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Happy tears come to claim me now.
“The surgeons were able to remove the bullet, and it didn’t puncture any organs. But, he lost a lot of blood. So we’re going to be keeping him here for a while until he’s stable,” Castor explains.
“That’s such a relief.” I let my head fall onto his chest. It smells of metallic sweat, but it’s good. His big arms wrap around me, ensuring that everything is going to be okay. “Can we see him?”
Castor nods. “Of course.”
I tense up as Castor waves us all through. I’m not sure what the visual is going to do to me in this sorry emotional state, so I brace.
“He’s in recovery. Just not too much noise right now, okay?”
I nod with one shaky hand over my mouth, then wince when I hear a heartrate monitor beeping around the corner. My footsteps slow, so Castor rubs my arm to tell me it’s okay.
“He’s going to be fine. The hard part’s done.” Castor opens the door to a hospital bed with plenty of tubes to make me queasy.
Tears roll when I see him. His normally angry face is peaceful. The oxygen mask fogs up with air, and the IV drip reminds of times visiting my dad. I don’t want to go through this again.
We all crowd around him. I can’t help but grasp his hand in both of mine. I’m hoping for a squeeze back, but I don’t receive so much as a twitch.
He’s breathing, Gia. That’s all that matters.
He’ll be okay.
xxx
It’s been a few hours of everyone chatting around Marco as he lay unconscious. It’s good for him to hear all his friends’ voices, and warms my heart that he has a such a standup crew, loosely speaking.
“Let’s give her some time with him.” Big Ace holds his hat and rubs his warm meaty hand on my shoulder. I hold it in thanks as he pulls away. One-by-one, they leave, and I’m left alone with the man I grew to hate.
He’s peaceful here, like when we were younger. His expression isn’t all twitchy tension and tough-guy attitude. It’s just… him. Marco.
I grab his clammy fingers and stare at his face, watching him breathe into the mask.
“Miss you, big bro.” My lips tighten to distract from the climbing tears. When he doesn’t respond, I break a little, thinking the worst scenarios playing out. I squeeze his hand hard to let him know I’m here, by his side. And I just sit for a minute, until a funny thought hits me right in the middle of my head like he threw it at me.
“Remember when Mom was making baked clams in the oven? You and me put on mitts to steal them when she was in the other room. I couldn’t have been a day over ten.” I laugh to myself. “We ate them and put the shells back like nothing had ever happened. Mom was so confused…” I laugh again. “Until she saw the oil smeared on your lip. God, she flailed with that apron of hers, whipping us on the backside. Hah.”
I adore his features and see the younger him lying there. “Why can’t it be like that again between us?” The tears roll down my face. “Come back to me, Marco. Be part of our family.”
Hope clings to me that he’ll just wake up and give me a big hug.
But he doesn’t.
“Come back, Marco. Castor, your brother, he needs you. I need you… please.”
Chapter 32
Gia
Life alongside a mafioso is something I never imagined. Not being able to have a peaceful dinner with my family and boyfriend, looking over my shoulder whenever I leave the house, watching my brother get shot.
It’s been hell.
But Castor is everything to me.
He assures me his demons are all but dead. And Marco is very much alive – hobbling around with a cigarette and crutches. He even managed using them to beat someone down who owed him money. I don’t know why I’m laughing, but the image is funny. Maybe Castor is starting to desensitize me to a life I’ve been resisting since I was a teenager.
Anyway, I’m not mad anymore, because no one died. But we did have a long talk about how this can’t continue. We went over the possible threats and how he neutralized each. The families – Rigiano and Valentino – are still allied. This was two rogue soldiers loyal to the late Marty Rigiano, who’re now buried in a ditch. As compensation for our troubles, Ronny Shadow dropped two whole percent on the Russian job and offered my mother standing security for the next year on rotation. I’m starting to understand the lingo, I suppose. And if nothing else, a few good things came out of this.
