down, surrounded by blood.”
“Turns out someone shot him in the head with a silencer,” Enzo adds as Salvatore goes quiet.
I feel like the walls are closing in on me. Once again there is an attack on our soil.
“To make matters worse,” Luca adds, “All the outside cameras went black for three minutes before the attack. The only footage is from inside which shows Bruno leaving. It shows him on the phone at the loading dock for about a minute or two then everything goes black. Then when it comes on again, he’s gone. ”
Panic fills me. It wasn’t like someone could have shot Bruno from a nearby building. We own the whole industrial area. There is a gate with a keypad. Whoever got in had to know the code.
“Things have been mighty strange around here.” Enzo walks over and stands in front of the TV.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Well, first you end up in the hospital, and now Bruno is in the hospital…” Enzo’s voice trails off.
Lucia stands up. “I need coffee.” She storms off to the coffee station.
“Excuse me.” I take a step back and follow her.
I walk slowly to the back of the room where Lucia presses one of the French Vanilla Keurig pods into the compartment, then slams down the top. She presses the button with more force than necessary and the machine hums to life.
“Luci, what’s wrong?” I whisper as I stand close to her. “I told you at the hospital that I was going to hire Dominic.”
She snatches up one of the packs of sugar and rips it open. “I thought when you said that you were going to hire him, and then he would do his own thing. I didn’t expect to find you playing house with the enemy.”
“We weren’t playing house,” I hiss. “He has to come to my place in order to figure out who did this because I got shot in my own house.”
“How you can even talk to your ex is beyond me, especially after how he left, and what he represents.”
“He’s not with the FBI anymore, Luci.”
“And why is that? He’s much too young.”
I shrug.
“Anyway who gives a fuck, he still picked the law over you.” Lucia doesn’t look at me. She stares straight at the steam of brown liquid pouring into the paper cup.
“Well, I picked my work over him too.”
“This isn’t your work. This is your world.
It’s family.” Lucia takes the cup off the platform and grabs one of the creamers.
“We need to solve this fucking crisis. This is getting to be too much. First you get shot, now Bruno. We are the most powerful family in all of Chicago, this isn’t supposed to be happening to us. ”
Heat flares to my cheeks and I hang my head. I know Lucia doesn’t mean it that way, but her words are a slap in the face. My family has protected our empire for decades. Now after fifteen years, it’s slipping through my fingers.
“I know, Luci, but right now I don’t trust any of our men. This is an inside job. We need Dominic. He is the only one who can help us. He’s neutral and he has access to things we don’t.
“It doesn’t have to be an inside job. The killer could be one of our enemies. Lord knows we have a lot of them.” Lucia pours a sugar packet into the coffee then stirs vigorously. She snatches one of the plastic lids and slams it onto the cup. “I hate hospital coffee.”
“At this point the only way it can be one of our enemies is if one of our people is working with another family.”
Lucia sighs. “I don’t care about Dominic but I’m worried about what he still means to you.”
“What?”
“Come on, Cipi. We’ve been best friends for a lifetime. Even in my state of shock, there is no denying how you were looking at him.”
“What do you mean?” I whisper.
“There’s no mistaking Dominic Cartieri has only gotten more handsome as the years have passed. One flash of his brilliant smile and your panties are going to melt.” She smirks.
“Lucia Amari.” I punch her forearm lightly. “That’s not true. This is just a business arrangement.”
“What kind of business arrangement? One with benefits? You’re playing with fire, Ragazza.” Lucia takes a sip of her coffee and coughs.
“A professional agreement. He didn’t want to do it at first, so I kind of…sort of…blackmailed him…just a little bit. But he is going to help me. In return I have to help him with something he’s working on.”
“Whatever. If he burns you again, I’m killing him.” Lucia throws the cup into the garbage can.
“Fine,” I reply. “But make sure Mom, Nonna, and Gigi don’t find out.”
Lucia looks at me. “They don’t know.”
“Are you crazy? The last thing I need is them meddling in my love life. They get too emotional.”
“So then you admit you’re falling back in love with Dominic?” Lucia raises her eyebrows.
“Will you shut up. That will never happen.”
“Never say never,” Lucia taunts and walks back to the chairs. She takes out her phone. “Maybe I’ll get some real coffee delivered.”
The doors open and Dr. Emilio Reggiano enters the room. He’s wearing blue scrubs and looks exhausted. He pulls his mask down to his neck as we rush over to him.
