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She got behind the wheel and was about to start the ignition when tears flowed from her eyes. She couldn't stop shaking or crying. The hysterical, crying release went on for a few minutes. There was no way she could pull out of the drive. Not like that, with her eyes full of tears and her mind all over the place. Eventually, she got a grip and gave herself a talking-to in the rearview mirror.
“Seriously, Lorena, you’re crying now? When Papa is alright? Can you get with the program? Your dad is waiting for you.”
Lorena sniffed back the waterworks, wiped her face with the sleeve of her shirt, and punched the car’s start button. As if on autopilot, she drove back to the hospital, not remembering what streets she took or what lights she stopped at. Life for her was one big blur, and it would stay that way until her father was completely out of the woods.
Lorena walked down the ward and saw her father’s surgeon. By all accounts, he was the best in the nation, thanks to Thomas’s help to get him on her father’s case in time.
By the looks of the dried sweat on his cap and the purple rings underneath his eyes, the poor man had been working on other patients after she returned home. Lorena tried not to wring her hands as she decided what to do. She didn’t want to disturb the exhausted man, but she so desperately wanted an update, too.
“So, Doctor, how is my father doing today?” Lorena’s look was hopeful, but nevertheless, she held her breath.
“Ah, yes, Ms. D’Augustino. Your father’s vitals remain stable. But his injury was severe, as you know, so it’s still touch and go. I assure you, he’s in excellent hands.”
“Thank you ever so much, Doctor. I owe you everything. My father means the world to me, as I’m sure you probably know.”
The doctor demurred. “All in a day’s, or should I be saying night’s, work.”
“Can he have visitors?”
“Immediate family like you, of course.”
“Thank you again.” Lorena shook the doctor’s hand and walked down the hall.
When she entered her father’s room, he was still sleeping. Her sight went to the vitals monitor immediately. Blood pressure, heartbeat, and oxygenation levels were all good, at least to her layman’s eye.
For the first time since the accident happened, Lorena held out real hope her father would make a full recovery. If it hadn’t been for Sonny and then Thomas, her father would most likely be dead.
She couldn’t help feeling gratitude to both men, even if Sonny had trapped her in an unimaginable situation.
Her stomach churned as she thought about the fact that she was between a mighty rock and a hard place right then.I don’t think asking an actual mobster for help was a good idea, but Papa would be dead by now had I not taken his offer.
Lorena tried to suppress thoughts about what Sonny had asked her to do. She didn’t want to think about that right now.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket. She fished it out, looked at the screen, and inhaled. Her hands shook. Her blood ran cold. It was a text from Sonny.
The Den. Now. We need to talk.
She quickly texted back.Okay. On my way.
Lorena slipped the phone back into her pocket and tiptoed to her slumbering father. She breathed easier because his color was back, his chest rose and fell with a steady rhythm, and his hands felt warm to the touch. He was in the best of hands. There was no way she could ignore Sonny’s summons now, not after he had footed the bill right from the start.
On the way out, Lorena stopped at the nurse’s desk.
“If there’s any change, any change at all …”
“Yes, we will definitely call you, Ms. D’Augustino. But try not to worry. The surgeon your colleague brought in is the very best.”
Lorena nodded and headed for the parking garage. She had to remedy the other side of her father’s injury.
This one might take even more care.
* * *
One of Sonny’sgoons led Lorena upstairs to the private offices in The Den. Sonny’s office was at the far end of the hall. The walk seemed endless, and she couldn’t help holding her breath the entire way there.
The lieutenant opened Sonny’s door and waved her in. The smirk on his face only made her stomach twist into further knots.
The room was dark and richly decorated with mahogany furniture and red velvet curtains.
