His frustration at being confined in a bed couldn’t be more evident. He struggles to sit up and I help him press the button to lift his bed.
I can’t pretend that Vince’s warnings don’t scare the shit out of me, but I’m trying to put on a brave face for him. A soft knock at the door makes us both tense.
The door opens, admitting Jack who has a look on his face that makes my stomach drop.
“Vince, I’ve some news. Ade, do you mind waiting outside?”
“I’m not letting her out of my goddamn sight until that psycho is dead. You can say whatever you need to say in front of her.”
Vince glowers at both of us, daring us to object. If it keeps him calm, I’ll stay.
“Fine,” Jack says impatiently. He tightens his jacket around himself and sits down next to me. “They found Tony and his capos shot to death in his restaurant. Someone went on a fucking rampage.”
His eyes widen. “Jesus. When?”
“It happened last night. Security footage captured a guy walking in there and out several minutes later.”
“It has to be Carmine, right?”
Vince suddenly laughs. “I can’t believe he managed that by himself.” A smile spreads on his face. “Hey, this is great news.”
Jack shakes his head. “I’m not so sure, Vinny. The soldiers in Rizzo’s family are scrambling to elect leadership while other families poach their territory. I’m glad that asshole is gone, but the war in Jersey could spill on our turf if we aren’t careful.”
“Who the fuck cares? The Rizzos are finished, that’s what matters.”
“Not if Carmine decides he wants to be boss. He has a lot of loyal soldiers after what happened yesterday. They’re scared shitless of him.”
“Yeah, I’d like to see him become boss with half of New Jersey’s police force after him. He probably whacked that cop, stupid fuck.” Vince rubs his chin thoughtfully and then he grabs the railings of his bed, almost as if he wants to lift himself out. “I can’t just fucking sit here when that psycho could be anywhere.”
“There’s nothing you can do. I have everyone on the streets cracking heads to find out where the bastard is. No one has seen him.”
“Fuck.”
The blood roars in my ears as I listen to their frank conversation. Neither of them has ever talked so openly in front of me. I stand up and move to the window, looking down into the streets below us as if I might spot Carmine leaning against a wall.
“So, how are you feeling?”
“Good, good…”
The conversation dissolves into a discussion about Vince’s health and when he’ll be on his feet again. Then the door flies open and Vince sits up in his bed, wincing horribly, and I grab the windowsill.
It’s Carmine. He’s here to kill us.
An older woman dressed in a Sunday dress bursts into the room, followed by an exasperated nurse.
“I’m sorry, sir. I couldn’t stop her!”
“I’m his mother!”
It’s Mrs. Cesare. A surge of heat rises up my neck when she tears across the room and flings herself over Vince’s hospital bed. I wonder how much Vincent told her about our ‘break-up.’ He sends me an angry look.
What? I didn’t call her.
“Ma, what are you doin’ here?”
“What are you talking about?” she asks in an almost offended tone. “I’m your mother! Oh my God.”
She plucks at the tubes leading to arm, the gauze fastened over his wounds. She clasps her veined hands around her mouth and a noisy sob shakes from her mouth. “Look at what happened to you. My poor baby.”
His face burns scarlet. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine.” She fusses over him, fluffing his pillow and smoothing out his bed sheet. She wipes her eyes. “Who did this to you?” Her hands vibrate with a mother’s rage, as if she wants to call the parents of the kid who hurt her son.
“Erm—I think I’ll go. Good seeing you, Gloria.” Jack approaches her to give her a kiss and then he leaves with a relieved air.
“Bye Jack.”
I have a sudden urge to leave the room with Jack, but Vincent’s pointed glare warns me not to leave him alone. I take a step forward and Mrs. Cesare notices my presence for the first time. She jumps, uttering a little scream.
“Adriana!”
I give her a hesitant smile. Vince’s eyes bulge out and he waves his hands behind her back. “Hi, Mrs. Cesare.”
My cheeks burn as she fixes me with an intense stare.
“Are you and my boy back together, then?”