“He made it through surgery…barely. If the angle had been different he would be dead.” Dr. Reggiano runs a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair. He’s in his early sixties and has been the family surgeon for our family since I can remember.
“Is there any damage?” Salvatore asks.
“We won’t know for sure. There was no brain penetration, no arterial damage.
But it’s going to take a lot of time and a lot of rehabilitation.
We’re going to keep him here until further notice to monitor him.
” He turns to me and the dark circles under his eyes become more prominent in the hospital light.
“He’s in recovery right now, he’s got a lot of drugs in him, but he’s been asking for you, Cipriani.
You can go see him but everyone else will have to wait until he is more stable. ”
I nod.
Dr. Reggiano turns and walks back through the doors. Just as I’m about to follow him, Salvatore grabs my arm. “Farfalla, here.” He reaches into his pocket and shoves something into my hand. “When I found Bruno this was clutched in his hand. I’m sorry, it slipped my mind with everything going on.”
Looking down, my breath catches as I see a golden rosewood rook staring back at me. “This was in his hand?”
“Yes. I don’t know what it means, maybe you can ask him?” Salvatore places a hand on my shoulder.
I stare at the castle-shaped chess piece. “Not another one.”
“What was that, Farfalla?” Salvatore cocks his head.
“Nothing.” I shake my head. “I’ll be right back.” I shove the rook into my pocket and follow Dr. Reggiano. I remember my father used to have that chess set sitting proudly in the living room. He and my uncle would play and argue after every Sunday dinner.
I should have taken that chess set with me after he died. I don’t know why I didn’t. I guess seeing it sitting alone in my house would have made me miss him more.
We continue to walk down the corridor until Dr. Reggiano stops at one of the rooms. He turns to me. “Bruno is heavily medicated. Don’t expect much from him.”
I nod, fingering the chess piece in my pocket.
Dr. Reggiano swipes his badge and the door opens into a private suite.
The beep of the machines is the first thing I hear. The doors close behind me and I turn to see that Dr. Reggiano has disappeared. I step further into the room with my hands shoved deep in my pockets.
The space is small and barren. There are cabinets on one side and Bruno lies in a hospital bed against the opposite wall. A huge bandage is wrapped around his head. He looks pale and thinner than I remember.
Holding my breath, I move closer to him. His arms are outside the blankets and I see the thin tubes snaking into his hand. Shaking, I sit down next to him. It’s crazy how the tables have turned. Last week it was me in the bed and Bruno in the chair. Now the roles are reversed.
“Bruno,” I whisper. “Bruno it’s me, Cipriani.” His eyes are closed and his chest rises and falls in slumber. Maybe those medications got to him before I could.
“Bruno,” I call again.
He stirs. Eyelids flutter like butterfly wings then open and his pupils roam the room before resting on me.
“Farfalla?” he slurs.
“Yes, Bruno, it’s me.”
He turns, eyes wide. His lips move but no sound comes out.
I place my hand on his.
“I thought they got you, too,” he stutters.
“No, Bruno, I’m fine.” I gently pat his arm.
“I-I saw your wings…painted…butterfly wings on the floor…dead.” He groans.
“Bruno, there are no butterfly wings here.” The medication must be kicking in. Reaching into my pocket, I pull out the rook and hold it up.
“Bruno, what is this? It was in your hand when they found you. How did you get it?”
Recognition flickers in his eyes. “Dead butterfly wings….”
“It’s a rook,” I move the piece closer to his face.
His eyes are glassy. “The king wasn’t supposed to fall.”
“What?”
“The king…it wasn’t supposed to fall… the board wasn’t ready.”
“I don’t understand Bruno.”
“The Queen will fall soon, checkmate is coming.” His eyes flutter and I can see the medication is taking over.
“Bruno, did you see a black feather?” I force myself to stay calm but his words create panic in my soul.
His lips mouth words but I can’t hear them. His eyes are half-closed now.
I lean closer.
“The king should have never been checked…the bishop watches from within…to kill the wings…”
“What are you talking about Bruno? Bruno?”
His eyes close and sleep takes over. I call his name again, but the medications have a hold on him.
I kiss his cheek. “Rest, Bruno. Don’t worry. I’ll figure it out.” A shiver courses through me at the thought of his words.
What is he talking about? Maybe I shouldn’t take what he’s saying to heart. After all, he did just get shot in the head and had surgery. The anesthesia combined with the pain medication can make someone say the craziest stuff.
I absentmindedly turn the rook over in my hands and I freeze as I notice something on the bottom.
Written in black Sharpie are the words: The bishop watches from within.