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“Sounds like a question for him,” Louis says. “You sure he’s as clean as you thought he was?”
“Now I’m not so sure. Are you available to provide backup today? I think I’d like to pay him a visit.”
Louis’s grin shifts from sleepy to enthused. “Hell yeah, Boss. It’ll be like old times.”
“Gio,” I correct, slapping a hand to his back. “I might’ve been sauced out of my mind, but I meant that part.”
“It’s an honor,Gio,” he says as we get up and head out. Just like old times.
Doctor Alexander Romano is ranked number one in the country for in vitro fertility specialists. When Falynn and I set out to find a doctor who could help us through our struggles conceiving, it seemed an easy choice to go with Romano. For almost two years we’ve put our faith in him after failed ventures with other specialists. Romano was supposed to be different.
We show up to his clinic before it even opens, letting ourselves inside. An hour later, when he arrives, strolling inside with a travel coffee mug and whistle on his lips, we’re waiting for him in his office. He stutters to a stop as soon as he spots me reclining in his desk chair.
“Mr.… Mr. Sorrentino? How did you—?”
“We let ourselves in,” I answer. “I hope you don’t mind.”
Louis stands behind me, his fat gorilla arms crossed over his chest, looking every bit the brutish enforcer he is. The message can’t be misinterpreted—this is no friendly visit.
“Shut the door, doc,” I say when Romano lingers too long by the exit. “We need to chat.”
“A-about what? Mr. Sorrentino, if this is about discussing your wife’s treatment, you’ll have to make an appointment like every other patient. Quite frankly, this is extremely inappropriate. If anyone else trespassed into my office, the police would be called.”
I grin broadly, daring him to make good on his threat. “Go ahead, doc. Call the cops. Here’s your desk phone.” I nudge the phone across the expanse of his desk.
He hesitates a second and then he proves how fucking gullible he is. He pads forward and reaches for the phone. I’m up on my feet, snatching a hold of him by the back of his neck before he can ever touch it. I smash his face into the desk and step back calmly as he cries out in pain and his hands fly to his bloody nose.
“You didn’t think I’d actually let you call them, did you?” I ask.
His eyes widen in horror. “You just broke my nose.”
“Sit down. We’re just getting started.”
Louis comes out from around the desk and grips Romano by the shoulders. The doctor yelps like a frightened puppy dog as Louis strong-arms him into one of his client chairs.
“Meet Louis, my enforcer. I bring him along when I have a problem to solve. Can you guess what that is, doc? I might be lenient if you come clean now.”
“You’re fucking crazy!” he blurts out, his hand still on his bloody nose. It makes everything he says sound nasally and muffled. “I don’t even know what the hell you’re talking about! There are a lot of doctors who turn away clients of your occupation, but I made an exception. Now you’re bullying your way into my office and breaking my nose.”
“Don’t do that, doc. Don’t try and flip this around on me. You know exactly what you’ve been up to. My wife and I came to you because you were the best in the country, and we hoped you could help us as you have so many other couples. We trusted you.Itrusted you with my wife,” I explain, barely able to control myself. My temper bubbles precariously under the surface. I pace the length of his desk to expend some of its energy. “But as time passed, Falynn hated your treatments more and more.
“I admit, I wasn’t a good listener. I was preoccupied with work. I made her continue, telling her it would get better—Doc Romano wouldn’t steer us wrong. Do you know it caused such an issue in our marriage that she left me? Rightfully so. I was an asshole. But then my pal, Louis, mentioned something interesting when he saw her meds in our bathroom.”
“Anything I’ve prescribed is within FDA standards. If you think you can blame your marital issues on me, then you reallyarecrazy.”
“Can you explain why the medications you’ve been giving her might soon be pulled by that same FDA? Can you explain why two of the main side effects are depression and suicidal ideation? How about why you’ve been mixing them with prescriptions for two other medications that cause similar side effects?” I ask, stopping in front of him. “Were you trying to help my wife, doc? Because it seems to be the opposite.”
“How dare you? I care about all of my patients!”
“Is Luca Lovato a patient of yours?”
Fear lights up his round eyes. He opens and closes his mouth, but fails to produce any sound but stupid babbles of “errr” and “uhhh.”
“Why has he been making twenty-thousand-dollar deposits to you each month? I pulled some strings and did some digging into your finances. As it turns out, he’s been making these deposits for almost a year now. Your job was to sabotage us. You were to purposely make my wife ill. You were purposely trying to hurt her. Do you know what I’ve done to every person who has tried to bring her harm? I’ll give you a hint, doc—it’s not anything you will enjoy.”
“I had no choice!” he says in sudden hysterics. He drops his bloody hand from his broken nose and presses it together with his other one, like in prayer. “Please, Mr. Sorrentino, you have to believe me when I say I never intended to do it. But I was paid a visit. Luca and his men cornered me. He wanted me to prescribe her the wrong meds. Make it so the treatment was unsuccessful and she got sick. He…he said they’d murder my family if I didn’t.”
He breaks down in pitiful, snotty sobs. It’s a gross sight, his mucus mixing with his blood. What sickens me more, though, is that thiscazzothinks his tears will spare him. If only he knew it works against him. I don’t respect cowardice.
