If I had any doubt who that man was, it was all gone. This was Leo Bellomo. The man I was sent to Filicudi to fake his records and make it look like he’d been admitted there all this time. The man the Lanzas had obviously kept alive to torture for a whole year, and I helped them to do so.
The boy I went to school with. My silly infatuation. The secret I’d been holding on to for years. The star of my wet dreams.
“I told you she was a shrink. She can’t do shit,” he groaned at the woman.
Blinking the tears that were giving me away, I dragged myself toward him. “I can do it. Just let me take a look.”
“It didn’t hit the bone, but it didn’t come out,” he said, his voice hoarse and slightly shaking. He must have been in a lot of pain, and not just because of the bullet.
As I knelt beside him, I kept my head down, letting my hair cover my face, just in case he’d recognize me although I highly doubted it. He’d never noticed me. He might not have known I ever existed.
My hand trembled as I carefully touched his leg. All these years, I’d never imagined the first time I touched him was going to be like this. “I…um… Aside from the bullet, you have multiple fractures and other wounds that are infected. I’ll need some instruments, disinfectants, lots of gauze, antibiotics…and a sedative because this is going to be very painful.”
The woman grabbed some of the plastic bags and emptied them, the contents falling on the ground. “Are these enough?”
I examined the medical supplies that seemed to be sufficient to some extent. “I’ll still need some clean water, a sponge or washcloth, and a suture kit. I have one in the car, under the passenger’s seat with Lidocaine and a sedative.”
“I’ll get it.” She walked out.
I grabbed the scissors that were in the bag to cut his pants. Suddenly, his free hand squeezed my wrist. I gasped in terror. “What…”
“Don’t think about doing anything stupid,” he rasped. “I can snap your neck with one hand.”
The first time I touched him was to examine his wounds, and the first time he touched me was to threaten to snap my neck. Quite the fantasy I had here…
“I’m only going to cut your pants to get the bullet out,” I said, not daring to look at him yet. I glanced at his cuffs, though. “I understand why she had to restrain me, but what about you? I thought you two were friends.”
“Friends?” He let go of my hand and coughed a laugh. “No. We’re more than that. We’re fucking family.”
I glowered at the torn fabric of his worn-out pants as I cut through them. “Family?”
“She used to be my sister-in-law. Now, she’s my step aunt.” He laughed again, almost manically.
My heart squeezed. His laughter wasn’t humorous. It was pure pain and distress. So everything they said was true. Leo’s wedding was painted red because he and his father were in love with the same girl. Then when his father married her, Leo tried to kill him. He failed and got captured by the Lanzas, who had tortured him instead of admitting him to the institution in exile. The woman with him now was the girl’s sister—I knew I recognized her from somewhere—and for whatever reason she’d freed him. Now they were both on the run, hiding from the Lanzas.
“So…Berlusconi from Highland Park, huh?” he asked.
I just nodded.
“Matteo or Dante?”
He was testing me, but that wasn’t what caused my throat to bob with a swallow. I lied for a living. I could lie now, too. What made me nervous was that I’d reached his hip, cutting the waistband, and my hand was so close to his…business.
I had no clue how he was battered and scarred and dirty and smelled awful, yet he still looked so sexy to me. He had no idea how many times I’d imagined taking off his pants, wondered what kind of underwear he wore and drooled over the fantasy of seeing what was underneath…
Stop being a pervert and keep it professional. You’re here to treat him, not to molest him with your leering and filthy thoughts.I cleared my throat. “How do you know these names?”
“If you really are a Berlusconi from Highland Park, you’ll know the answer to that.”
My heart skipped a beat. Did he know I recognized him? Or worse, did he recognize me?
CHAPTER 8
Ravenna
“Is that why you won’t look me in the eye, Doc?” Leo asked. “You know who I am, don’t you?”
Hands unsteady for a second, I proceeded with cutting the other leg of the pants. Then I took a deep breath and lifted my gaze to his in a calculated risk. A power move to diminish his doubt. I knew he never noticed me at school, and with his injuries, his vision was compromised. He wouldn’t recognize me, and I needed to show him I was in charge. The deep blue of his eyes threatened to ruin my plan, though, stripping me of all control. “All I know is that you’re in pain. Lots of it.” Pain I had a huge part in causing. “I can help take it away.”