“Y—yes.”
She bursts into tears and launches herself at me, her arms almost straining my neck as she gives me a fierce hug.
“I was so upset when Vinny told me you guys were over. What happened? Did he say something—”
“MA! That’s enough!”
“Never mind, it doesn’t matter!” A pink tinge rises in her cheeks as her son glares at her. “I’m just so happy you’re back together. I didn’t have any hope for my son when you left him. He’s handsome, but he has no manners.”
Ignoring Vincent’s violent hand gestures, I look at Mrs. Cesare’s beaming face. “I didn’t leave him by choice. It’s a long story.”
Vincent grabs the sides of his head and utters a low growl. “You’re driving me up the wall and it hasn’t been five fucking minutes. Leave her alone!”
Mrs. Cesare turns around to the hospital bed, a very angry look on her face. “How dare you talk to me like that? I’m your mother, not some maid.”
“This wasn’t the best time for you to come and visit. It’s not safe. That’s why I didn’t call you.”
“Safe? What do you mean?”
Vince sits up in his bed and bellows at the door. “NICKY!”
I jump at the noise. “Vincent, relax. I’ll go get him.”
I cross over the room past a bewildered Mrs. Cesare and I open the door, finding Nicky posted at the entrance.
“Nicky, Vince wants you.”
He follows me inside and makes a sound of jubilation. “Hey, there he is! You feeling okay?”
“Fine,” he says through his teeth. “Could you take my mother outside and please do not let her out of your goddamn sight?”
“But I just got here!”
“I can’t relax when you’re in the same room, and I need rest.”
Whoa, that’s a bit harsh. “Vince!”
Mrs. Cesare looks like he just slapped her face. Her eyes fill with angry tears, and she walks out of the room followed by a bemused Nicky. I round on him once the door closes.
“Vince, how could you do that to her?”
“Don’t fucking start.” He settles into his pillows, looking molested.
I close my mouth as I approach his bed and his arm reaches out for me. He touches my face as I sit down next to him. Then he lets out a long sigh.
“Damn, I can’t wait until this is over and we can get back to our normal lives.”
“What’s normal?”
He smiles. “Planning our wedding.” He twists a strand of my hair between his fingers, winding it so that I’m forced to lean closer. He lifts his head to kiss me, his lips soft against mine. Fluttering butterflies soar in my stomach as he deepens the kiss. Vince lets out a low, satisfied growl when I pull away.
“When this thing with Carmine is over, I’m going to take a couple months off. I need a break.”
I suck in breath. “Can you do that?”
He shrugs painfully. “Jack will probably give me a month.”
We both need a break. I just want to have school and the wedding to worry about. I’m not sure how I feel about the Vittorios. Jack’s support was nice, but it would be even nicer if we didn’t have to deal with all this shit anymore.
Fat chance I’ll ever get him to agree to that.
“Adriana, get me my jacket.” He nods towards the jacket draped over the chair and I take it.
“Look inside the left jacket pocket.”
A wave of emotion suddenly floods my face and I take the shimmering ring in my fingers delicately, sliding it back on. It looks delicate on my finger. Beautiful.
“I never wanted to give it back.” I sniff hard and rotate it in the light. “Thanks for not pawning it.”
He gazes at it wistfully. “I never really gave up on you. I couldn’t.”
He’s the best thing that ever happened to me.
I lean forward and kiss him again. I’m possessed with an urge to climb into the hospital bed with him, to feel his smoldering touch all over my skin, but then there’s a knock at the door. I wipe my face.
A small nurse edges inside and walks towards the bed, checking his dressings.
“When can I get out of this goddamn bed?” he asks rudely.
“We can try getting you a wheelchair, if you like.”
“Yes, please.”
When she returns with the chair, Vince is determined to get out of bed by himself. It’s frustrating to watch him sit up painfully and then slide off the bed. He turns around and sinks into the wheelchair.
“Much better.”
