Page 9 of Sins of Bliss

The words hardly leave my lips before Rosie is yelling, her head turning from me to Cain. “NO, you guys will not. That’s reckless and dangerous. They already pulled their ‘eye for an eye’ bullshit, and if you clap back, they’ll come at you again harder.”

Cain wraps his arms around her, pulling her in close. She presses her face against his chest as he attempts to calm her, running his hand down the back of her head repetitively. She’s so upset, she’s shaking.

“Please, Cain,” she murmurs. “No one else needs to get hurt.”

“I know, baby, I know,” he assures her. “King and I are meeting tomorrow to discuss our next steps. Until then, everyone is lying low.”

From above her head, my eyes meet Cain’s, and it’s as though I can read his thoughts.

He wants to call church to discuss this without Rosie’s presence. And I can’t say I disagree.

Later, after we’ve all eaten a real dinner—one that Cain went to pick up for us—a nurse comes to let Rosie and Cain know that visiting hours are over, but Rosie refuses to leave.

Chuckling, I watch the nurse and Rosie go toe-to-toe as both Cain and I keep our mouths closed.

“Visiting hours are long past over. You guys are welcome to come back tomorrow, but Mr. Lucchetti needs some rest, and frankly, Ms. Adler, you look like you could use some, too.”

“Then bring me a cot because we’re not leaving.”

“Ms. Adler?—”

“No,” she says with finality. “Look, either I’m sleeping on this chair, or I’m sleeping on a cot you provide, but I’m not leaving. And honestly, I’d prefer a cot. Sharing a chair with that giant man over there doesn’t seem like the most comfortable option when I’m still dealing with a concussion.” She points her thumb toward Cain, and the nurse rolls her eyes, letting out a frustrated sigh.

“If I get in trouble for this, I’m sending my bosses to you,” she promises when she comes back with a small, folded cot on wheels and linens over her arm.

She shoves the linens into Cain’s arms. Laughing, he takes the offerings, sets them down, and begins to help her make it up. “Sounds fair.”

As she leaves the room with a huff, she shuts the lights off and tells us all to get some rest. I can’t help but chuckle to myself, shaking my head with my eyes closed.

Now more than ever, I appreciate the fire that lives inside Rosie and am grateful to the two people in this room who care enough to not leave me alone.

The room is dark, only a faint glow from where the fluorescents in the hallway shine through the small square window on my hospital door.

Noise from the hallway wakes me, and from the shine of the eyes across the room, I can see they woke Rosie too.

My room is close to the nurse's station, perhaps one or two doors down, and the sound of whatever altercation happening in the hallway carries.

“Where is he?” a familiar, feminine voice shouts.

For a moment, I think my mind is playing tricks on me.

Cain grunts as he’s jostled awake, presumably by the sound of the woman’s voice outside.

Situating myself as upright as I can in my bed, I turn my full attention to the door, listening closely. For a brief moment, my eyes meet Rosie’s, and she smiles, but I find myself unable to return it.

Inside, my heart is hammering. Recognition kicks my senses into high gear.

I know that voice.

But it can’t be.

The nurse clears her throat. “Miss, it’s past midnight. Visiting hours are between eleven and eight tomorrow if you’d like to come back then, but it's too?—”

“I don’t care what time it is! I need to see him.”

“Vincenza?” I mutter, my brows creasing together as I use the remote to fully right myself, staring at the door and wishing I wasn’t hooked up to all these machines so I could go see for myself.

She’s not here. Vinnie is in New York, tucked safely at home, in bed, probably next to her fiancè.

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