Page 14 of Diavolo

Papáremained in a coma.

For the past year, machines kept Robbie Romero alive, but his mind was dead to the world. Costs to keep him on life support were astronomical even with insurance. The facility prevented him from dying, but maintaining status quo was the best case scenario. As a surgeon, Elyse recognized the harshness of this reality.Papáwasn't going to wake up. She rejected these facts, however, as a daughter. Elyse hadn't pulled the plug because she didn't want to say goodbye. Her heart wasn't ready. Right before his accident, father and daughter had shared one last, gut-wrenching conversation before everything went to hell.

Cree en los milagros, mija.Believe in miracles, my daughter.

Papáalways spoke to her in Spanish.

Cambiaré, lo prometo. I will change, I promise.

Robbie had been a professional poker player. In the beginning, he played for himself. Then, he started playing for the mafia. Her father had been a man of contradictions. A devout Catholic and a hopeless gambler. He idolized poker more than anything. Yet, he'd feared for the sanctity of his soul as well.

Planeo expiar todos mis pecados. I plan to atone for all of my sins.

In many ways,Papáhad been a terrible parent. His vices controlled him. Evictions and unpaid bills were the norm throughout her childhood. There were many nights when Elyse went to bed hungry. Once she became a teenager, her father would occasionally disappear for a day or two. But he never abandoned her. He always came back. Unlike her mother. From the moment Elyse was born, the woman hadn't wanted any part in their struggle.Papáhad been the only one to care for her, and she clung to him because, for years, they depended on eachother like the only survivors in a never-ending shipwreck. Guilt plagued Elyse every time she considered letting him go. Excuses kept emerging to delay the inevitable, and hope compelled her to believe in miracles. MaybePapájust needed one more day. Or one more week. If she waited a little longer, maybe, just maybe, God might openPapá'seyes again and let him fulfill his promises to her.

Before her father's final breath, Elyse vowed to pay back every cent of his debts. This felt like the only way his sins could be cleansed before he met his maker. It wasn't like Stefano and Mikey were giving her a choice in the matter, anyway. Back in the day,Papáborrowed a lot of money from the Mancinis to fuel his gambling addiction and, without Elyse's knowledge, used a portion of it to help pay for her medical school expenses. He lied and told her the money had come from his winnings in various tournaments. In this awful way, Elyse also owed the Mancinis for her career as a surgeon. A fact they never let her forget.

In her younger years, Elyse tried to go to the police. Blindly seeking assistance. Naively begging for protection. Desperate to find a safe way out. Right away, Stefano had destroyed this lifeline by threatening to kill her if authorities got involved. Mikey terrorized his victims through violence, but Stefano preferred mind games. Elyse's pet cat went missing around this time. A few days later, poorDulcearrived back on Elyse's doorstep. In nine different pieces. Attached to the feline corpse was a note.

From then on, Elyse never adopted another pet and cut ties with friends. She became painfully self-reliant and deeply withdrawn.

After Dr. Schwartz fired her ass, it took two stressful months to secure a new position at the New York Mercy Medical Center. Elyse fell behind on the Mancinis' payments, and Stefano's tolerance thinned by the day. As a coping mechanism, Elyse refused to dwell on what might happen once Stefano lost his patience. Easier said than done. On nights when sleep alluded her, fear overtook everything. Would Stefano order Mikey to make her disappear? Or maybe he preferred doing the dirty work himself.Without Mikey.

Interestingly enough, Elyse noticed that Stefano had been operating as a one-man show as of late. She hadn't caught a glimpse of Mikey since, well, the last time he laid hands on her. His absence was disconcerting even though Elyse didn't miss him at all. On Tuesday, when Stefano dropped by Elyse's apartment for the sixth time that month, alone and Mikey-less, her concern turned into an ominous kind of panic. Something didn’t feel right.

Uneasily, she dared to ask, "You came alone… again?"

Stefano coughed. "Yeah."

"Is Mikey okay? Haven't seen him in a while."

"Mikey, uh, wanted to take some time off," Stefano grunted with a strained look on his face. "Don't worry about him."

Elyse frowned but chose not to stay silent. For a moment, the brown-and-blue-gray-eyed man's words floated through her mind.

I could remove them for you.

Did he have something to do with Mikey's disappearance?

If you wish.

But she hadn't asked him to do anything. And he hadn't reached out to her in the past two months. They becamestrangers again the moment he left her apartment. He probably already forgot about her. Feeling foolish, Elyse quickly shoved the possibility of his involvement aside. Even though Stefano seemed to be lying about Mikey, the promise of a criminal with two-toned eyes wasn't meant to be taken seriously. Mikey's little vacation, she assured herself, had nothing to do with him. Besides, more important problems needed to be addressed, and thePendejito'svanishing act was one less thing to worry about. It was, perhaps, the only silver lining to this fucked up cloud that had become her life.

Stefano continued to exploit her day after day. He took and took and took until Elyse felt as though she had nothing left to give. In this cycle of never-ending dread, she carried on with her days. She was teetering on the edge of a breakdown. Elyse acknowledged that her present state of being was too fucked up to be sustainable, but she didn't know how to escape Stefano's clutches. In the past, she'd tried to run from the mafia, moving to three different states and five separate cities, but the Mancinis were too well-connected around the country. Stefano and Mikey always found her in the end.

Despair seized Elyse's spirit. Her mettle was being tested to the point of defeat. No matter how much she wanted to persevere, the cynical realist in Elyse couldn't help recognizing what she had become.A dead woman walking.Right as Elyse was about to give up hope, however, fate intervened unexpectedly. On a hot, humid summer morning in August, she started receiving a slew of calls, voicemails, and emails from a stranger named Elias Schmid. His English carried a distinct German accent. He claimed to be a lawyer based in Geneva. Mr. Schmid told her that he was representing a very wealthy client in need of a private physician.

His client was, supposedly, a prominent shareholder in the Glauser Development Group. GDG for short. GDGwas a multimillion-dollar global conglomerate founded in Switzerland. Their companies operated mainly in real estate and pharmaceuticals and had, more recently, expanded into wind energy.

Initially, Elyse ignored the Swiss lawyer and his suspicious job offer. She wrote him off as a nuisance. But Mr. Schmid refused to give up. He kept contacting her every couple of days or so as though it was his life's mission. Fully convinced that he couldn't be trusted, she started digging into his background, expecting to find dozens of red flags. Elyse was shocked when a quick online search revealed Mr. Schmid to be a well-known and respected lawyer in his field. Ten years ago, he graduated top of his class from the University of Zurich. Since then, he'd been specializing in financial law at several elite firms across Europe.

This knowledge lowered her sky-high defenses to a tempered curiosity. In time, Elyse relented and picked up one of his calls. As they spoke on the phone, she quickly discovered that Mr. Schmid was a sharp and savvy man. Elyse kept looking for reasons to hang up on him, but he was persuasive enough to keep her on the line for almost an hour. To her surprise, he didn't waste a second of her time. The lawyer explained that his client was looking for a primary care physician who could perform surgeries on demand. For the most part, the job description fell far below Elyse's level of expertise and training as a trauma surgeon, but the salary was lucrative and, therefore, very enticing. Only one question gnawed at Elyse. Why did Mr. Schmid's client wanther, specifically?

At the first opportunity, she addressed the elephant in the room, "Mr. Schmid, I appreciate your confidence in me, but I'm sure there are far more qualified candidates in Europe. I'm only licensed to practice medicine in the US. Why are you reaching out to me?"

Mr. Schmid paused for a moment before answering, "You came highly recommended."

"By who?"

---