A man’s voice joined the woman’s, both right beside me, and sirens sounded in the background. Growing ever more curious, I forced open my heavy eyelids and blinked away the cobwebs.
“Lucifer?” I asked groggily, eyes squinting at the television above me.
“He’s not a bad character—does what he wants when he wants—and women fall at his feet. There are far worse programming options at five a.m., trust me.” Filip smirked at me and clicked off the TV. “Welcome to the land of the living,” he said softly.
I glanced around the room, quickly realizing I was in a hospital. A swell of memories toppled over me, catapulting my heart into overdrive and triggering the heart rate monitor alarm. The insistent buzzing brought a nurse to the room who turned off the alarm with a gentle smile and helped me incline the bed so I was more upright. She informed me she would tell the doctor I was awake and left us alone.
“Where is everyone? How long was I out? Wait …” I glanced around before looking back at him in confusion. “Am I back in New York?”
He chuckled, coming to sit on the edge of my bed. “You’re back home and were taken into surgery yesterday afternoon. It’s now five fifteen a.m., so you were out for the better part of twenty-four hours. And as for your family, the ladies stepped out to the cafeteria to get coffee, and Primo just slipped away for a bathroom break. You managed to wake up during the brief window of peace and quiet in here. Aside from now, none of them have left your side.”
I nodded, relieved to know they were near. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but what are you doing here?”
“I’m on guard duty. Your family didn’t want you left unprotected. Unlike last time, I’m not letting you out of my sights.” He glared at me playfully, but he had to have been upset I left my apartment without telling him when I met up with Primo. Filip would have been in trouble for not keeping me safe, and that wasn’t fair to him. Any scolding I received was justified.
“I’m sorry about that; I really am. I know that put you in a bad spot and endangered myself. Granted, I still would probably do it again, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t feel bad about it.” My lips pulled up in a lopsided grin I hoped was endearing enough for him to forgive me.
He rewarded me with a chuckle. “Nobody’s perfect. Fortunately, this particular escapade seems to have worked out in the end.” His reassurance was swept away on a flurry of activity as my entire clan of female relatives returned. Filip slipped out of the room as my sisters and cousins swarmed my bed.
“Giada! You’re awake!” Alessia cried, rushing to my bedside. She scooped my hand up and hugged it to her face. “We were so worried about you. Don’t you ever do something crazy like that again, you hear me?” Tears swam in her eyes, making my throat knot with emotion.
“I’m so sorry, honey. I never meant to worry any of you.”
Val and Camilla stepped forward and gave me gentle hugs, mostly comprised of pressing their cheeks to mine since my shoulder and one arm were firmly bandaged.
“Once you’re feeling better, I want to hear every detail of your adventure,” Val informed me with far more authority than should be possible for the youngest person in the room.
“Absolutely.” I grinned. “As soon as I don’t feel like I’ve been hit by a truck, I’m all yours.”
Camilla pulled Val a step back, and her eyes darted nervously up at Filip. “Now that we know you’re okay, we can let you rest. The hospital staff has had an absolute fit that we’re all here.”
They began to shuffle backward toward the door, all but Maria, who stood leaning against the wall, staring at me. “I can’t believe you almost let me kill you,” she chided in a gentle tone I wasn’t aware she possessed. “I never would have forgiven you if you’d died.”
“I never would have forgiven you for killing Primo,” I teased back.
Maria rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t aiming to kill him. It would have been a perfect shoulder wound to incapacitate him if you hadn’t jumped in the way.”
I gaped at her. “How was I supposed to know that?”
“Well, next time, you’ll know.”
“No. No more next times. This hurts way too fucking bad for a next time.”
She handed me a cup of ice water from the tray next to my bed. “I really am sorry, G. You know I never would have hurt you on purpose.”
“Thank you for coming for me.” My voice cracked with emotion. “It didn’t play out as you expected, but I appreciate that you were there to help me.”
