Fugitive (Deceptive Series Book 2)

by M. D. Melai

  “How do you always know the right things to say?” I asked Lucas moments later.

  “I don’t. I just tell the truth,” he replied.

  I took a deep breath and thanked him for helping me. I needed him to be here to calm me down when my mind ran away with everything. I assured him that I would be out soon. All I had left was to wash my hair, ten minutes tops.

  As soon as Lucas left the bathroom, I drained the tub before switching over to the shower. I washed off the excess soap and bubbles before I washed my hair and got out. Then I brushed my teeth before I changed into my t-shirt and shorts and headed back into my room.

  “Are you feeling any better?” Lucas asked as I sat next to him on my bed.

  “Yes, thank you. I feel a lot better. Just had a minor mental breakdown,” I replied as I grabbed my lotion and started to apply it to my legs.

  “You’re welcome. I’ll always be there for you, no matter what. I love you Lily,” he said before taking my chin and kissing me softly.

  “I love you too,” I replied before putting away my lotion and curling up next to Lucas as we both drifted off to sleep.

  ***

  Lucas woke me up the next morning when he got out of bed. When I looked at my clock, it showed that it was seven. He said he would be right back, and then he walked out my door. I sat up and stretched for a moment before heading into the bathroom to ready myself for the day.

  Lucas met me in the bathroom a few minutes later and handed me a cup of coffee.

  “Dante and Violet are about to eat breakfast and then they are headed back to the hospital, do you want to ride with them?” he said.

  “Sure,” I replied before taking a sip of my coffee.

  “Okay, I’ll go tell them. See you in a minute?” he asked.

  “Yes.” I smiled.

  Then he smiled and kissed my forehead before heading downstairs. I finished up in the bathroom and then got dressed.

  When I made my way into the kitchen, Dante, Violet, Emilio, and Lucas were already eating. Mrs. Amante had fixed everyone pancakes and bacon and made a fresh pot of coffee. Apparently she and the girls had already ate and left to head to the hospital.

  I sat next to Violet and she gave me a tight smile. She and Dante both looked like they didn’t get very much sleep last night. I couldn’t blame them. I didn’t sleep that well either.

  Emilio, on the other hand, looked well rested. His color was starting to return to his body, and the dark circles under his eyes were less noticeable.

  Breakfast was silent and awkward. Emilio and I had yet to discuss my relationship with Lucas, but he seemed to be trying to hold it together. I knew once everything had settled down and my father came home, I might have a different situation on my hands.

  The only thing that made noise as we ate was the clinking of the silverware against the plates, and I could cut the tension with a knife. I looked over at Violet and Dante, and they both had their heads hung. I caught a glimpse of Emilio out of the corner of my eye, and he was looking down at his plate as well, but I could see the muscles tightening in his jaw. I then looked at Lucas and he looked just as uncomfortable as I felt. This was a new situation for me.

  “So, what time did you guys want to go up to the hospital?” Lucas asked, breaking the silence.

  “I don’t know, maybe an hour,” Violet replied.

  “We have to go do something before we head up there, so you guys can go without us,” Dante said for both him and Emilio.

  “You’re going out of the house?” I asked Emilio.

  “Yes,” he said in a challenging voice. “Do you expect me to sit around here all day?”

  I stared at him for a moment. I was nervous about him leaving the house. Was he ready yet?

  When I didn’t say anything, he replied.

  “I didn’t think so.”

  “Where are you two going?” I asked curiously.

  “It’s nothing. Just something that needs to be taken care of,” Dante replied.

  I left it at that. There wasn’t a need to force Dante to tell me. My guess was that it had something to do at my father’s office. There wasn’t anything else that was so important that Dante wouldn’t be at the hospital with the rest of us.

  “Are you finished?” Lucas asked as he stood up from the table. I nodded, and he took my plate. Violet was done too and she raised her plate for Lucas to take.

  “You two can go get ready and I’ll do the dishes. We can leave after that,” Lucas said and made his way to the kitchen.

  “You ready to go?” Dante asked Emilio as he rose off his stool.

  “Yes,” Emilio said before he grabbed his cane, put his dish beside the sink, and hobbled out of the kitchen.

  Dante hugged me and kissed Violet before both he and Emilio headed out the front door. Violet and I headed upstairs without another word. Since I was already ready, I joined her in her bathroom, and we talked about everything that had occurred after she was taken. I hadn’t had the chance to get the whole story with everything that had been going on.

  “They didn’t hurt me at all. The kidnapping was a little rough, but once they got me to wherever I was, they let me roam free. I always had someone watching me and I even tried to escape once. After that, they pretty much locked me in a room.

  “Faith would come and talk to me every so often. The funny thing was, she was actually trying to be nice to me. Like really? You kidnap me and then you want to be nice to me? I just ignored her. I asked her once why I was there, and all she said was that they still had to get the document that they originally kidnapped you for. I told them that I had no clue what they wanted or why, all I wanted was to go back home. She promised that as soon as they got the document that they would set me free.”

  “So she didn’t say anything else related to my kidnapping that we could make a connection with?” I asked.

