Mia Figlia

Chapter 42 ✔️

PoV Riccardo

Weightlessly I drifted in the darkness. Voices reached my ears. Now and then near, sometimes far away, but I did never hear what they said. I felt their pain, but I could not calm them down. At times it seemed to me as if someone was holding my hand, talking to me. At the very beginning, a light had lured me, but I did not deserve it and preferred to stick around in the darkness.

My stay in this place was endless. Time did not exist. How long I already lingered here? I did not know it. Was there anything worth returning for? I did not remember. But it did not bother me either. In this place it was peaceful, I did not have to worry about anything.

An unnatural and invisible force tugged at me. A voice whispered that I had been in this state for far too long. I fought against the strong suction. Here in the darkness, I was safe, even if I did not know from what.

There was no reason for me to leave this place. The pull continued to increase in strength, tearing me into a whirlpool of blackness and silence replaced by too shrill noises and flashes of light. I lost my orientation, no longer fighting the inevitable. As suddenly as the haunting began, it was over again.

Bright light shone in my face. Even with my eyes closed, it was unbearable. In addition, there was a penetrating beeping that maltreated my eardrums. I gasped for air, but a resistance prevented it. My hands sought hold, my fingers clawed at something soft, crumpling it in their grip. A gasp escaped from my chest. Why could I not breathe on my own? My ribs threatened to crush my lungs. The high-pitched beep accelerated, as did my pulse. Somewhere in the background, something banged against the wall.

"Il mio padrinho! Riccardo! Calm down!" Several hands pushed my rearing body back onto a soft surface.

"Sam, can't you give him something to calm him down?" My father's voice reached my ear. It trembled slightly. Was he worried?

"After he just woke up after two months of being in a coma? Bad idea." The doctor snorted beside me. "Riccardo, can you open your eyes? I would like to examine you." I fought the leaden heaviness weighing on my eyelids. With difficulty, I forced first one eye open, then the other.

"That is a good sign already." Sam looked pleased. "I will remove the tube first, then you can breathe on your own again. After that, I will see if we can pull the other stuff as well." I slowly raised one hand and gave a thumbs up.

I could not wait to get rid of that pesky breathing tube. My hands clawed into the bedspread. It was the first time I had been hit this badly and was lying in bed hooked up to a ventilator. I was dying to know how long I had been at the infirmary and what had happened in the meantime. The family needed me. I could not afford to be weak. If I did not get my act together, I was sure to lose my post as don. Although, I had to vacate it anyway.

Stella. She had packed her bag, taken Isabella by the hand, and disappeared from our lives. Especially from mine. The memories pelted me like a sudden hailstorm. Her hurt look, her sad brown eyes. They had burned themselves into my memory. It was better for her that I had let her go. Assuming my father had not put a spoke in her wheel and locked her up instead.

I wished them with all my heart to start a new life somewhere far away from the mafia. Stella deserved it more than anything else, after what she had experienced in her youth, the past years and even in the last weeks. I would still miss my two angels. Sam released me from the breathing tube and all the other connections and continued his examinations. The ventilation had upset my vocal cords; hence I could not ask how Stella had reacted to the news. I would hear about that eventually.

"Your body still needs a lot of rest to recover." The doctor fiddled with his apparatus, pushing it aside so that my father could step up to my bedside.