I poke my head in and see Sophia perched by his side, one hand clutched in his and the other lightly stroking his hair. His eyes are closed, and I can see the toll the night has taken on both of them. At one point he winces in pain, and I consider just backtracking and letting him rest, except Sophia spots me.
“Hey, you,” she sings out. “Someone has been waiting to see you.”
Marco opens his eyes and slowly turns his head towards the door, smiling weakly at me. “There she is,” he croaks. I walk deeper into the room, and the waterworks start all over again. Honestly, I feel like I’ve cried so many tears over the last few months that I could end a drought. I step up to the side of his bed and lean over to give him a kiss on the forehead.
“Hey, hero,” I choke out. “How are you feeling?”
“Alive, but like I’ve just been shot.” He chuckles, but it turns into a groan.
“Babe, you sure you don’t need more pain relief?” asks Sophia.
“No. It makes me feel too fucking out of it,” he says.
“I think that’s the point, baby.” She laughs.
“Not yet. I want to talk to my cousin,” he says with a smile, and fuck if that doesn’t blur my vision once more.
“Here, sit down,” says Sophia, getting up and pulling up a chair to the side of the bed for me. “Did you come with Raf?”
Yes, multiple times in his bed, then in the shower too. But I stick with the G-rated response.“Yes. His driver took me home to change and then we came right over. He’s out there, most likely being interrogated by AJ.”
“AJ’s here?” Marco asks.
“Yes. He jumped straight on the private jet as soon as he heard what happened.”
“Well I guess I’m a lucky motherfucker. You two are my very own guardian angels.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” I whisper.
“It was him who gave me the warning that we had an infidel in the room. He called me just before the Arty exposé.” He grunts, pain lancing through him again.
“Are you okay? Can I get you some water? Call the nurses?”
“No, no. It will pass.”
“You do know that taking pain relief won’t strip you of your hero status, right?”
“Ha, ha. Still giving me hell even when I’m lying in a hospital bed with holes in me.”
“I could torture you with spicy audio books instead?”
“I would definitely take the extra pain relief to listen to that why-choose shit you love.”
I giggle, because the way I’ve loved watching him squirm every time I played a new audiobook on full blast will never get old.
“I’ll spare you this time, but only because you’ve suffered enough trauma.” The words are out before I can catch myself. “Speaking of…have you spoken with your parents?”
“Yes. Briefly. They were absolutely shattered and guilt-ridden about not being honest with me. It broke me seeing them like that. I mean, what an impossible position to be in, right?”
“I’m sorry you had to find out about everything the way you did. I feel like, from the moment I arrived, I’ve been some bad omen.”
“Chiara, don’t say shit like that.”
“It’s just…Oh god. I’m so hot. I need to take this coat off.”
Marco’s eyes widen as he watches me strip my coat and adjust my sweater that falls loosely across my shoulder, but I don’t have time to question it because I’m huffing out breaths and fanning myself trying to cool my face as my heart rate ratchets up thinking about the lives lost because of greed, power, and money driven by Mafia honor codes.
“Our fathers both suffered the same fate,” I tell him. “For generations, the shadow of death has followed the family. I would have spared you. Taken the truth to my grave if I could have. You would have been free to live in ignorant bliss all your days.”