“You may annoy the shit out of me, but …” Her breathing hitched, and her arctic eyes grew suspiciously watery. “But we’re family.” Her words were forced out on a breath, raw and so saturated with emotion that my heart constricted. “Goddamn these hormones,” she hissed, wiping at her eyes.
I smiled but was unable to laugh from the pain. “I’m surprised Matteo let you go with him to Mexico. How far along are you now?”
She scoffed. “Let me? Please. As if he could stop me if he wanted to. Besides, I’m only a few months along—just enough to make me tired and hormonal.”
“I’m glad I’m here to see the rest of the pregnancy. Seeing you round and waddling is going to be the greatest entertainment ever.”
“All right. On that note, I’m out of here.”
“Wait, I have another question. Did you and Matteo really plan to storm Primo’s house all alone? That seems awfully risky.”
Her lips curved into a devious grin. “What made you think we were alone? We came prepared and weren’t leaving without you.”
My throat tightened. “Thank you, Maria. That’s just about the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”
Maria teasingly bumped her hip against my bed, uncomfortable with my show of emotion. “Just try not to get into any more trouble. I’m not flying my ass to Mexico for you again. Now, I really do have to get out of here.” She gently squeezed my thigh, gave me a tender smile, then nodded to my mom on her way out.
The room was suddenly painfully quiet. My mother looked utterly shattered, hair disheveled without a stitch of makeup, a broken weariness mapped on the lines of her face.
“Hey, Momma,” I whispered.
Her eyelids drifted shut for a second, tears streaming down each of her pale cheeks. When she opened her eyes again, a spark of life returned to her face. She closed the distance between us and sat on the edge of my bed, taking my hand in hers. “I’m so glad you’re okay, Sweet G.”
It was the name she used to call me when I was little, instead of the term sweet pea. She hadn’t used it in so long that hearing it buried me deep in a mountain of feelings.
“I’m sorry I worried you,” I said in a shaky voice so weak it was foreign to my ears. “I guess you always knew I’d get into trouble.”
Mom looked down at our clasped hands, mine cupped inside the both of hers. “It may shock you to hear this, but I’ve always been hard on you because you remind me of myself. Back when I was younger, much younger, I lived my life very differently. I was bold and vivacious. Carefree and longing for adventure. When I was only sixteen, I met a boy who made me feel like I was walking on air. I’ve never told you girls because there was never a right time, but I think that time has come.”
My brows furrowed as the mood in the room shifted. We’d gone from remorseful and apologetic to something even more vulnerable. I wasn’t sure what my mother was about to say, but I sensed it was going to be big.
“We only dated for a few months,” she continued, “before I got pregnant.”
The words ricocheted in my head, too amorphous for me to grasp them. Pregnant? My mother got pregnant before she met my father? My devout Catholic, never a misstep mother had a teen pregnancy? I couldn’t make sense of it. I would have had an easier time believing her if she’d told me a nuclear war had started while I’d been unconscious. My mother an unwed mother? Not a chance.
“What happened?” I asked dazedly.
“Things quickly deteriorated with the boy, bu
t I refused to abort the baby. Five years before you were born, I had a son who I gave up for adoption.”
A brother. I had a half-brother somewhere out in the world. It was inconceivable.
“Does Dad know?”
She smiled. “Yes, your father knew from the beginning. That was never an issue, and while I think about the child sometimes, I know he was better off with parents who could care for him properly. I was a junior in high school and totally unprepared to be a mother.” She paused and lifted her eyes to mine. “The reason I tell you this is so you’ll know why I’ve been so overbearing. Those years after I gave him up were the hardest of my life. I desperately wanted to protect you from the pain I endured, but I’m starting to realize that each of us has to carve our own path and learn our own lessons. My need to keep you safe has prevented us from being as close as I would have liked, and I’m hoping you’ll give me a second chance to fix that. I thought I was going to lose you forever and—” She sniffled, bottom lip quivering. “It made me realize how wrong I’ve been. How much I love you just the way you are and would rather have your smart mouth keeping me on my toes than never to hear your voice again.”
