Page 14 of Tesoro: Mayhem Makers

“Remember that the next time she tries to talk down to you.”

Marie and I fall into comfortable silence after we prepared the room. I anticipate Mr. Cavaletti will be in surgery for at least two hours and another one or two in recovery.

Tiffani passes by the door several times as I wait for word from the OR, her scowl growing deeper as she fails to gain my attention. No doubt she figured out she’d been outsmarted.

Twenty minutes before my shift was over the elevator doors open, two nurses and an exhausted looking Dante follow the gurney carrying Angelo. Snapping my attention toward Tiffani, I roll my eyes as I found a smug look on her face. Clearly the OR had called announcing their impending arrival. She assumed she was clever, however she’d clearly forgotten what I’d studied to be.

Marie hurried around the room, assisting the team in transferring Angelo to the bed we’d prepared. I listen as the nurse gives her report, while I do my initial assessment.

“Also, Mr. Cavaletti,” she nods in Dante’s direction. “Has been given special permission to remain by his brother’s bedside.”

I didn’t need to ask for details, only one person in this hospital has the ability to grant such a request. The Chief of Staff, Tabitha Donaldson. A smile splits my lips as I mentally picture her fanning herself as Dante pleads his case. Knowing Dr. Donaldson, she made him sweeten the deal with a generous donation to whatever cause she’s currently chairing.

Once the transfer was complete, I turned to Dante, “Mr. Cavaletti.” I begin, keeping my back to a no doubt nosy Tiffani. “I understand you will be staying with your brother.”

“Dante.” His voice was deep with exhaustion, dark skin beneath his intoxicating eyes confirming his fatigue.

“Dante,” I correct, offering a smile I hope appears genuine. “I can order a rollaway bed for?—”

“That won’t be necessary,” he interrupts, dropping his body into the lone chair in the corner. “I’m not here to rest.”

Chapter

Ten

DANTE

Struggling to keep my eyes open, I listen as Kate explains what each cord and line connected to Angelo is. Her kind voice, like a blanket of calm as she encourages me to talk to him. Then, just as I was about to lose the battle with sleep, a tall man rolls what looks like an oversized chair into the room.

“Dante, this is Porter, he will be your nurse for the next twelve hours.”

I wanted to ask her why she had to leave, then it dawned on me how long she’d been here.

“Will you be back?” I question, grateful for the deepness of my voice hiding the desperation inside my heart. Movement behind Porter catches my attention, Frankie’s unmistakable frame sliding into the shadows of the room. He had news, I could smell it, and it wasn’t good.

“I’m not technically leaving as the hospital is on alert due to the storm.” Kate wrinkles her nose, pushing that tendril of hair behind her ear. “So yes, I’ll be back.”

The smile she shares as she leaves the room shatters something deep inside, a wall I’d constructed so long ago.

Porter rambles off something along the lines of calling if I need him, my attention remaining on Kate as she gathers herthings, joining the mousy girl she called Marie who waits in the elevator.

“I hear she was right about the third bullet.”

Dropping my gaze to the floor, I stand from the chair, crossing the room to Angelo’s bed.

“Lucky for Angelo, Chuy is cheap and the bullet broke in half instead of taking out his heart.”

When the surgeon came to me to get a medical history on Angelo, I shared with him what I’d overheard in the ER. He assured me several x-rays would be taken and he would search the area once he got in there. After surgery, he came to me with a smile and two halves of a spent bullet in a plastic cup.

“We do have an issue, Boss.”

“What have I said about calling me that?”

“Like it or not, with Angelo dancing with the angels right now, you are the leader of this Family.”

Hooking my hands on my hips, I toss my head back and release a pent up breath. Frankie was disgustingly right. The rules were clear when it came to leadership; the person who wears the crown, or ring as it was, has to be conscious and capable. My brother was neither at the moment.

“You need to step up before Boston finds out.”

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