Page 56 of Sal Gabrini: Man on Fire

Sal was lashing out and everybody knew why. That guilt was riding him hard. The guilt that if he would have let Gemma try to get Lucky, Lucky might not have been suffering now. Gemma would have been, but not Lucky. But Sal was shattered. How could they expect a man to not try to save them both? He tried to save them both!

But everybody was worried about Sal. They knew what that surgeon said was only going to make him feel even worse than he already felt.

“But when you say his back,” Big Daddy asked the doctor, “are you saying his spine was injured too?”

“We cannot speculate on the final results of his injuries yet,” said the lead surgeon. “But yes, there was some damage to his spine.”

They all looked at each other. They knew what that meant.

“Will he walk again?” Carmine asked what they were thinking.

The surgeon seemed surprised that such a loaded question would come from a kid, but when everybody was looking at the surgeon as if they wanted an answer, too, he answered Carmine. “We will see how he progresses. There’s no way of knowing anything for certain this soon.”

“When can we see him, Doctor?” Gemma asked, still unable to shield her devastation. And Sal looked hard at the doctor too.

But the surgeon was shaking his head. “It won’t be tonight. We’re still working on him. His burns are severe. We’ll be working through the night on him.”

It wasn’t the news any of them had hoped for, and Gemma leaned defeatedly against her father and mother. And although Sal was in no shape to comfort anybody, he went to his wife and pulled her into his arms again. And they both sobbed.

Sal was dying where he stood. He felt that he should have gotten the worst of it, not his kid! Because it was all his fault. Even if his decision to get Gemma out of that car was the best decision he could have made, it was still his fault for being involved in the kind of lifestyle he was involved in in the first place. It was his fault for having dangerous criminals for enemies. It was his fault for bringing all of this damnation onto his beautiful, sweet family.

Marie went and hugged her parents, too, and they pulled her into their embrace.

Tommy, knowing exactly what his kid brother was feeling because they were always just that close, went to Sal and wrapped his arms around Sal and his wife and daughter. And then Grace went and held onto Tommy. And Reno and Trina went and held on, too, and then all of them were hugging each other in a group hug that left not a dry eye in the room.

Except for Mick Sinatra’s eyes. Those harsh, green eyes that frightened most men who dared to stare into them too long were as dry as straw in a desert. And as big as Kennedy Fifty Cents. Because there was no daylight in the Sinatra-Gabrini clan. Hit one, you hit them all. His stone-cold eyes were not teary, they were enraged.

They came for Sal Gabrini’s family.

They may as well had come for Mick.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

That next afternoon, everybody was able to see Lucky for the first time. The burn center placed him in a room that allowed the family to gather around his hospital bed as if he was royalty. Because he was to them. But the doctors had him heavily sedated and all he was able to do was sleep, forcing them all to sit around the room and just wait.

But they were all relieved, happy, and amazed at how peaceful Lucky looked as he slept. Other than his back being in traction, he appeared like a normal adolescent. Not a scratch on him. Except his back was in traction. Except the doctors still couldn’t tell them if he’d ever walk again. They didn’t know themselves because his legs were still asleep too from the amount of anesthetic he had to endure throughout the night. Right now, they needed him to sleep. He otherwise would not be able to bear the pain of his burn wounds, which covered thirty percent of his back, they told the family.

But whenever Lucky did open his eyes, Sal and Gemma would beat everybody hurrying to his bedside. He’d smile and say,hey Mommy, hey Daddy, which warmed their hearts, and then he’d go right back to sleep. One time he said hey to Gemma’s parents and to Sal’s father and to Tommy and Grace. One time to Marie and Carmine and TJ. Another curious time he said hey to Reno and Trina. Only he called them Bonnie and Clyde, which made Marie grin. But mostly he just slept.

But Sal knew he had to make certain the threat was over before his son recovered. He was not going to allow any fucker associated with what happened to Lucky and almost happened to Gemma to walk free. He had to get to work.

They just had to find out who to get to work on.

Mick had given Sal a name to check out when they met on his plane, but even Mick’s men couldn’t find Duncan Joventanno. Jovie, as they called him, had gone missing too. But Mick, Reno, and Tommy kept Sal out of the loop on purpose as they searched for the people that planted those explosives in Gemma’s car. As they searched for Jovie’s slick ass.

But as the days turned into weeks and Lucky’s condition improved significantly until it was clear he could walk as well as he was talking and his spinal injuries were not going to cause any paralysis nor any long-term damage, Sal began making arrangements to get Lucky home. Because he and Gemma had stopped their lives completely and remained at the burn center the entire time their child was there. Gemma’s law practice was managing without her, and so was Sal’s businesses. But only just.

It was Mick who had taken charge of Sal’s syndicate during that time, and he had fired every member of Sal’s brain trust without Sal’s knowledge or permission. But that was Mick’s prerogative, and he was taking it. Robby Yale was the only leader Mick spared. Although Mick felt Robby could have been a better underboss to Sal, he knew Sal would pitch a fit if he got rid of Robby.

But Mick being Mick didn’t just fire Sal’s made men, he put them all in a low security safe house under the guard of Mick’s men until he found out what was really going on. And if they were involved.

And although the other family members had gone back to their lives in their own towns, or had to go back to protect their own families until the threat was neutralized, Tommy, Grace, and TJ remained in Vegas. Although Jenay had to get back to Maine, and Amelia had to get back to her life, Big Daddy and Dommi remained too. And since Mick had taken charge of the investigation, he wasn’t going anywhere.

And then finally, three weeks after that car blast that shook the Gabrini and Sinatra families to their core, Lucky was cleared to go home.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

As soon as the convoy of SUVs, along with an ambulance, arrived at Sal and Gemma’s house, and Lucky was snuggled in his bed resting comfortably, Big Daddy Sinatra, along with Gemma’s dad and Sal’s father, didn’t hesitate another second. They teamed up and all but ordered Sal and Gemma to go to bed. Totheirbed. And get them some much-needed rest.

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