The revelation about her son had shocked me, but her remorse over our relationship blew me away. It was everything I’d ever wanted to hear from her. The love and acceptance. The forgiveness and compassion. My mother wanted to be my friend, and nothing in the world would make me happier.
“I love you, Momma, so much. You don’t know how much that means to me.” My breathing shuddered on the cusp of a sob, but a stabbing pain in my ribs enabled me to rein in the turbulent emotions.
She leaned forward and pressed her cheek to mine, her hands clasping my arms in a makeshift hug. “I love you, too, Sweet G. More than you’ll ever know.” When she pulled back, her face lit with a smile that shone with adoration. “There’s a man out there waiting patiently to see you. He hasn’t left your side, despite a gaggle of us ladies swarmed around you.”
“He’s a good man, Mom. I know our relationship had an unusual start, but I hope you guys will give him an honest chance. I love him so much, and I don’t want there to be bad blood between my family and the man I love.”
“The men have talked and seem to be making progress. I think it’s all going to work out fine, but if it helps, I’ll make sure to light a candle about it at mass.” She winked.
My mother was joking about Mass.
I was still unconscious. That was the only explanation. The conversation I’d just had with my mother was so entirely surreal, there was no way it could have been reality.
I gaped at my mom so long that she giggled before standing up.
“I’ll go get Primo. I’m sure he’s dying to see you.” She kissed my forehead once more before leaving me alone in the room.
Well, not exactly alone. I could see Filip through the window, standing guard outside my door. The showing of affection and concern I’d received upon waking up in the hospital was greater than anything I could have imagined. I was incredibly lucky to have such an amazing family, and I wondered if my sometimes flippant behavior could have been construed as unappreciative. They meant the world to me, and it was my job to make sure they knew that. I wasn’t planning to completely rework my personality, but there was always room for improvement. It wouldn’t kill me to be a tad more considerate.
I mentally solidified my second-chance-at-life resolution—it was kind of like a new year’s resolution, only more profound. Life was precarious. Living each day to the fullest should have been more than a slogan on a coffee mug.
The smile blossoming on my face stalled when a pair of broad shoulders blocked the entry to my room. Primo stood in dress slacks and a white undershirt, hands in his pockets, and his eyes deeply shadowed. Even worn-out and bloodstained, he was breathtaking. His angular jaw was lined in scruff, and his hair tamed back in thick clumps as if he’d been running his hands through the wavy strands all night. His perfectly proportioned lips were fixed in an even line, and as usual, only his expressive, gunmetal eyes gave any hint at the thoughts ruminating behind his stoic façade. That tiny window into his soul was all I needed—relief, worry, frustration, adoration—they were all present in his tumultuous stare.
“Hey,” I greeted softly. “Thanks for getting me home and for staying with me.”
He prowled into the room, eyes locked on mine until he was only a breath away. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again,” he rumbled before pressing his lips firmly against mine. Fingers tangled in my hair, his intoxicating kiss made me forget about the condition of my ailing body.
Primo wasn’t so easily distracted.
When I leaned into his touch, he eased himself away, drawing our kiss to a close, but he didn’t end our contact. His soft lips found their way to my cheek, then to the delicate skin below my ear. “I thought you were going to die, and I’ve never been so terrified in my life.” His whispered confession danced across my skin before filling my chest and warming me from the inside out. “I never imagined I could lose my home and my job—nearly everything recognizable about my life—and still be so perfectly relieved. None of it matters without you. I’m so fucking in love with you, Giada Genovese. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that before.”
I couldn’t breathe. My heart had swollen so completely that it left no room for my lungs. “Kiss me,” was all I could force out between my trembling lips.
He granted my wish, allowing me to indulge in a languorous kiss.
“I hate to interrupt,” came a voice behind us, “but I heard my patient had come around.” A man in scrubs carrying a clipboard strolled into my room with a lopsided grin. “I’m Dr. Carter. It’s good to see you feeling better.”
