Page 2 of Bastard Prince
She smiled and opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by the ringing of his cell phone. “Mi scusi, mia stellina.”
Gio frowned at the unknown number displayed across his screen. Pressing accept, he answered the call. “Hello?”
“Is this Giovanni De Marco?”
“Who’s asking?” It was rare that anyone outside the Organization called him, so it paid to be extra cautious.
“This is officer David Danielson of the NYPD. There’s been an accident. Your wife and son have been taken to Mount Sinai West. Are you able to come down and answer a few questions?”
He felt as if his heart had literally stopped. There was no forward and no back, only this one horrific moment, stalled forever on repeat, where he heard the words his mind simply couldn’t accept. Finally, he was startled out of his daze by a gentle touch on his hand, and Gio looked down to see the worried face of his daughter staring back at him, her eyes full of fear, but her head held high. Giovanni flipped his hand over and squeezed hers back, then replied, “I’m on my way.”
Hanging up the phone, he paid the bill and headed for the door, Francesca’s hand still clutched in his, as though to remind himself that she was still here, still safe within his protective grasp.
When he arrived at the hospital, he was directed to a waiting room, and he paced frantically up and down the hall as Francesca sat, straight and strong, watching silently. One by one, the members of the Family arrived, the women flocking to Francesca, the men standing with him. The strength he derived from being surrounded by the people he loved helped, but until he could hold his wife and son in his arms again, he could not rest.
Finally, a doctor in bloody scrubs arrived and asked for him. When Gio reached him, he realized he recognized the doctor, a man who had been an associate of the Family for many years. He greeted Gio solemnly and asked that he follow him. Insisting that Francesca wait, despite her very vocal protest, Gio followed the doctor, not into the emergency room as he had assumed he would, but deeper into the belly of the hospital, down an empty corridor and into a quiet room. What he saw inside made his heart clench in panic.
The two hospital beds sat side by side, one for his wife, the other for his son. For a moment, Giovanni couldn’t breathe.
It was the blood. There was just so much of it. Elena was practically drenched, and the floor looked like a scene from a horror film. Rushing forward, he moved between the two beds, grasping each of their hands and holding on for dear life. Antonio appeared to be whole, although sleeping. Elena, however, was in much worse condition.
“Mr. De Marco, your wife has suffered significant internal trauma. We need to take her to surgery as soon as possible, but she refused to go until she could speak with you.” The doctor, whose name Gio couldn’t remember, looked around the empty room before continuing quietly. “Mr. De Marco, in speaking with your wife earlier, it appears this was no ordinary accident. They seem to have been run off the road. Once they hit the rail, the vehicle that was chasing them rammed into the driver’s side door. Repeatedly.”
Giovanni looked at his son, his pale skin and closed eyes making him appear to already be dead, and if it weren’t for the steady beeping of the monitor beside him, Gio would have believed he was. Drawing in a shuddering breath, he turned again when the doctor cleared his throat.
“I haven’t said anything to the police, Mr. De Marco, because I know you prefer to handle these types of situations...internally. But I had to tell you what I learned. Now, if you please, take a moment with your wife, then I really must get her into surgery. Her situation is quite critical. I’m really not sure there is even anything we can do for her as it is.”
Unable to find the breath to speak words, Gio nodded, then turned to his love, her small body looking so fragile in the large bed. Reaching out a shaking hand, Gio pushed her hair away from her face, his heart crumbling at the sight of a jagged cut along her jaw and neck, appearing to be the source of all the blood.
“Topolina. Please, my love. I’m here. My love, please.”
Her eyes were moving rapidly beneath her lids, and when she blinked against the harsh lighting of the hospital room, Giovanni released a ragged sob.
“Gio?”
“Yes, my love. I’m here. They’re going to help you, Elena. You’ll be alright.”
“Tony?” she questioned, her voice barely more than a whisper.
“He’s alright, darling. A few scrapes and a bump to the head.”
She took a shallow breath. “Tell them I love them, Gio. Tell them every day.”
“You will tell them, Elena. You just need to get better, and you will be there to tell them.”
His wife, his one true love, smiled sadly. “No, I won’t.”
The agony that shot through him was so acute, he didn’t know how he would survive. But he did, long enough to receive a second blow when he heard her next words.
“The car, Gio. It was your car. He thought I was you.” Her voice grew softer. “He wanted you and Tony. He thought I was you.”
“Mr. De Marco, I really need to take her.” But Giovanni held up a hand, not taking his eyes off his wife.
“Who, my love? Who hurt you? Who hurt our boy?”
But Elena, the woman he loved more than life itself, only closed her eyes as alarms began to sound throughout the hospital room. The doctor moved him aside as more staff rushed into the room, and Giovanni could do nothing but watch as they wheeled his wife down the hall and out of sight.
Someone had harmed his family. Someone out there had struck a blow against him, which he might never recover from, and he had no idea who it was.
