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And then there was Aurelio Carbone, who seemed to have made it his routine to “stop by” to sit with me at lunch each day.
And the shifts with Raven throughout which I’d seen her carry herself as nothing but a confident and compassionate nurse.
The only people I had any interactions with werethem.Lucianos. Lucas.Criminals. Instead of shunning them, though, I found myself wanting to understand what made them tick.
Raven started walking toward the trauma room door, but she kept her gaze on me, eyes thoughtful. “I don’t know if Deo would ever melt down his weapons, but then, I’m not sure I’d want him to. Some people were made to be healers,” she said, motioning between the two of us. “Others were made to be protectors.”
Amadeo, a protector? In some lights, I could see it, perhaps. But in others? The coldhearted killer I’d first met? The man who controlled his people with an authority that oozed from his pores? The man who seemed to have taken control of my body with that same power? “Tyrant” felt like a word that fit better.
She stopped at the door and turned to face me.
“Look, I know this kind of crosses the nurse-doctor line here, but I think we’ve pretty much stepped over that boundary already. So, my friend, Greta, has been setting up a girls’ night for tonight. Why don’t you come out with us? Spend some time with us and see what you think.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but I had no idea what to say. My tongue felt tied, nearly as much as my brain did. In truth, I’d never been invited out to a girls’ night before, never mind a girls’ night with the cousin of the mafia man I was currently sleeping with.
“Think about it. We’ll be at the Onyx nightclub, any time after ten P.M.,” she said before I could figure out how to respond. “The place will be crowded, but I guarantee you’ll spot us.”
She pushed open the door and left the room, leaving me gaping after her—quite like a fool, I imagined.
I sighed and checked my watch. It was my lunch time, and I couldn’t help but notice the way my feet gravitated toward the hospital’s exit, toward the bench where Aurelio Carbone had been waiting for me each day.
But today, the bench was empty.
I stared at it, not quite sure what to make of the disappointment that welled up inside me. Still, it was for the best that he wasn’t here. There was somewhere else I needed to be.
***
“All right, so I’ve been thinking about it, and I think I have to forgive you,” I said, standing in front of the small headstones that stood side by side in a remote corner of the cemetery.
The grass had recently been cut. The sweet, green aroma wafted heavily through the air as I laid a single sprig of forget-me-nots on the top of each headstone. They were my mum’s favorites; I didn’t know if my father had a favorite flower.
I ran my fingers along the face of my dad’s smooth, cold headstone. But the face in my mind was not his, but Amadeo’s, and Aurelio’s, and Raven’s. They were the reason I was here, after all. I’d stopped trying to shove these people into boxes in my head; they didn’t fit. And perhaps, neither did my father.
“But I’m still angry,” I went on. “You’re gone, and it’s because of that money, isn’t it?”
I shook my head and stared at the headstone like it might actually answer me.
Was it worth it? I asked them silently.
I felt a hand on my back.
My breath caught in my throat as I spun around.
I expected it to be someone familiar, but I was quite certain I’d never before seen the man standing there. He was a tall man with dark chestnut hair and warm brown eyes. He was clean-shaven and dressed in an expensive-looking suit—Armani, if I had to guess.
“I’m sorry,” he said, holding up his hand. “I was calling to you…”
“I mustn’t have heard you.” I seldom felt the need to explain my impediment to strangers.
“It’s just… it looks like we’re neighbors,” he said, nodding to the headstone nearest my parents. “My mother… cancer.”
“I’m sorry,” I replied, looking at the headstone. According to the date of death, his mother had passed away only two months ago.
“My mum and dad,” I said, nodding to my parents’ headstones.
He eyed the date like I’d eyed his.
“Car accident?” he asked, the lines of his handsome face softening with sympathy.
