22. Lily
Lily
22
“It’s a good thing you’re getting these behaviors out of your system now, Raphael,” Emilia remarks in a snarky tone.
I hastily try to pull away from Raphael, winning against him when he fights to hold on. Hiding behind him, I straighten my clothes in an attempt to compose myself. Silly to do when we were caught with our hands in the cookie jar…literally.
“And what exactly do you mean by that?” Raphael demands.
“Well, I expect our marriage not to just be on paper. I won’t tolerate you straying. Even to one as…old as she is.”
I freeze. Raphael assured me they were not engaged. That it was a marriage arranged when Michael was believed sterile. He’s never even seen or met Emilia. When the truth about Michael and Rose was revealed, Raphael’s father did the right thing and dissolved the engagement. Only Emilia doesn’t seem to understand or accept that. For whatever reason, she believes that this little trip of hers will ignite some feelings between them. But calling me old? That’s not only rude, it’s also unacceptable.
Raphael must feel the same because he doesn’t hide his disdain when he says, “Old? I’d rather be with her than tied down to a child like you.”
I don’t need to see Emilia to know she’s mad, but a loud alarm rings through the house before she can say anything back.
“What is that?” I have to shout for Raphael to hear me.
Raphael turns around and bends close to my ear. “I need you to go get Mei, then find Rose or my sister and stay with them.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
“That alarm means someone has breached the island security. Come on, I’ll take you to the stairs.”
Raphael grabs my hand and pulls me after him, brushing past Emilia, who’s standing there with her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. We hurry through the house to the foyer. Michael and Enzo are already there at the base of the stairs. Enzo is talking to someone on the phone but acknowledges us with a nod in our direction.
“What happened?” Raphael demands.
“All I know is a body has been dropped off at the gate,” Michael replies before his eyes fall on me behind Raphael.
Raphael turns to me. “Hurry upstairs and find Mei and the others.”
“I will, but—”
“No buts, Lily. This is dangerous. Go now.”
“I know, but—”
“Lily,” he warns in a gravelly tone. “Do not make me throw you over my shoulder, and—”
“Stop,” Enzo snaps, his deep voice echoing in the house foyer. “We need her.”
Raphael and I turn our attention to the modern Viking. He holds his phone away from his ear, but his face is pale, his eyes wide and terrified.
“It’s Dominic.”
I’ll never forget the day I lost my first patient.
It was a Tuesday afternoon. Nothing special about it. I had already treated a few broken bones, several colds, and was wrapping up my last case of a particularly nasty rash when the ambulance arrived with a car accident survivor.
Mr. John Ruthledge. I’ll never forget his name.
Upon first assessment, he appeared in good spirits and even made a few dad jokes. His labs looked good, and his x-rays were normal. His only complaint was lower stomach pain. My head resident and I both agreed to treat his symptoms and kept him under observation. The last time I checked on him, he was sleeping, a side effect of the pain meds, and assumed nothing worse.
We soon grew busy with a rush of patients, and before I knew it, a couple of hours passed. I expected Mr. Ruthledge to be awake, maybe even slightly angry with my long absence. But I never predicted I’d find him writhing in pain.
His pain was actually from a liver laceration that went undetected in his tests. Though it was small at first, it only grew larger until he was bleeding out inside of his abdomen.
We tried to save him. We rushed him into surgery, but it was too late. He was too far gone. The damage was already done.
The moment he went started bleeding out on the operating table, I knew the fight was over. There’s no coming back from multiple organ failure when blood pours from every hole in your body. In the end, his death was no one’s fault. A freak accident, as they say, but it didn’t make the reality of his death any easier to accept.
The guards bring Dominic inside the house and lay him on the dining room table. He’s been beaten to the point where he’s nearly unrecognizable. There’s so much blood that I can’t even tell where it’s coming from.
“Is he breathing?” Enzo asks from behind me.
Without a second thought, I press two fingers to his neck, searching for the precious beats of life. I close my eyes and concentrate, trying hard to ignore the chaos around me.
“What the fuck happened?” Michael demands.
“The guards said a car barreled through the gates and threw his body out. They fired on the car, but whoever it was, they got away,” Enzo answers.
“It was Xiao,” Raphael says. “Had to be.”
Thump…thump.
There it is. Barely, but there.
“He’s alive,” I announce to the room, all talk ceasing at my words.
Raphael rushes to my side. “What do you need?”
“Anything and everything you have.”
While he leaves to gather supplies with Michael, Enzo helps me peel away Dominic’s bloodied and soiled clothes, revealing several wounds in various states. I’m familiar with the sight, having seen countless wounds like these on Xiao’s men.
