Page 90 of Ties That Bind Us

We had been here over an hour, and the emergency room doctors still weren’t letting me back to see Ava. No amount of pacing in front of the doorway was changing their minds, and I was losing my shit.

By the time I had woken up at the scene, we were being loaded into separate ambulances. Paramedics assured me that Ava was being taken care of, but being separated from her was excruciating. Everything had happened so quickly that I was still trying to wrap my mind around it. One second, we had been joking around in the car, and the next we were blanketed in shattered glass and Ava was unconscious.

This had to have been intentional; there was no doubt in my mind. It was the middle of the night, we were taking back roads. Someone had set out to hurt us, and when I found out who, I would make them fucking pay. Especially if anything happened to Ava or our baby. My God, would they pay.

Shit. The baby. I hadn’t even thought to tell the doctor.

“Ma’am,” I said, rushing toward the nurse’s station. The charge nurse spotted me and sighed heavily. She had fielded my attempts to get back to see Ava for the last hour. “My wife, she’s pregnant. I need to tell the doctor.”

She smiled sympathetically. “I’m sure they’re aware of that, Mr. Caponelli. Why don’t you have a seat and try to relax? As soon as they know anything someone will come out to talk to you. Is there anyone I can call for you?”

I shrank back in defeat. If they would just let me see her, I could relax. Until then, it was useless.

“Out of my way!” A gruff voice came from behind me. I recognized it immediately, and turned to see Leo and my father pushing through hospital security.

“Dad!” I cried out, as if I was twelve years old. I didn’t care how I sounded, right now I was just happy to see him.

“What the hell happened?” he asked, pulling me in for a quick hug. He usually wasn’t one to show much physical affection, so I knew he had been worried. “Where’s Ava?”

The hospital security guards hung back, accepting the fact that they were here with me.

“She’s back there.” I pointed at the large, swinging metal doors that I had been battling all night. Right now, they were the only thing keeping me from my wife. “I don’t know what happened. The car came out of nowhere. By the time I got out, whoever it was was gone.”

“And you didn’t get a good look at the guy?” My dad paused, lost in his own thoughts.

I shook my head, disgusted with myself that I hadn’t thought quicker and gotten a look at the guy.

“It’s fuckin’ Asnikov.” Leo clenched his fist, fuming. “It has to be.”

My dad held a hand up to him. “We don’t know that yet. Let’s be cautious about this.”

“Bullshit!” Leo bellowed, causing several people in the hallway to look at us, including my new nurse friend. “Fuck being cautious. If we would’ve taken care of the shit after the shooting, this never would’ve happened.”

I didn’t even know what to think. The only thing I was concerned about was Ava. At this point, I’d gladly give up my position if it meant she would be okay. I would walk away right now, tonight.

“Get a hold of yourself,” my dad seethed, his tone low. “The announcement of the marriage could have set off any one of our enemies. If we go guns blazing at Asnikov and it turns out it wasn’t him, we are going to have more than we can deal with.” My dad gave Leo a silencing glare. “Let’s not forget that they were in your car. It’s possible you were the target, not Nick or Ava.”

I hadn’t even considered that until this point. Could it have been a case of us being in the wrong place at the wrong time? Were they after Leo? He was my brother—an attack on him would be equally as personal, but it would change the suspect list a little bit.

That stopped Leo in his tracks too. “You think they were after me?”

“I don’t think anything at this point. The accident was ninety minutes ago. I’m just trying to get you two to realize we can’t move without the right information.”

“Nick Caponelli?” a doctor said, finally emerging from the emergency room.

I shot up, bounding toward him. “Is she okay?”

“Your wife is going to be fine. She is in recovery now, and you can go see her as soon as we’re done here.”

My whole body eased with relief. She was okay. Ava was okay. I felt like I could finally breathe again.

“And the baby?”

My dad and Leo both looked on in shock. I didn’t care at this point that I was ruining the surprise.

The doctor stiffened. “Mr. Caponelli, the majority of the force of impact was on your wife’s side of the car. She had a lot of internal damage.” A sinking feeling crept into my stomach. Why wasn’t he just saying yes, the baby was fine? Why this long explanation?

“We were unable to save the baby. I’m so sorry.”

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