Chapter 27 Dom
DOM
By the time we get to the hospital, Rafa’s in the operating room.
Barbara bounces his knee in the corner of the waiting room while Debbie paces back and forth with a rosary in her hands. Carlo’s tucked into his chair, sucking constantly from his vape until Debbie snaps at him to stop.
Annetta is pale, her arms trembling under my touch. She’s dropping hard from the adrenaline of that fucking bullshit with Aceto. I’ve rubbed her hands between mine to keep them warm, but she barely seems to register anything that’s going on around her.
I trace a fingertip along her face, tucking her silky hair behind her ear. She doesn’t react.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” I tell her gently.
Her eyes are dull as she glances toward me, and a stone drops into my stomach.
“I can’t lose another family member,” she says in a thin voice.
I press her against me so I don’t have to look at that face, the one I’ve seen countless times before.
It’s the way a person looks before they do something they’ll regret.
After hours of waiting, a short doctor in her fifties steps out.
“Raffaele’s alive. He’s in stable condition now, but he’ll be disoriented and tired from the effects of the pain medication he’s on.
” The efficient, professional look about her slips for a fraction of a second.
“He was shot in the side of the knee. We removed the bullet, and your primary doctor will discuss options with you, but it’s likely he will need substantial physical treatment after today.
He may not walk without an aid ever again. You all can see him now.”
Debbie cries out, “Thank God!” and throws herself behind the doctor.
Carlo pulls his vape out of his pocket and waves us off. “You go first. I’ll come after.”
Barbara doesn’t say anything, but he looks suspiciously close to crying. I politely ignore him as I help Annetta up and walk us down the long white hallway to Rafa’s room.
Silent tears track down Debbie’s face as she stands at the side of her broken son, who is rigged up to a half-dozen machines with medical bandages wrapped around his leg and chest. Despite what the doctor said, he’s alert, staring forward without any expression until Annetta and I enter the room
He catches my eye.
“How are you feeling?” Annetta asks tentatively as she moves to his other side, opposite to her mother.
“Alive,” he answers in a croaking voice. He stares at me. “I saw his face. He told me who it was for.”
“No.” Debbie stands to her full height, giving us a firm look. “No, not now.”
He ignores her as he holds my gaze. “They said it was for Frederico Chiarelli.”
Debbie gulps her protest and cups her hands to her mouth. Annetta gasps softly.
I nod to Rafa.
He sighs, leaning his head back against the pillow with his eyes closed.
I’m done with this. The Chiarellis have overstepped for the last time.
Annetta stumbles out of her chair, waving me off from catching her.
“I’ll be with Carlo,” she chokes out and dashes out of the room.
I give it as long as it takes to type out a message to Turi asking for the address to the Chiarelli homes before I follow her. It’s too risky to leave her alone right now. Once she’s calmed down and is ready to go home, I’ll take her to Turi’s. He’ll keep her safe until I get back from Florida.
If I get back.
My chest burns. I’ll call in a couple of favors. I’ll make it back. And if not?
She’ll be protected. She won’t need to get married again—she’ll have all the money she’d want from my will. She’ll have Turi’s and her family’s support. She’ll survive. She’s strong.
My phone buzzes.
It’s the address for Marco Chiarelli and Giulia Chiarelli’s homes.
Turi
What should I tell your wife when you leave her a widow?
I storm out of the room and jerk to a stop outside the door, my chest heaving.
A patient walking past takes one look at me and scurries in the opposite direction.
Fuck. I can’t leave her alone. She’s got her family, but would anyone protect her like me? And Turi’s a brother to me, but he’ll let Marisol use my wife if it benefits them.
At the end of the hallway, Barbara takes slow, measured steps toward me as my thoughts crash into each other.
Barbara stops before me. He exhales.
We never spoke about the change in command from Aldo to Turi.
I always knew where his loyalty was, and him killing his old don proved it.
Barbara will always put his wife and kids first, and so long as Turi understands that, Barbara will be loyal to him, too.
It’s the same reason Barbara sponsored me as some young, angry wannabe all those years ago.
I’ve always put his family first.
Rage and worthlessness war inside me as I meet his eye.
“Gonna do something stupid?”
Not for the first time, he impresses me with his perception. I know his sleepy old man act is mostly a ruse, and still, I underestimate him like everyone else.
“You know me, Barbara.” I chuckle bitterly. “The paragon of good choices.”
“Do you remember the promise you made to me?”
You protect mine. And I’ll protect yours.
“You gonna take care of my daughter?” Barbara asks.
Everything around me stills.
I can’t do it.
I can’t go on this suicide mission to keep Annetta safe. I can’t be the rusty blade that cuts through her enemies—I need precision. I need to make a better decision. She deserves better than what I intend to do. I have to be a good husband.
“Yeah. I’ll take care of her.”
Barbara grabs the back of my neck and pulls me down until our foreheads touch briefly.
“Good,” he says and walks to his son’s hospital room.
For a moment, I’m blinded by the glaring white lights in the hallway as I stare straight up. I gather myself and stride toward the waiting room.
Carlo sits alone.
“Where’s your sister?” I ask harshly, covering the distance between us in a few long steps.
Carlo jerks upright. “You told her to get something from the car.”
It hits us both at the same time.
She ran.