“He was tortured,” I say.
Enzo freezes and meets my eyes. “You’re certain?”
I nod grimly.
“What happened?” a new voice bellows, and Enzo wraps his hand around my arm and quickly pulls me away from Dominic’s body before the newcomer pushes me away.
“We’re still trying to figure that out,” Dante assures the stranger, having followed him in. He walks over to place his hand on the man’s shoulder and squeezes. “Let Lily work on him, brother. She’s a doctor and can help.”
The stranger I now know is Dante’s brother, swings toward me. Enzo still has a solid hold on my arm, his touch tense, like he’s ready to move me again if needed.
“You’re Lily?”
“I am.” I don’t know why, but something about him rubs me the wrong way. Call it intuition or a gut feeling or whatever, but he doesn’t share the same kindness in his eyes as his brother. Don’t get me wrong, Dante is a scary man, but in the brief time I’ve gotten to know him, I’ve seen how much family means to him and how it drives him.
But this man? There’s something hard in his expression. Something I can’t quite define but see.
“Save my son. Now,” he orders in a firm tone, stepping closer.
Enzo’s hand tightens on my arm, and I back up toward him, as if seeking the safety his large presence provides.
“Leo,” Dante warns. “Back off. Let Lily work.”
Leo sneers at his brother before glaring at me one last time and turning away. Enzo releases me a moment before Raphael and Michael return, their arms heavy with supplies.
“What can I do?” Raphael asks when I step over to grab what I need.
“Just be ready to hand me things when I ask for them.”
The way Dominic’s body has been stabbed, beaten, and broken is terrible and cruel. I can only imagine the pain he went through. He’s missing a finger on both hands, and one ear is so badly burned, it may need to be amputated altogether. He’s missing teeth while others are broken. The bottoms of his feet have been shredded like they took a cheese grater to the skin. His knees don’t look right, and if I had to guess, I’d say his kneecaps are shattered. The number of stab wounds decorating his body is too many to count. Some are scabbed over, and some are still fresh enough to be bleeding.
If he survives this, his recovery will be long and painful. And that’s a big if.
I glance at Raphael and see the question in his eyes. He’s wondering the very same thing. I could lie to him. I probably should. But he deserves to know the odds. And they’re not good.
I shake my head slowly, and my heart sinks when I watch his face fall at the news.
“We need to take him to the hospital,” Leo says to his brother.
“You know he won’t survive the trip, Leo,” Dante replies.
Leo whirls around and swipes his arm over a side table, sending a vase of flowers to scatter all over the floor. I jump back to avoid the mess and bump into Raphael.
“Knock it off, Uncle!” Raphael shouts over me. “Your anger is not helping.”
“My son, your cousin, is dying. He should be at the hospital receiving the proper medical care, not second-rate care from the doctor of the man surely responsible for this,” Leo snaps back. “For all we know, she’s killing him right now.”
Raphael moves toward his uncle, but before he can get to him, Dante steps in front of him, places his hand on his chest, and yells, “That’s enough! Both of you.”
“Once he’s stabilized, we can move him to the hospital,” I say, hoping to ease the tension in the room. It’s nothing I’m not used to. In times of crisis, family members often react strongly, especially when they feel powerless.
The room falls silent enough for me to refocus on Dominic. For a minute, I have hope. Hope that there’s really a chance. And then his blood pressure tanks.
“What’s happening?” Raphael asks.
“He’s crashing,” I reply. “Start CPR, and I need a syringe and the bottle of epinephrine.”
Raphael starts compressions while Michael hands me a syringe and a glass bottle. I draw up the amount I need, and once administered, I check his pulse and curse when I feel an erratic rhythm.
“Keep going,” I tell Raphael as I prepare another syringe. “Do you have a defibrillator?”
Dante nods and disappears down a hall, returning less than ten seconds later with a bright red and clear box. I need to shock his heart now before I lose his pulse.
Once hooked up, I shout out, “Clear!” and press the paddles down on Dominic’s bare chest, sending a strong current of electricity directly to his heart.
Dominic’s body lurches upward, and I drop one paddle to press my fingers to his neck. Still not regular.
Increasing the level of electricity, I shock Dominic again. Only after the third round does his heart finally restart into a normal rhythm.
Setting the paddles down, I breathe a deep sigh of relief. Raphael places a comforting hand on my damp back, and I practically melt at his touch.
“We should get him to the hospital now,” I advise them.
“I’ll get the car,” Enzo says before he leaves out the front door.
Raphael kisses the side of my head and whispers, “You did amazing.”