He grins at me from the chair and I turn away, shaking my head. It surprises me how fast he’s bounced back. The doctor said he got incredibly lucky. Most people need physical therapy, but Vince might not even need that.
There’s a knock at the door. It opens, revealing a man in a dark blue uniform that makes my stomach do backflips. He steps into the room without waiting to be invited in.
“Adriana Baldino?”
“Yeah.”
“I have a few questions for you I’d like to ask in private.”
Vince swears and gives him a beady look. “Look, you can talk to her lawyer.”
“It’ll just take five minutes, ma’am.”
I look from him to Vince nervously. “Okay.”
Vince catches my hand. “Come right back.” His eyes burn with urgency.
The officer looks strangely tense as I smile at Vince and join his side. We leave Vince’s room and walk past the waiting room, down a series of empty hallways. My pulse starts to quicken when he stops in front of a door and opens it for me.
“Get in,” he says in a tight voice.
“Officer, what’s—”
Suddenly, his hand shoves the small of my back and I stumble into the dark, empty room. I wheel around, but the officer closes the door and his back covers the window. I twist the doorknob and slam my shoulder into the wall, and then an arm reaches around my throat, yanking me back.
I scream as I’m pulled into a man’s chest. His palm swallows my scream and I hear his low hiss in my ear.
“Hello, Adriana. How’s Vince doing?”
Carmine!
His other hand winds around my waist and holds me snug. I struggle in his grasp, screaming useless words that won’t penetrate the thick door. He bends my neck backwards painfully, and I feel excruciating pain when I try to lift it.
“I’ve been waiting to catch you alone, and I’ve finally managed it.” He inhales and exhales in my ear. His voice sounds nervous. It makes the hairs on my neck stand up. “I just want you to know that I loved you and that I really regret this.”
“Carmine, no!” I scream into his hand.
I was so worried about what Carmine was up to outside the walls of this hospital that I never imagined he could be a threat to me here.
His hand flattens my lips. “Shut up.” His lips kiss the top of my head. “You chose Vincent over me, even though I could’ve given you everything you wanted. You women are all the fucking same.”
I jab my elbow into his side and he spins me around, slamming me into the wall. Carmine looks haggard, his eyes are bloodshot and his clothes—filthy. He looks at me with the same contempt in his eyes before he tried to kill me.
Defuse the situation.
“I love him, Carmine. Maybe if I met you first—”
“—You’re a vicious person,” he says in a low growl. “I was fine before I met you, but then you went behind my back with Tony to screw me over. How could you agree to do that? To fuck over someone you didn’t even know?”
I flinch from the ugly words hurled at my face. He’s right, but I still can’t spare him any sympathy. There’s just too much violence between us already.
“Carmine, wouldn’t you do anything for the person you loved? That’s just what I was trying to do. I knew it was wrong, but I did it anyway to save him.”
He slams his fist into the wall next to my head.
“What’s so fucking special about Vincent?” he bellows in my face. “Why can’t you fucking love me like I love you?”
Because you killed my father.
My voice rises hysterically as I try to save myself. “Carmine, listen. I liked you a lot when I first met you. You were handsome, polite, sensitive—you were a decent guy! I know that if I met you first, I would have dated you. But then you hurt me. You choked me.”
His face creases in pain. “I said I was sorry.”
“That doesn’t mean that I forgave you. Vince never raised a hand against me, and he never will. That’s—that’s why I can’t love you.”
Also, you killed my fucking Dad and I want nothing to do with you.
Still, he refuses to listen, shaking his head like I’m an irksome fly. “People act out all the time, that doesn’t mean that I—Christ, Adriana! You never even gave us a chance.”
“It’s not normal,” I say in a hushed voice. “It’s never okay to hurt someone you care about. I’m sorry that you grew up to believe that, but it’s wrong.”
Carmine looks down at his feet, tears in his eyes. He looks at me like I’ve hurt him, like I’m the cruel one.
“Just let me go, and I swear I won’t tell anyone.”
