30. Dario
DARIO
By the time we get to Beth’s old playhouse, it’s nearly dusk and I’m worried they’ve already moved. But when I pull up behind the car I recognize it as Beth’s.
Giovanni steps back, letting me take the lead.
I draw my gun, ducking down into the entrance of the playhouse. It’s like a maze in there, winding hallways, little rooms with old dolls in them.
It’s eerie. I make my way through the rooms quickly and muffled words come through one of the doors.
“You just have to be quiet a while longer and then—hey! Stop that!”
“Let me go!” I hear Sonny break free from Beth and take off, crawling through the tiny rooms and between my legs as he makes his way to the entrance.
I want to bark at Giovanni to intercept him, but I don’t want to give away my position.
I slowly make my way to the bedroom door, where Beth’s words are coming from, but she bursts out of the room and knocks me over. I go down on my ass with a grunt and she climbs over me, toward another room.
I follow her, grabbing at her ankles but I can’t get a good grip.
“Beth, stop!”
“I’ll get to her before you can. She’ll be mine. You’ll see. Only mine.”
She’s babbling like a madwoman but it’s too fucking tight in here and I can’t get to her.
I crouch in front of the door, drawing my gun. I shoot while I have a wide shot, before I see her holding a syringe to Liana’s neck.
“No!” I scream out, the word desperate as Beth falls.
Liana’s gray eyes roll into the back of her head and she drops, covered in Beth’s blood.
“No!” I scream again, crawling towards her. I jerk the syringe out of her neck, tossing it to the ground as I put my arms up under her armpits.
I drag her out of the playhouse and Giovanni stands, holding Sonny.
He drops the kid gently on the ground and rushes toward me.
“You can’t go,” I gasp out, cradling Liana in my arms. She’s in and out of consciousness, her eyes focusing on mine and then rolling back into her head. “It’s always been you, Liana. You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved. The only woman I ever will love. You can’t go, Li.”
Tears stream down my face and I can’t stop them no matter how I try.
“We have to get her to a hospital,” Giovanni rasps, and I nod, sniffling, uncaring that I’m still actively crying.
I scoop Sonny up in my arms, checking him over. He seems uninjured but he won’t stop crying. I put him in the backseat of the car and Giovanni puts Liana in the back with him.
Sonny cries harder, trying to take his mother’s hand.
I turn around, talking to her.
“Stay awake for me, belissima. Just focus on me. That’s right, baby,” I say as her eyes desperately try to hold on to mine. What was in that syringe?
We pull up at the hospital and Giovanni screams for help.
Nurses and doctors run out and they rip Liana from the car. I pick Sonny up, carrying him silently into the hospital.
The police show up in about an hour but I’m not much help at all. Giovanni deals with it, paying them from his personal funds. He knows I’ll pay him back.
If Liana makes it through this, I’ll do anything.
Sonny looks up at me, his skin pale and white, cool to the touch. He might be in shock.
“Is Mama okay?” he asks, a crack in his voice and I lose it, managing just barely to look away before a sob rips through my body.
“Let’s go get a snack, okay?” Giovanni says gently.
I’m grateful. I can’t even look at the kid without breaking down. He looks so much like her, all gray eyes and dark hair.
It’s hours before the doctor comes out, and when he does, he calls for “the family of Liana Rossi.”
“I’m her husband,” I say gruffly as he walks toward me. I don’t realize my hands are shaking until I clasp them in my lap, looking up at him. “How is she?”
“It’s...” he hesitates, and my heart drops into my stomach. “It’s touch and go. We had to use three rounds of Narcan on her and well... to be frank, she died on the table.”
My breath catches in my throat and he must see something terrible on my face because he continues quickly.
“But we got a rhythm back. She won’t wake up for a long while, and when she does.... we just... we don’t know if she’ll be her old self.”
“But she’s alive?” I ask. It’s all I care about. I’ll accept any version of her, as long as it’s her. As long as she’s still breathing.
“She’s stable, for now—”
“Can I see her?”
“Like I said, sir, she won’t wake up—”
I wave my hand. “I don’t care about that. I said can I see her?”
“Of course. She’s in room two-twenty-four.”
He’s barely gotten the words out before I’m rounding the corner. I see her lying there in the hospital bed, IVs hooked up to her, a monitor measuring her respiration, her heart rate.
Her hair cascades across the pillow and I put my hand in it, feeling how soft the strands are between my fingers. I crouch next to her bed, my face in her stomach, and let myself cry.
After a few moments I feel her fingers twitch in my hair and I sit up, sniffling, watching her face.
She’s still out cold, but maybe the movement is a good sign. Should I tell someone?
I brush her hair back from her face.
I don’t want to leave her. Not even for a moment.
“There’s likely to be deficits,” the doctor says, a different one from earlier.
I nod.
“She might not remember you. She might not remember anything.”
I nod again.
“I don’t care,” I say finally when the doctor just keeps staring at me. “I don’t care how she comes back as long as she comes back.”
The doctor eventually leaves and hours go by. I just watch her face, her long eyelashes fanning over her cheekbones, that upturned nose of hers.
I pray I get to see the color of those gray eyes again.
“Dario?” Giovanni’s voice floats to me from the doorway. “Little guy really wanted to see his mom.”
Sonny comes barreling in the room and he goes to Liana’s other side, climbing up on the bed and taking her hand.
“Mama, it’s time to wake up,” he says, shaking her gently.
My breath catches in my throat. “She needs her rest, buddy. It might be a while before she wakes up.”
“But not too long, right? My birthday party is next week.”
I smile. He has no idea how dire things are right now, but maybe that’s for the best. Maybe she’d want me to keep it from him.
All we can do now is wait.