Page 46 of Vincenzo's Promise
“Thank you, Papa. I love you too.”
When he walked away, Cheryl snaked her arm around my shoulder. I was so happy she was here, but I was also worried for her. This was the first time she had been subjected to my new life, and she’d had to help me save my fiancé.
“I’m so sorry you were caught in the middle of this, Cheryl, but I’m so glad you’re here.”
“It’s definitely been eventful, but I wouldn’t want to have been anywhere else, Bella. I love you. You are my sister.”
“I love you, too. I can have someone take you back to the house.”
“That’s not going to work,” Angelo chimed in. “You can stay at my place.”
“I can stay at a hotel,” Cheryl said.
Angelo shook his head. “Not going to happen, beautiful. I don’t know how safe it is. Until then, you’re going to stay at my place. I’ll have Mario take you home.”
“Lo, that’s not necessary,” Cheryl argued. “There’s a hotel not too far from here.”
“It is necessary.” He motioned over my shoulder to Mario, who was seated in the waiting area. “Mario, take Cheryl to my house. Do not leave until I get there.”
“You got it, Lo.”
Cheryl looked at me and I shrugged. I trusted Angelo, and if he felt it was safer at his place than at a hotel, that was where she needed to be.
Her shoulders sagged, and she nodded, giving me a kiss on the cheek. “I will be back first thing in the morning.”
“Thanks again, Cheryl.”
“We’re family,” she responded, giving one final look to Angelo before walking out the emergency room waiting area.
“You ready?” Angelo asked.
“Not really.”
“Me either.”
We made our way through the large sliding doors on our way to the third floor where the ICU was located and rode the elevator in complete silence, both lost in our thoughts. Angelo was the closest person Vincenzo had to a brother, and I was sure he was just as rattled by what happened as I was.
I took a deep breath before we exited the elevator, hoping to calm myself as we headed to the nurses’ station.
“How may I help you?” one of the ICU nurses asked.
“Vincenzo De Maio,” I responded.
The nurse nodded, and her fingers flew across the keyboard. “Room 321. Visiting hours end in an hour,” she said without looking up from the screen.
Angelo and I made our way down the sterile corridor to Vincenzo’s room. This was the last place either of us wanted to be, but at this moment, neither one of us could leave.
Angelo opened the door, holding it so I could enter before him. As soon as I saw Vincenzo, the room shifted, and my knees gave way. Angelo caught me before I hit the tile floor.
“Oh my God.” I sobbed into Angelo’s chest as he held me against his solid frame. “Who would send Daniella to do this, Angelo?”
The continuous beeps from the heart monitor, the endless drip from the iv, and the sounds of the hospital drifting in from the hallway echoed off the cold white walls of the small room.
“I don’t know, Isabella, but I’m working on it.”
I straightened my dress as best as I could on wobbly legs, furiously wiping the tears from my face. This was not the time to have a breakdown. Vincenzo needed me. While staring at how pale and weak Zo looked, I couldn’t squash the anger rising. I was a doctor, had taken an oath to save people, but all I wanted to do right now was kill who’d done this to him. I couldn’t get my hands on Daniella since she’d taken her own life after shooting Vincenzo, but I could get whoever pulled the strings.
“Angelo, whoever Daniella was working with, you make them pay for hurting him, you hear me? You make them pay,” I said, my shoulders squared, confident at the directive I just gave.