He sniffs hard and lifts his head, a trembling smile on his face. “Let you go? I don’t think so. Good fucking riddance, Adriana.”
His strong hands link around my throat before I can beg him not to. I stamp down hard on his shoes, digging in my heels into his toes. Carmine doesn’t budge. His thumbs press down over my larynx and I’m completely blocked from air. My heart races with everything I’ll never be able to do.
“Just relax, Adriana.”
Fuck you. I won’t give up!
But even if my mind won’t give up, my body is. My muscles scream for oxygen. I tear at his fingers desperately, gouging them with my nails, but he won’t let go. Carmine’s face streams with tears. He looks like he regrets it already.
“I’m sorry.”
I sink down to the floor, my legs giving out. Carmine follows me. My hands are limp and nothing really seems to matter anymore.
Vince! Help.
Even the voice in my head is faint. Carmine’s lips move and I don’t hear anything. All I feel is an excruciating burning in my lungs. My skin tingles and my face touches the cool tiles.
At least I’ll get to see Dad.
The door bursts open and several pairs of legs walk inside. The stifling grip around my throat slackens, and a sliver of oxygen makes its way into my lungs. Blood churns behind my ears as I gasp like a fish on land. Sound returns to my ears as I turn on my back.
Carmine flies against the wall as a tall, lean man wearing spectacles—a man I recognize as Paulie, shoves him hard. There are two others standing in the room: Vince and Nicky. The shorter man forces Carmine to kneel and takes his hands behind his back.
Vince is like an angry god, standing tall as if nothing happened to him, screaming something unintelligible as he swings his good arm, smashing his fist against Carmine’s face. Pain crushes both of their faces.
“FUCK YOU! FUCK YOUR MOTHER!”
His head rips to the side, blood spraying across the room. Paulie and Nicky jerk him back upright so that Vince can hit him again and again and again. Sickening, meat-like smacks fill the room, and I see
blood blossoming over the gauze on Vincent’s chest. Then Paulie walks around and tries to stop him.
“You fucked up your stitches,” he says in an even voice. “Let me take over.”
“Vince!” I manage to croak out his name.
Carmine’s face is a bloody mess—unrecognizable. He drops to the floor like a stone and Nicky kicks his side savagely, his little face lit with malice. At the sound of my voice, Vince immediately drops to my side, his hands shaking. There’s blood all over his chest and shoulder. It looks like he destroyed his wounds.
“Breathe, Adriana. Just breathe.”
* * *
I don’t know if I can ever breathe easily again.
Wrapped up in Vincent’s comforter, I shiver and wish I had a stiff drink. Something to ease the pain. Something to make me forget.
Even though he’s in maximum-security prison, I still wake up with the sound of his voice in my ear, his fingers around my throat. He fractured the cartilage around my throat. It’s hard to swallow anything and I can’t be in the dark alone.
Weeks later, Vince is on the mend and I’m stuck in hell. Worse is the way he looks at me, like I’m a fragile glass doll.
He stoops in front of me, his eyes wide and dark. “Adriana.”
Careful fingers peel away the comforter and he strokes my side. His eyes grieve for me. He doesn’t understand what it’s like to feel like every shadow might be someone who wants to kill me.
“Jesus,” he says, looking at the horrific bruises on my neck. Rage simmers in his eyes. “Don’t worry, Adriana. He may be in prison, but he won’t be alive for very long.”
I don’t even want to know.
“You don’t have to watch over me every day. I know you have stuff to do.”
His eyes crease. “Ade, I’m not leaving you alone. Not when you’re like this.” Vince bends over and plants a kiss on my head. “Now, get up. I’ve a surprise for you.” He smiles when I swing my legs over reluctantly. Then he grabs my hands and pulls me up. Taking the silk scarf from my nightstand, he carefully wraps it around my neck and brings me out of the bedroom. In the living room, I see a woman sitting on the grey couch with her legs crossed. Her wave of highlighted hair sweeps over her shoulders as she turns to look at me.
Double Blind (Vittorio Crime Family #2) Page 21