  “Not really. The only other thing she said was that she wasn’t going to hurt me. That what had happened to you wasn’t supposed to. Whoever the guy was that kidnapped you wasn’t supposed to lay a hand on you, and that was it. But how was I supposed to know that she was telling me the truth?”

  “Violet, I know we haven’t really talked about it, but I’m so sorry about what happened to you. It was all my fault, and I promise I'm not going to let it happen again,” I said before I hugged her.

  “It’s okay, Lil. I’m still a bit shaken up by it, but it’s nothing I can't get past. Right now we need to just make sure your father is going to be okay. That’s the most important thing.”

  “Okay,” I sighed. “I just want to know what’s going on. What is so important that they would attempt to kill my father?”

  “I don’t know. But we will figure it out,” she said, reading my mind.

  ***

  Lucas, Violet, and I arrived at the hospital soon after our conversation. All my brothers, except Dante, were in the waiting area outside of my father’s room. They were all talking and stopped whenever we walked in. I said hi to each one of them and gave them a hug. I asked if I could go and see him and they nodded.

  My mother was still by my father’s side when I entered. She had tear stains on her cheeks, but she wasn’t crying. She gave me a small smile when she noticed I was there. I went around the side of his bed and took a seat on the couch. He still looked exactly how I left him yesterday. We sat there in silence for a very long time before my mother spoke up.

  “He’s still so handsome, isn’t he?” my mother said after a few moments. “Even in a hospital gown and his head bandaged, he’s still my Massimo.” She took his hand in hers and lightly squeezed it, and then placed a kiss on his fingers.

  I didn’t know what to say. My mother was hurting more than any of us. It was written all across her face. Even with me sitting here, her eyes never wavered from him.

  “It’s going to be okay, Mamma,” I said as I got up to rub her shoulders.

  She turned to face me and took my hand in her free one.

 
“Lily, there’s something you should know,” she said right before the door opened.

  I looked up to find Giorgio staring at me.

  “I brought you some more coffee,” he said as he made his way to us and then handed her the cup.

  “Giorgio,” my mother stated. “Will you please tell me when Dante arrives? There’s something that we all must discuss as a family.”

  “Sure,” he said before he left the room.

  I felt a bit apprehensive. I wondered what my mother had to say.

  Twenty minutes later, all my brothers and I were gathered around my father’s bed, waiting for my mother to speak. She didn’t stand, just turned the chair to face all of us. She still held my father’s hand as she started to talk.

  “There is something that we all need to discuss. We can make this a family decision, and I would like it to be unanimous.” She paused for a moment and looked at my father. I knew whatever she had to tell us was hurting her beyond words, and I didn’t know if I was ready to hear what she had to say.

  “What is it Mamma?” Giovanni asked.

  “The doctor came in this morning and has informed me that your father’s brain activity has started to rapidly decrease. There isn’t anything they can do to help him or to stabilize it.”

  “What does that mean? He’s going to keep losing brain activity until he dies?” Giorgio asked.

  “Yes. However, we do have an option,” she said choking up. Tears started to run down her cheeks and mine soon followed. “We have the option to take him off life support before that happens. You should all know that it is your father’s wish that if he was in this state, then that is what he would want. If there was no sign of him recovering, then he requested to be taken off life support.”

  No one spoke. We all stood there in complete disbelief. Benito rushed to my mother’s side as she started to fall completely apart next to my father. I turned away and buried my face in my hands. Dante quickly wrapped me up in a hug as Giorgio, Giovanni, and Marcello just stood there shocked.

  My mother gained control of herself before I ever did. Benito stood beside her and held her hand as she started to speak up again. Her voice kept cracking as she tried to start a new sentence. I raised my head and looked at her. She stared back at me and I nodded my head that I was okay enough for her to continue.

  “The doctor did say that we will have time to say our goodbyes if that is the decision we choose. So, I’ll ask each one of you what your decision is before we proceed.”

  My mother started with Benito. He nodded his head and she continued with each of my brothers until she got to me. Every one of them agreed it was time to say our goodbyes.

  It was my turn. I had to decide if this was what I really wanted. My mother had said that she wanted the vote to be unanimous and that ended with me. I didn’t want to say goodbye to my father, but I also didn’t want him to suffer anymore. I didn’t know how much longer it would be until his brain totally shut down on him.

  I raised my eyes to meet my mother’s and slowly nodded my head. Dante wrapped his arms back around me and I fell into his chest. My father was going to die.

  ***

  All of my brothers had gone in and said their goodbyes and now it was my turn. I didn’t know what I was going to say to my father.

  I opened the door and made my way around the bed. I took a seat in the chair beside his bed, leaned forward, and grabbed his hand. There was a mark of pink lipstick from where my mother had kissed it over and over again. A tear fell down my cheek as I started to talk.

  “Hi, Papà. It’s Lily,” I said with a smile, realizing how lame that must sound. “I’m not sure what to say right now. All I can really ever say is thank you. You have done so much for me throughout my life and I never gave myself the chance to just say thank you. I know I’m stubborn, but what else did you expect when you’re exactly the same way?” I smiled. “You taught me so much about myself over the years, and I don’t think I could have asked for a better father.

