Page 78 of The Tempted

“I don’t know,” I cocked my head to the side, studying the woman who was firing questions at me. “I didn’t get a chance to ask him before he was shot.”

“Okay, so he wakes you up and then what?”

“He puts a gun to my head and tells me to get dressed,” I can feel my father’s eyes on me as I speak. “He tied my wrists before we left the house and then he took me to the warehouse that you found me in.”

“Do you know why he took you?”

“My father is a union delegate for the Longshoreman’s Association he wanted my father to have the ILA turn their heads and move drugs through the New York harbor,” I glanced over at my dad. My story was partially true my father did have ties to the union delegates. My grandfather was high in the ranks with the ILA before he died, that’s ultimately, how my father obtained control over the docks through his dad. “He told my father he’d kill me if he couldn’t get control over the docks,” I divert my eyes back to the police. “He would’ve killed me too if Mikey hadn’t found me when he had.”

“What happened when Mr. Valente found you?”

“Deke was about to shoot me, but Mikey shot him first,” I said, closing my eyes remembering Mikey running towards me.

“When did your father show up?”

With my eyes still closed and my mind playing back the scene, I answered. “Within seconds, Deke’s men started shooting at my father and his associates. Mikey couldn’t see anything going on because his back was towards it all as he started for me. When he finally turned around and saw what was happening, he saw the gunmen try to shoot me,” I opened my eyes blinking away the tears. “He charged at me taking the bullet meant for me,” I swallowed hard. “He saved my life,” I look passed the police officers at the closed doors that they wheeled Mikey through so many hours ago wishing that I had the ability to return the favor.

The male officer looked at me placing a hand on my arm. “Have you been checked out?” he asked softly.

“Not until I know what’s going on with Mikey,” I say stubbornly. He opened his mouth to say something, but my father walks over to us.

“I’m ready to give my statement,” he says, shoving his hands into his pockets as he looks at me. “Give me a moment with my daughter and then I will meet you in the cafeteria,” the cops look at one another confused but then they turn to my father and nod.

“I hope your boyfriend makes it,” the female officer says before walking alongside her partner in the direction of where I assume the cafeteria is. I wait for them to disappear through the doors before looking back at my dad. He leans forward and presses his lips to my forehead.

“I love you, Nikki. I don’t deserve to ask anything of you but I’m selfish enough to ask that you don’t doubt my love for you. I have made very bad decisions and maybe I was stupid enough to think that they never would affect you or your sister, but I swear to you I never wanted to hurt either of you. I only wanted to give you two girls the best possible life I was capable of. I swear on Val’s grave may he rest in peace that I never wanted to hurt Michael either my intentions were pure when it came to him.” He lifted his hands from his pockets and cradled my face in his palms. “I’m sorry for every bad thing that ever touched you,” he whispered pausing as if to memorize every feature of my face before smiling at me sadly. “I love you, my little girl.”

His thumbs brushed away the tears that fell from my eyes before dropping his hands and looking over my shoulder towards Aunt Gina.

“Stay with her. Don’t let her wait alone.”

“You’re just going to give your statement, right?” she asked skeptically.

“Yes,” he said with a slight nod. He gave me one final look before starting to walk away from me.

“Dad!” I said, watching as he stopped mid-stride, looking back over his shoulder at me. “I love you too,” I said, choking with emotion.

The corners of his lips curved as he smiled at me, placing his hand over his heart and winked at me. I watched him walk away from me and couldn’t help but feel as if this too was a pivotal moment in my life one that I’d never forget. The moment my father told me, he loved me before walking away from me. Aunt Gina’s arms wrapped around me and I turned in her embrace, wishing my mother were here with me.

“Are you the family of Michael Valente?” I heard someone ask, forcing me to pull away from Aunt Gina and turn to face the doctor that was removing his mask.

“Yes,” I said hoarsely grabbing onto my Aunt’s hand for support, fearing what he was about to tell me.

He took a deep breath as his eyes found mine. “It was touch and go for a moment, but he’s stable. The bullet ruptured his spleen, so we had to perform a splenectomy. He was brought in just in time if we had waited any longer to do the surgery he would’ve died,” he paused for a moment. “I’m pretty sure we were able to get all the fragments of the bullet too.”

“He’s going to be okay?” I asked disbelievingly.

“He has quite the recovery ahead of him and it’s very important for him to be monitored with any abdominal injury such as a gunshot we worry about infection. Lucky for him the bullet didn’t puncture his stomach or his intestines,” he looked at me for a moment. “They’re moving him to recovery, but it will be a little while before you can see him so why don’t you let me call one of the residents to check you out.”

I opened my mouth to object, but he held his hand up so he could continue without interruption.

“If I had just gone through what he did the first person I’d want to see is my wife, but it would absolutely destroy me if she looked like you do.”

“Okay,” I said reluctantly. “But then you’ll let me see him?” I asked tiredly.

“You have my word,” the doctor said. I sighed, telling myself that I just needed to hold out a little longer before I saw Mikey.

My Mikey.

I glanced up at the tiled ceiling and silently thanked the man upstairs for answering my prayers and restoring my faith.

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