Page 101 of Beautiful Devil

I grunt in response. I’m not in the mood for talking, and I know if I don’t get some answers soon, I’ll turn to my surefire way of blowing off some steam, and something tells me that the hospital wouldn’t like to take care of any more injured people – or Marco, since he’s the closest one to me and would be taking the wrath of my anger.

An hour and forty-three minutes later, Dr. Chang finally walks through those doors, and I’m on him before he can even pull his mask off his face.

“How’s my wife? Remember, Doc, if she’s gone, so are you.”

His face is stoic and void of all emotion, which I guess is what happens after you’re with a patient for almost eight hours straight.

“Your wife is alive, Mr. Moretti. She needed extensive shoulder surgery to remove the bullet and repair the tendons that were ruptured. She has a long recovery ahead of her. She'll need to start PT in a couple of weeks to help with her range of motion and to help ensure she doesn’t lose any more movement or muscle memory.”

Relief washes over me the instant he says that Gia is alive. I’m so happy I could hug him. But when I look at his face, I can see that he’s holding something back, and I don’t have a good feeling about this.

“What is it, Doc?” I ask impatiently.

I don’t have time for games or to be beating around the bush. My wife is lying in a hospital bed, probably wondering where the hell I am.

“Gia suffered more injuries than we thought. Our main priority was to take care of the GSW. Once we removed the bullet and repaired her shoulder and tendons, we assessed all of her other injuries. Although I suspected she had broken ribs, we needed to take an X-ray to be sure. Which turned out to be a good thing because it not only confirmed that she had four broken ribs, but also a collapsed lung that we were able to fix by reinflating it.”

“I’m sensing something else you’re holding back from me here. And need I remind you, I’m not a patient man and Ineedto see my wife. Hurry it up Doc.”

He rubs the back of his neck, which is the first sign of nerves that I’ve witnessed from this man. Whatever it is, he’s probably thinking that I’m going to flip out on him, and that has me even more on edge now. I’m two seconds away from letting my fists do the talking, and he must see that because he begins to talk.

“Your wife had some complications from the anesthesia.”

I’m on him before he can finish his sentence. I grab him by his lab coat and haul him so close to me that our noses are touching while I speak.

“Whatcomplications? I thought you said my wife was alive?” I say through gritted teeth.

“Sheisalive. I wasn’t lying about that. She’s very much alive. However, she’s nonresponsive right now.”

“What do you mean, she’s nonresponsive?”

“When we took her off the anesthesia, she didn’t wake up, which is not uncommon. Her vital signs are great, and she can breathe on her own. We have her on oxygen for her collapsed lung.”

“I’m not following, Doc. If she is breathing on her own and no longer on anesthesia, what’s the problem? I know I’m no doctor, but something tells me that she needs rest and sleeping isn’t a bad thing.”

“Fabrizio, if I may call you that?”

I nod my head once, and he continues.

“Gia being unresponsive doesn’t mean she’s sleeping. She’s in a coma.”

“A coma? My fucking wife is in a coma, and you wait until NOW to tell me? Don’t you think that’s important information for her husband to know right away and not five minutes later?!”

I’m fuming at this point, and I don’t realize how much I’m squeezing Dr. Chang or the fact that I even have my hand around his neck until Marco pulls me off of him.

“Take it easy, Fab. Dr. Chang didn’t cause this coma or put her in one, did you?”

Dr. Chang rubs his neck and coughs a few times before answering, gasping for air between each word. “No…no, I didn’t…she…it’s not…”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Marco, go get him some water before I strangle him for good this time.”

Marco walks off and quickly comes back, handing the doctor a bottle of water. Dr. Chang unscrews it and chugs the whole bottle, still breathing heavily. He takes a couple of deep breaths before he proceeds.

“As I was trying to tell you before, Mr. Moretti, your wife was under anesthesia for almost eight hours. That and the trauma that she endured before coming here, it’s not uncommon at all that she would put herself in a coma.”

“Gia…put herself in a coma? Now you're blaming mywifefor something that happened in your OR?”

Marco grabs me before I can put my hands on him again, and the good doctor isn’t his cocky self anymore. Now he looks like a scared little puppy.

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