Page 67 of Memento Mori
“I will be seeing you soon, Mrs. Rizzo,” the woman said. “You’ll pay for the sins of the father.”
I spun around quickly. “Ghost?”
Her smile transformed into a more menacing expression as the elevator doors closed before I could reach them. I pressed the elevator button, hoping for the door to open, but it didn’t.
I took out my phone and called Luca.
“Donna?”
“Luca, she’s here,” I said with a hint of anger.
“Who’s here?” he asked, his voice trembling with panic.
I observed the numbers positioned above the elevator. She had already made it to the first floor, where the elevator appeared to be stopped. I hurried towards the stairwell, forcefully opened the door, then descended the stairs.
“Luca, I need a few of you to go the first floor, but make sure some of the men stay behind to protect Tony. You are looking for a black woman, black pantsuit, long black hair, with an accent. I’ll meet you there.”
“I’ll take care of it, Donna,” he assured me before I hung up.
This bitch must think she was untouchable to show her face here. As soon as I got to the first floor, I hurried out of the stairwell and searched for her in the reception area, but she wasn’t there.
I quickly left the hospital through the front doors and glanced in both directions in search of her. I sensed that she was close. I could feel her.
Luca quickly joined me by my side. “Donna?”
“She was here,” I said, pacing the sidewalk. “She was right here!”
“Who?” Luca asked.
“The woman who is supposed to kill me,” I said.
A look of surprise caused his eyes to widen. “Come on, Donna,” he said while trying to push me back inside the hospital. “You can’t be out here.”
But before we reached the inside, the glass window beside us shattered and Luca landed on top of me. “Stay down,” he grunted as another window shattered, then another.
Around us, screams filled the air, and the sound of shattering glass rained down on us. I could hear the sirens sounding in the distance but no more gunshots.
“Luca, I think it’s over,” I said, but he didn’t say anything. “Luca,” I called his name again.
I used all my strength to push his heavy body away from mine. A deep, guttural groan escaped from his lips. As I sat up, my eyes immediately fixed on the crimson stains covering my body.
“Help!” I shouted; the desperation clear in my trembling voice as I kneeled beside Luca. “Someone, please help me!”
Franco rushed up to me, then pulled me inside the building. “Donna,” he said urgently, “you need to keep away from the windows.”
“Luca. He’s been shot.”
“I know,” he said. “I’ll go get him, but you have to stay here. The shooter could still be out there.”
I nodded, then watched Franco rush back outside and pick up Luca from the sidewalk in front of the hospital, covered in glass, then rush back inside with him draped over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry.
Nurses rushed up to Franco, pulling a stretcher. He laid Luca on the hospital stretcher, and in an instant, the nurses whisked him away. With swift strides, Franco closed the distance between us, his firm grasp on my arm propelling me towards the elevator.
“It’s safer on the floor with the Don,” Franco said.
I agreed. We had men up there protecting Tony. “Where’s everyone else?” I asked.
“Down,” was all he said.
