Russian Roulette: Family secrets [2021 version]

Ch. 63: I'll get you the name of his childhood teddy bear

Mackenzie?

"Mackenzie!" Vittorio yelled in panic when he noticed Mackenzie's closed eyes and the relaxed features of her face. She had never looked that calm in her sleep the times he had sat with her since they had brought her out of that dreadful place.

It scared the crap out of him.

Panicked, he pushed the call button so hard he probably broke it, stepping aside to let Patricia shake Mackenzie's shoulders for a reaction.

Jace rushed over and registered the blood. Without care, he just grabbed the covers and pressed them against the bandages. "Rami, can you see the doctors?" he yelled frantically.

"They're running here. Seconds, mate!" Rami yelled from outside the room, where he kept Vasili and Zariyah back and made room for the swarm of doctors and nurses who ran toward him.

With no gentle bedside manners and absolutely no room for protection of Mackenzie's modesty, the doctors pushed Vittorio and Patricia away and ripped Mackenzie's hospital gown open. The nurses grabbed the covers and relieved Jace, who stepped back, ash-grey in the face, waiting for that machine to stop acting hysterical.

A nurse crawled up on the bed and did heart compressions. A doctor worked under her leaning body to check under the covers and remove the bandages to see what they were up against. He barked orders at people and got handed gauze pads and whatnot to hold against Mackenzie's stomach as they rolled her bed out of the room, followed by a crying Patricia and a desperately worried Vittorio, who clung to his wife for support.

The doctor yelled something at a nurse who stayed behind.

Rami held back Vittorio with all his might. He had loosened himself from Patricia and tried to follow the bed with his daughter in it.

"They need to operate. Give them time," the nurse said as calmly as possible to keep people informed, but still acknowledge how they felt. She understood their need to follow, and though they did not need to panic more about the idea of another operation, they needed to know what would happen.

They had a right to know for them to prepare for the worst. If needed.

Half-heartedly, Vittorio fought with Rami. Inside, he knew he could do nothing by running after them, but he had just gotten both his women back. He could not lose one of them already. When he finally stopped fighting, he huffed a little and gave Rami a clear nod of respect.

It took guts to do what he had done.

Too many emotions took hold of him, and he needed to reclaim control. Taking action was what he did when he needed to battle something overwhelming. Vittorio knew himself, though it would be the fatherly thing to do, to sit and wait as he had the first day. It was too much to go through a second time. He needed to distract himself.

Spend his time where it would yield some results for a positive future.

"Please borrow my wife a shirt," he said to Zariyah, who instantly went into Gareth's room and came back with a big, fluffy sweater she handed to Patricia.

She and Patricia were not exactly the same size, but the big sweater would do the trick for now.

"Please, sit with my wife until there's news?" The question was for Vasili and Zariyah, though it sounded more like an order. They just nodded, sensing Vittorio had something planned. "Make sure she eats and drinks something, ok?"

Again, they nodded.

Patricia did not know what Vittorio had in mind, but from the way he acted, she knew he was off to do something. She had missed his take-charge personality. Missed so many years with him. Whatever he needed to do, she knew he would do it for his sanity.