My cheeks heated. “Thank you.”
“We’re going to need to take a look at you and run through some questions.” He peered at me with a quizzical look then glanced at Primo.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Primo asserted.
“Not to argue with you, but it’s also time for her pain meds. She’ll probably be asleep for the next couple of hours.”
I squeezed Primo’s hand. “How about you just run to my apartment for a quick shower and come back? I can tell you’re exhausted, and while I appreciate you being here, it won’t hurt for you to take a short break. You’ll feel so much better, then you can tell me about everything I’ve missed.” It was sweet that he wanted to stay with me, but I’d only feel guilty seeing him in such rough shape.
He glanced at the window where Filip still stood guard. “All right, if you’re sure you’re okay. I’ll run by your place and come right back. You want me to bring you some food?”
The wattage on my smile could have powered a small village. “That would be amazing. A burger. With cheese.” Even if I was asleep when he got back, I’d eat my burger cold as soon as I got up. A taste of home and normalcy sounded incredible.
“It’s six a.m. You want a cheeseburger?”
“Mmmm … and fries.”
He shook his head and tapped the end of my nose with his knuckle. “See you in a few; and stay out of trouble while I’m gone.”
“Why does everyone keep telling me that?”
He arched a brow at me. “Do I really have to answer that, viborita?”
“Yeah, yeah,” I rolled my eyes. “Go get my burger.”
Chapter 29
Primo
The elevator doors opened to the hospital lobby, and I stepped out feeling like I could breathe for the first time in a week. Giada was alive. Her family hadn’t killed me. We were in New York with the potential to make a new start. Things had played out differently than I’d expected, but I was starting to think it was for the best.
I’d been able to learn that Santino was recovering from his gunshot wound. I hated that he’d been injured, but it would help keep him safe from suspicion of being party to my treason. Juan Carlos might have wanted me dead, but he shouldn’t suspect Santino’s involvement.
It was stil
l dark when I stepped through the sliding glass doors of the hospital entrance. The bustle of people coming and going when we first arrived at the hospital was now absent. The loading area was empty of cars, and the designated smoking area was limited to a single middle-aged man, hands tucked into his armpits as he puffed on a cigarette.
My breath left my lips in a white cloud, but it was owed to the frigid morning rather than a nicotine habit. The temperatures had plummeted overnight, as if I’d needed any further reminders how far I was from home and how much my life was changing.
I’d had enough foresight over the years to prepare for the possibility that I would need to make a new start. I’d tucked away plenty of money in offshore accounts. I might have only had a suitcase of clothes in New York, but I was far from destitute.
Speaking of my suitcase, I wished I’d thought to take a jacket out before Matteo dropped our luggage at Giada’s apartment, but I’d been too distracted. Once I made it to the subway, I’d be fine, but until then, I lowered my head against the cold and tucked my hands in my pockets. Just as I stopped at a street corner, the hard barrel of a gun pressed against the back of my head.
“Get in the car,” a man growled in Spanish behind me. One of Juan Carlos’s men.
If I went with him, I was a dead man.
I didn’t budge, keeping my hands in my pockets while eyeing the black sedan that pulled up next to me. “What’s this about?” I figured playing stupid was as good a tactic as any. It would buy me much-needed time to figure out an escape.
“Callate tu pinche boca. Get in the car before I splatter your fucking brains all over the sidewalk.”
That was the thing. He hadn’t simply shot me upon sight, which meant either he didn’t want to kill me on a public street or Juan Carlos had ordered him to bring me back alive. Either way, it gave me something to work with. If he’d wanted me dead, my blood would already be crystalizing on the frozen ground.
My stalling angered him, and without warning, I took a punch straight to the kidney. I bent to the side, my hands ripping from my pockets in response to the excruciating pain.
Impossible Odds: A Mafia Romance (The Five Families Book 4) Page 20