Page 34 of His to Hold

Thinking about how frail the strongest man I’ve ever known looked as he lay there makes me shudder. Cancer is a cruel disease. The thought of how it ravaged his body makes me shudder. I have to bury the sadness that creeps up on me. Several of our men are stationed outside the waiting room and I can’t show any weakness in front of them.

As I enter the waiting room, my eyes immediately land on my mother, who’s sitting between Alessandro and my sister. My brother’s wife, Emilia, and Matteo flank them. It’s odd to see them in this setting still dressed in their finery from the party last night.

Leo stands at the other side of the room, wearing a look of guilt that tells me he believes he’s somehow responsible for this shit show.

Tamping down my anger at the thought his wife is connected to what happened, I go to my mother. I drop to a crouch in front of her and take her hand.

“I’m so sorry, Mamma. I should have been here sooner.” I kiss her hand. “Please, forgive me.”

“Of course, Antonio.” Her voice is croaky as if she’s cried herself hoarse. “But where have you been?”

I hate to lie to her, but I’m not ready to reveal Isabella is back in my life. She’ll worry about the implications of that and right now her focus has to be on Gio.

“I was away on business, Mamma.”

“Well, you’re here now.” My mother’s a good woman. She won’t make me feel bad about not being here with Gio was hurt, not that I’ll ever forgive myself for that.

“Gio will be fine,” I assure her. “You raised strong men. He’ll pull through.”

“I know.”

Kissing her hand once more, I get up and storm toward Leo. He can’t meet my eye and there’s no sign of his wife, which heightens my suspicion she’s to blame for this situation.

“What the fuck happened?” I demand as I reach him.

“Gio got shot.”

Is he for real? “Yeah, I know that. What I need you to tell me is how it happened.”

Leo sucks in a breath. “He was ambushed outside the ladies’ room, shot three times. He was fetching Vinnie’s purse.”

My jaw clenches so tightly I’m afraid I’ll break my teeth. “So this is your wife’s doing?”

“I don’t know.”

“Seems like a hell of a coincidence that she was talking to her father one minute and Gio’s fighting for his life the next.” Matteo walks over to join us.

“What the fuck?” I shake my head in disbelief. “Carlo was there?”

“He just showed up,” Leo replies. “Vinnie spoke to him.”

I exchange a look with Matteo who seems as surprised as I am that Leo would allow his wife anywhere near her father. “You didn’t shut that down?”

“I wasn’t with her. Gio was.”

The strain in Leo’s voice tells me he’s close to breaking. The last thing I need right now is for him to collapse under the weight of his own guilt. No matter what’s happened, we’re brothers, and that’s more important than anything his wife might have done. Curving a hand around his neck, I pull him closer and rest my forehead against his.

“You are not to blame. I let the marriage happen.”

“You couldn’t have stopped it. I wanted her too badly.”

I’m not going to argue with Leo over what might have been. I don’t know if he would have defied me if I said he couldn’t have her.

“If she got Gio shot, we have to deal with her,” Matteo says as I release my grip on Leo. “Do you want me to handle the interrogation?”

“I can do it,” Leo says before I can tell him I think it should be Matteo who deals with Vinnie. Though he’d never admit it, I’m pretty sure Leo’s already caught feelings for his wife. He won’t want to hurt her, if it comes to that. “She’s my wife. I can handle it.”

He’s adamant about that so I have to trust that he will take care of it. He needs to know I have faith in him. Leo takes a step toward the door but freezes as our family physician, Doctor Marino, comes into the room. He has privileges at this hospital and I’m relieved to know he’s here. The doctor might look like a weasel but he’s one of the few people outside of my immediate family that I have confidence in.

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