Chapter 29
Zeno
Clara’s screams echoed in my ears as I careened through the streets, running red lights and cutting people off in my effort to get to the hospital as quickly as I could.
I didn’t care that she said she was okay. The only thing I could think of was how I could have lost her.
And how Paulo was barely holding on as she’d watched them load him into the back of the ambulance.
I needed to get there. I needed to see for myself that she and Nadia were okay. I needed to be by Paulo’s side, to make sure I did everything in my power to save his life the way he saved me.
My tires squealed as I pulled to a stop outside the emergency room.
I jumped from the car, tossing my keys in the backseat, not taking time to ensure I didn’t hit Lyndsey, Laney, or Santini in the face.
They were okay. They had to be. Any injuries they had were minor enough that they could wait until I’d seen Paulo…
Or maybe Clara could do it.
Clara was good at that kind of thing. At caring for people, making them feel better, giving them the love and the space they needed so they could be their best.
If only I had done the same thing.
I’d been so wrapped up in Clara, I didn’t take care of Santini and his girls the way I needed to. I’d been so upset at myself, I didn’t take care of Chaya and Sarah and Arik the way I should have.
And because of that, I wasn’t at Paulo’s side when he needed me.
But Clara was.
Clara was there. Clara had kept Paulo from bleeding out until the ambulance got there. Clara had promised the immediate threat was neutralized, even though Ronen was dead. She refused to tell me what happened, insisting she needed to get herself and Nadia to the hospital right away.
And I couldn’t stop thinking about the worst-case scenario.
I couldn’t stop thinking she was lying to me.
“Sir, you can’t go in there!” A nurse grabbed my arm as I stormed through the doors past the waiting room. I spun on her, glaring down at her until she removed her arm and backed away. “I’m so sorry, Doctor Fierro. I didn’t recognize you.”
“Where’s Mr. D’Angelo?”
“I can’t—”
“Where is he!”
Eyes wide, the nurse pointed a shaky finger toward the room near the end of the hall. “They just brought him in. But you can’t go in there, Doctor. They’re—”
I didn’t wait for her to finish. I didn’t have time. I rushed down the hallway, stopping only when I was in his room, watching as the doctors and nurses worked tirelessly to try to save my friend.
Gauze covered in red was pushed to the side.
O negative blood dripped through an IV into his arm.
Hopelessness spun through me, wrapping around me and strangling my throat. My mind flashed back to watching my father get shot in the face, watching his blood seep into the carpet at my knees as pieces of his scalp and brains stuck to the side of my head.
My father had been taken away from me.
My mother had died far too young.
Paulo was the closest thing to a parent I had left.
“Sir? Are you okay?”
I couldn’t see the woman in front of me from all the tears in my eyes. I couldn’t put up a fight as she guided me out of the room.
I couldn’t take it if I lost Paulo to this.
I wasn’t at his side.
This was all my fault.