Page 97 of King

Fabio walks away from us, shouting commands to his men.

“Check to see if anyone is still alive.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You, grab those two and sweep the perimeter.”

“Yes, sir.”

Giovani pulls me to follow him - towards the house.

As we walk up the patio steps Santino, Dante and Guido walk out. I cry out with relief to see Guido , unharmed, smiling tightly at me.

“Are you ok?” I ask, pulling him into my arms.

“I’m fine, mom.” He says, hugging me close.

“Where’s Romeo?” Giovanni asks.

“He’s inside. He got grazed by a bullet, but he’s ok.” Santino answers.

I glance at Giovanni, stepping away from Guido ’s embrace - and run inside. I go straight to the bathroom and grab the first aid kit. My family needs me.

Kneeling down next to Romeo, who is lying on the sofa, groaning in pain, I gently touch his arm where I can see blood soaking through the fabric.

“I need you to take your shirt off.” I say quietly.

He glares at me, but winces at the effort of this slight movement. Residing to the fact that he needs help he lets me assist him.

“Cut it off.” He sighs.

Using the scissors from the first aid kit I cut up his sleeve, pulling the fabric open to reveal a jagged line, cut deep enough to need stitches.

“The bullet grazed him.” Santino says, leaning over to see for himself.

“It did, but it’s deep enough to need stitches.”

“Do you know how?” he asks.

“She’s not fucking giving me stitches, are you fucking crazy?” Romeo shouts, terrified.

Giovanni sets his hand on his son’s shoulder, gently calming him. “She knows how. She took an advanced first aid course last week.” He reassures Romeo.

I narrow my eyes at him. How does he know?

“I pay attention to everything.” Giovanni says to me, answering my silent query.

“I was just trying to be prepared - for - this.” I shrug.

He smiles at me. “I’m grateful.”

My heart somersaults in my chest.

I turn to Dante and Guido . “Will you two please get the black first aid kit up in my bathroom? It’s better than this one.” They run off immediately.

I turn to Romeo. “It’s ok, I have local anesthetic in that one. You won’t feel anything.”

“You’renot injecting me with anything.” He snarls.

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