Page 20 of Bad Medicine
What I saw shocked the shit out of me.
It looked like something out of a movie, the vehicle nothing more than a blackened shell, flames still licking at the insides from what had clearly been an explosion. Running a hand over my head, I stared around me, trying to process the scene that still made absolutely no sense.
Until it did.
Because as soon as I saw my friends, the pieces all clicked into place.
Enzo stood over Francesca, a shocked look on his face as he gazed down at his wife where she knelt on the pavement, Vinnie’s head in her lap while she spoke quietly to him. Looking at the burning vehicle again, I finally recognized it as Francesca’s new Range Rover, and an angry growl started deep in my chest.
This was another attempt on her life.
“Holy fuck, boss man,” I breathed, my eyes bouncing from the fire to the bloody gash on Vinnie’s head. “What the fuck?”
“Rock,” Enzo said, his tone sounding calm to anyone who didn’t know him. But I had spent more than half my life with him as my best friend.
He was pissed.
“This is gonna draw a whole fuckload of attention that we don’t need,” he continued. “Clear out the basement. Refund any bets and let people know we will be on hold until further notice.”
“You got it. Anything else?”
Not taking his eyes off his wife, Enzo spoke, his voice practically vibrating with his rage.
“Yeah,” he snarled. “Tell everyone, this ends now. I want a full round-up. Any one they can find. Bratva, gangbangers, thugs, crackheads, the works. If anyone even looks like they could know someone who knows something about this, I wanna talk to them.”
A part of me—the part that was more than a little twisted—was looking forward to what we were gonna do about this.
“Where are we holding this little get-together?” I asked.
“Bring them to The Shed. It’s time I reminded the people in this town why they don’t fuck with Enzo Argenti.”
Chapter eight
Mia
WorkingforFrancescawasgoing to give me gray hair.
It had been a week. Just one single week of being her on call...person, and I had already dealt with more drama than could have ever anticipated.
First, she got assaulted with a champagne bottle by her husband’s jealous ex while watching an underground mixed martial arts bout, and now a car bombing.
A freaking car bombing!
I was honestly starting to question whether my relationship with her and her organization was worth it, but the extra couple thousand dollars in my bank account this week made a strong case for me to shut my mouth and do what she needed.
Making my way down the familiar hospital corridors and back to Vinnie’s room, I smiled when I saw Francesca, now curled into Enzo’s side as they watched over the kid. It was sweet, really, the way Enzo was so tough and honestly scary, yet I could see just how much he worried for his wife and the people in his inner circle.
My own circle was rather small these days, and I often felt like I was holding the whole thing together myself, but I had always managed as best as I could; this would be no different.
“Hey,” I said, smiling at Vinnie and announcing my presence in the room. “You’re looking better already.” I reached over, placing my palm on his forehead, both to assess his temperature and to soothe the creases from his expression. Vinnie may have been big, but he really was still just a boy, and every mom knew that sometimes boys just needed a cuddle.
“You gonna check me out, too, Doc?”
I hated that my first reaction was a shiver. Gritting my teeth, I fought to hide it as best I could while still attempting to look unaffected.
I failed.
My second reaction was the tightening of my nipples, and I hated that even more. Luckily for me, I managed to cover both of those things with an angry scowl as I turned to the man I hadn’t noticed, standing in the shadows on the far side of Vinnie’s room.