  “You may have pushed me too far at times and upset me, but I don’t think I would be the person I am today without you. You always believed in me, and I knew that even when you didn’t show it.

  “So how am I supposed to go on without you? I need the man who scared away the monsters I thought were in my closet and under my bed. The same man who would kill any spider that came near me, because he knew how much they freaked me out. I need the man who would read to me every night and always made sure I was cozy and safe in my bed.” I laughed at myself thinking about how long ago that was. I would do anything to go back to those days.

  “If you could talk, then I'm sure you’d say for me to suck it up and be a stronger woman, but right now, I just can’t be. It’s just not fair, but like you always said, life isn’t fair.

  “I just want you to know how much I love you Papà. There is so much more that I could say.” I paused as I started to cry uncontrollably and struggled with my words and thoughts. “Please just know how sorry I am that all this happened and I would do anything to take it back.

  “I’m wishing for a lot of different things right now. I wish I would have been a better daughter. I wish that I wouldn’t have fought with you so hard over stupid stuff. I wish that I would have listened to you more often, but most of all, I wish I had more time to make things right.

  “Tell Roman I said hi, and that I will see you both again someday,” I said as my voice cracked, and I tried to wipe away the tears. “I will miss you every day Papà.” I slowly rose from the chair, leaned over, and kissed his cheek.

  “I love you Papà,” I whispered in his ear before kissing him one last time on the forehead. That time I could feel the coldness of his skin and I knew that it was close to time. It was time for me to let my father go.

  I swiftly turned and knew that if I didn’t get out of there quickly, then I wasn’t going to make it. The tears flooded my face as I raced out of the room and fell to the floor outside of his room. I didn’t even make it to the waiting room before I lost myself. My strength was gone. It was leaving with my father.

  Lucas, who had been waiting outside of my father’s room, rushed to my side and brought me in close to him. I sobbed into his neck and he held me tighter than ever.

  “Let’s get you back to everyone else,” he said before he picked me up and carried me to the waiting room.

  A nurse brought me a glass of water and I drank it all at once. Everyone in the waiting room was crying and waiting for the doctor to come and tell us that it was time to officially let him go.

  It wasn’t long before the doctor brought my mother some paperwork to fill out. She signed her name slower than I had ever seen before.

  “Thank you Mrs. Dapprima. Anyone from the family can be in the room with us. I’ll leave you all to talk about it, and when you’re ready, you can join me,” the doctor said before heading toward my father’s room.

  “I want to be in there Mamma,” Benito spoke up before anyone said anything.

  My mother scanned the room and met all of our faces. My brothers and I all wanted to be in there as it happened. I stood up from Lucas’s embrace and gave him an assuring squeeze that I would be okay and be back soon. Hopefully he believed me, because I didn’t believe myself.

  We all gathered around my father’s bed and said our goodbyes once again. Benito stood beside me and draped his arm around me. Marcello went to my mother’s side and became the anchor that would hold her in place. The rest of my brothers gathered around us.

  I stared at the screen as it still tracked his heartbeats. I held my breath as we stood there and slowly watched the heartbeats become slower and less frequent.

  I said one final ‘I love you,’ as I heard the long beep of his heart flat line.

  Chapter 23

  The entire room fell silent except for the sound of my mother sobbing. She had flung herself over my father’s lifeless body. The weight of Benito’s arm around me suddenly felt like it weighed five hundred pounds. My
strong brothers, who had been my rock more times than I could count, were falling apart one by one as I watched reality sink into their faces.

  As I watched their tears start to fall, I couldn’t handle it anymore. The room was starting to spin and the walls felt like they were closing in. I thought I knew what it felt like to suffocate, but in this moment, nothing I had ever experienced before had come anywhere close to this. I grabbed my chest as I shrugged out of Benito’s embrace, and ran out of the hospital room. Lucas and Emilio were standing outside the door when I came barreling out. I looked both of them in the eyes before I took off down the hallway.

  “Lily!” Lucas called after me.

  “Let her go.” I heard Emilio say.

  I would thank Emilio later for that. I didn’t want to be around anyone. Losing Roman had been agonizing. I had thought then that my heart had been ripped from my chest, but this… right now, there were no words to even come close to describing the way I felt.

  This can’t be happening.

  I didn’t wait for the elevator. Instead I ran down the stairs as fast as I could. I needed air, lots of air. When the exit door flew open and the afternoon sun hit me, I winced for a moment and shielded my eyes. They adjusted quickly and I looked from side to side as my mind was trying to think clearly.

  I started walking down the sidewalk slowly, but the longer I walked, the faster my pace picked up. Before I knew it, I was running. I pushed myself faster as the memories of the past year of my life played over and over in my mind.

  I moved.

  Roman died.

  I was kidnapped.

  I left.

  Violet was kidnapped.

  We went after her.

  I watched my brothers and Lucas kill people.

  My father was shot.

  My father is dead!

  My mother was a widow now. My brothers and I were fatherless. I knew that one day this day would come, but not this way. Never this way.

  I was such a terrible daughter. He deserved better than me. If I had known this was how it was going to end, then I would have never argued with him. I would have been the perfect daughter, someone he would have been proud of.