“Thanks.” I’m exhausted, the rush of adrenaline fading quickly from my body.
Opening my eyes, I focus on Dominic’s broken body. It felt strangely therapeutic to care for someone innocent. Well, maybe not that innocent, considering what he does for a living, but Dominic’s only been kind to me during the few times we’ve exchanged words. Compared to Xiao and his men, Dominic and the others are saints.
“How could you let this happen to my son?” Leo accuses, directing his harsh question to his brother.
“I didn’t let anything happen,” Dante snaps.
“You sent him to look into that lead because you didn’t want to risk your sons. But you will happily risk mine.”
“That’s not true, Leo,” Dante urges. “You know that. Dominic is my nephew, and I love him like a son.”
“But he’s not your son. Is he?” Leo hisses, pushing away from his brother to pace along the wall.
Dante exhales hard and looks at Raphael. “When did you hear from Dominic last?”
“Early this morning. He sent a text that the lead was a dead end,” Raphael answers.
One glance at Dominic and anyone can tell the torture he received didn’t happen in a few short hours.
“It wasn’t Dominic who sent that text,” Dante concludes in a grim tone before he turns to Michael. “Can you trace where his phone has been?”
The eldest DiAngelo nods. “Yes.”
“When was the last time anyone spoke to Dominic or saw him in person?” Dante asks before looking at his brother. “Leo?”
The angry man pauses long enough to answer. “It’s been a few days.”
Michael and Raphael confirm the same, and that timeline aligns more with Dominic’s wounds.
I narrow my eyes when a thin trickle of blood leaks from Dominic’s nose and falls down his face. Maybe it’s a trick of the light causing me to see things, but either way, I step out of Raphael’s hold and approach the table.
And that’s when I watch it happen. Blood begins to pour heavier from his nose, his eyes, and his mouth. And then his entire body shakes and thrashes from the seizure his brain is suffering from due to the lack of blood.
Chaos falls over the room, but I know it’s too late. It’s like I’m back in that emergency room all those years ago, and all I see is Mr. Ruthledge.
“Help him!” Leo hollers, and I jump at the fury in his voice.
Raphael looks at me, and I meet his eyes with defeat and sorrow. He sees my answer and drops his head, reaching for Dominic’s hand to hold so he’s not alone.
Michael watches the exchange and, like his twin, grabs Dominic’s other hand.
“What are you doing? Why aren’t you helping him?” Leo demands.
He pushes his nephews aside and gathers his son’s body to his chest. Dominic’s head flops, and his face grows paler by the second.
Bleeding out is a gruesome sight, but it’s actually quite peaceful. As the blood leaves the body, your mind shuts down as each of your organs fail, until finally, your heart slows to a final stop. I’ve heard it be compared to falling asleep after spending all day in the sun.
The blood slows, and I don’t need a heart monitor to know Dominic’s dead. A second later, when his father goes still and silent, I’m sure of it.
“I’m so sorry,” I say mournfully. “There was nothing more I could do.”
Leo slowly lowers his son’s body to the table and touches his face lovingly. His eyes meet mine, and the only thing I see is a fiery, intense hatred.
Before I even see it, before any of us sees it, he raises his hand and slaps me hard. Pain explodes across my face, and the taste of copper is instant on my tongue. I raise a hand to my lips and draw back to see bright red blood on my fingers.
Raphael steps around me and immediately goes for his uncle, landing a punch to the jaw before the heartbroken man can stop it. He lands another two before Michael is there, pulling him back to my side.
Dante reaches for his brother and stops him from retaliating, shoving him away like he weighs nothing. “That’s enough, Leo. We do not strike women.”
Pointing a finger at me, he growls, “This is your fault. If you weren’t here, Xiao wouldn’t have gone after my son. Because of you, my son is dead! You killed him!”
“Uncle Leo—”
“No!” He interrupts Raphael with a shout. “Dominic’s death is on you as well. You should have killed her and that wretched child the night you found them. Instead of thinking with your cock and taking her like some grand prize to be won.”
“Leo, that’s uncalled for. The only one to blame here is Xiao. Focus on that, brother,” Dante urges. “We will make the bastard pay for what he has done.”
Leo shoves his brother off him, and with one last angry look at us and then his son, he storms out of the room, shoving past Enzo who stands like a statue in the doorway. The front door slams open and closed a second later as he leaves the house.
Since Mr. Ruthledge, I’ve lost my fair share of patients. And maybe it’s horrible to say, but death became a regular occurrence afterward until, eventually, I grew numb to it. Some were harder than others, but few stuck around as much as the first.
And something tells me that this moment will stay with me forever.