He crumbled by her bedside, barely holding his tears. He held her hand gently, careful not to disturb the IV in her arm. “Can she hear me?”
“No, sir,” the nurse replied.
He sobbed and kissed Maggie’s palm. “Mi dispiace, cuore mio. Ti amo tanto, Carolina. I’m so sorry, amore. I love you more than anything,” he whispered anyway. Even if she couldn’t hear him, maybe she could sense that he was by her side. “You gotta live. You know that, right? You’re just starting, Kiddo. You can’t just leave.” He stared at her, scared out of his fucking mind that he might never see her smile or hear her voice again. “Please, don’t leave me. Not like this. Not like this, amore.” He broke down, unable to stop the tears.
“Mr. Gennaro, I’m afraid I can’t let you stay any longer.”
He nodded, kissing Maggie’s palm again. A painful sigh came out of his chest as he rose to his feet.
Outside, the doctor advised him and Nick to rest and assured them they would be notified when she woke up.
“Nick, it’s four a.m. you should get some rest. They already have a room for me. You can use it,” Mike said.
“I’m not going anywhere.” He lifted his head from his hands. “Not anymore.”
Scene80
Mike
At eight in the morning, while Lahey, his publicist, discussed with him potential scenarios to tell the press, Mike watched through a window Maggie strapped to a bed in the ICU, her father by her side.
“We can’t hide the suicide. It’s a gunshot, and there’s the police report and the bartender…”
Her words fell on him unheard as he silently prayed for Maggie’s recovery. What would the world mean without her? What would he be without her? To the world, Mike Gennaro. Superstar. Heartthrob. Academy Award winner. To himself, a motherfucking prick. The guy who made the only girl he loved try to kill herself.
As tears irritated his eyes, he saw in his peripheral vision a woman approaching. He looked in the direction of hesitant, clacking heels, and wrath consumed him.
“You fucking bitch,” he snarled, clenching his teeth, lunging through the security guards.
“Mike!” James’s arms surrounded him, pulling him back.
Andrea froze while Mike kept cursing, shrugging out of James’s tight hold. She cried, her hands held up. “I just need to see her.”
“Why? To gloat?”
“I swear I didn’t know she’d do this,” she whimpered.
He growled, his breath hitching. “Fine.” He grabbed her arm, dragging her past the guards. “Come see what you did.” His hands gripped her shoulders, pushing her in front of the window “Look. This is your doing in there. This is what you did to your own daughter. There’s no one else to blame this time.”
He felt the tremors running through her body. “How is it that you didn’t know? She did the same thing before and for the same fucking reason.”
The tremors became shudders. “What are you talking about?”
He shook his head in disbelief. “You didn’t even know she tried to commit suicide before?”
“No,” she sobbed. “When?”
“She saw…” A long beep from the ICU clipped his words. He stared as Nick was pushed away and a nurse took his place. His heart raced with the scurrying steps behind. Cold sweat trickled down his back as he saw doctors rush into the room.
“What the hell is happening?” Mike asked when Nick came outside.
“I don’t…” Nick’s face turned red, his eyes wide as they fell on Andrea’s face. “How dare you come here? I told you we never wanted to see you again. Get the hell out.”
“Let me go, Mike,” she begged.
“No. You watch.” His fingers bit into her shoulders, crushing them. “You fucking watch.”
