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“Get rid of these bloody rags and I need a fresh bowl and towels,” the doc called out. Matteo disappeared. “I have to get the bullets out. Yuri, hold him down.”
I sank into the chair at the head of the table and bent low to Luka’s ear. His eyes fluttered and my chest tightened listening to his pained moans. I wasn’t sure if he could hear me, but I had to try.
“You’re going to be okay, we’re all here.” Gerardo placed the belt between his teeth and I slung an arm across his shoulders, crushing him against the wood. “Be strong.”
Slow and steady hands cut into the skin for more access before the doc removed the bullets one at a time, each time ripping blood-curdling screams from Luka before he passed out underneath my hold. Both Matteo and I had been in this exact situation, either holding another half-dead man or on the table ourselves but when we exchanged looks across the room, there was an unspoken acknowledgment that this time was the worst. Even worse than when I held down my own dad ten years ago with his blood dripping onto me like an hourglass running out. It was torture, watching someone you love endure such pain and being unable to do anything about it.
The process took hours and the sun blotted the morning sky by the time Luka was cleaned, stitched, and resting. Doc rinsed off his hands while Denis had made himself scarce, acting like the blood made him queasy. Instead, he was smoking, the amber butt of the cigarette glowing in the stillness outside. Matteo entered the kitchen holding pillows and a blanket to make Luka more comfortable after Gerardo told us not to move him. He was stable, but not stable enough to be carried across the house.
That information alone kept me on edge.
“Did you check on Lucia?” I asked Matteo as he lowered our brother’s head onto a pillow.
“Raf stayed with her. She’s sleeping now but he’s going to stick around.”
I nodded.
I felt like screaming. Felt like throwing myself into oncoming traffic for letting my baby sister witness what she had. And I felt like amonsterfor leaving Darya alone through all this.
But there was something else I needed to do before I went to her.
I cleared my throat and nodded for the doc to follow me. Every muscle in my body was stiff and I couldn’t stop myself from asking. “He’ll be okay?”
He blew out a breath, shaking his head like I’d seen him do countless times. Being a doctor wasn’t easy, but working for the cartel came with its own set of special circumstances. Like being paid for your silence and doing surgery with no anesthesia.
“Just needs some time to rest and he will be good as new. He was lucky,” he tipped his head, his eyes narrowing, “one of these days someone won’t be.”
I nodded and thanked him, my chest constricting at his words.One of these days someone won’t be. He was right. And I knew the day that someone was dragged home, bloodied beyond repair, it would be my fault— my call to put that person in danger.
I padded across the hardwood floor until we arrived at his door. The steady beeping was just audible from the gap beneath the door and my hand burned to reach for the knob. Days. It’d been days since I’d visited him– choosing instead to sink myself into my work and my obsession with her. But I couldn’t push him off any longer. My father’s days were numbered and I wanted to hear it from Gerardo personally.
We stepped inside and I hesitated to look toward the bed. The one he’d shared with my mother no longer took up half the room– in its place was the high-tech medical bed that hoisted him up for meals and helped his caretakers bathe him comfortably. When I finally found the courage to look, I found my father fast asleep under the red hue of his EKG machine.
“Lucia says his appetite has gone down and he’s been sleeping a lot,” I whispered. I simultaneously didn’t want to wake my father and wanted to shake him out of bed. His thin frame was jarring like he was a shell of his former glory and I understood exactly why he didn’t want anyone outside of the family to see him this way. For most of his life, his presence drew lesser men to their knees.
Now, he wasonlymy sickly father.
And I was not ready for both parents to be gone.
Gerardo placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. My eyes flicked to him and my stomach dropped at the look on his face. “He’s very close now. Probably days.”
“Yuriel?” a withered voice filled the air.
My teeth gnashed. “It’s me,” I said as I rounded the side of the bed.
From underneath the comforter, my father’s hand reached out. His skin was gray and tight like it was seconds from disintegrating. I bent and took it in my own hands, using both to warm him and assure him I was really here.
“It’s about time you came to see me.”
I blew out a breath and chuckled. Even in this state, he’d never miss an opportunity to scold me. “Following in your footsteps is time-consuming.”
“And you’re still fucking it up.” He coughed and rolled a bit but his hand never left mine. “Your brother?”
I pulled back in shock.
“Matteo stopped by. How’s Luka?”
“Stable,” Gerardo answered.
