Omerta

Chapter 65

         I had finished off that bottle of wine on the couch. I don't know when I fell asleep, but I know I never made it to my bed. The thrumming of a hangover headache was right behind my eyes, but I forced them open anyways when I felt the strong sun shining over them. The large skyline windows let in all the morning light across the scatter of the living room and its furnishings.

 I could tell Mikhail hadn't been home. He would've covered me at the very least if he had. I was sprawled out in a white gown, with an empty glass and red stained shoes out in the foyer. My phone was carelessly discarded on the coffee table, and when I saw it I knew there would be a message from my fiancé. 

*Mikhail: Hey Maliska, I've got business. I won't make it home tonight.* I already expected it.

It was when I was trying to actually get myself up to get a glass of water and some aspirin that I heard my phone ringing again. I answered it even though the number wasn't saved in my phone. "Miss TerraNova?" The unfamiliar female voice asked me. It gave me pause. "Yes?" Something about a person's voice can usually give way to the emotion behind them. This was news.

        "I see here you're the emergency contact for your father?" She asked me. My already soured stomach dropped. "Y-yes...is he okay?" I swallowed hard. I can't handle anything else. Especially not this. "Your father had a slight accident. He's been admitted here this morning and we're just calling to inform you he's in recovery," she told me without telling me shit. 

"From what? What happened?" I started undressing myself out of that ridiculous gown and putting on clothes. "He's at Good Samaritan Hospital in the city. He'll be allowed one visit. The doctor will explain everything then," she told me in her polite voice.

I knew she was just doing her job, so I asked for the info and took off to get my clothes on and my car out of the garage. He's in prison. What 'accident' could possibly happen?!

My heart was thrumming worse than my hangover headache now. I dialed my Zio Tony on my way over and told him all I knew. He could hear it in my voice that I was panicking. "I'll meet you there, cara mia," he assured me. I hung up so I could focus on driving. I didn't wanna end up in my own accident because I'm freaking out.

        My dad may have gotten in a few scraps in his days in prison many years ago when he first got in. The thing is, he's a high boss and he usually isn't reachable, so what 'accident' was this? A heart attack? Is the fast life killing my dad off before he even comes back to me? When I was young I was kept out of this stuff. Even if this has happened more than I know I was blissfully ignorant to it. 

Of course now that I'm an adult I'm his emergency contact. I've been embedded in my family's business so much over the past several months. More months than I even realized had passed. Time hasn't made sense since the night a car pulled up to the restaurant and tried shooting at my uncle's car with all of us in it. I had no time to think about all that though. I parked the car in a visitors spot and rushed to the lobby desk where I was informed of where to go. 

        Out of breath slightly I shot out of the elevator doors and didn't need to ask which room was my fathers. There were two guards at the door. When I approached the two men's eyes shifted down to me, but they'd yet to even make a facial expression. "I'm here to see my father. Micky TerraNova," my voice came out like the scared child that I am. One of the officers in his undersized police uniform tipped his chin for me to look behind him. A doctor with a white coat and a stethoscope around his neck was already expecting me. 

I was frustrated when I was taken to a quiet room instead of my father's hospital room, whose doors had been closed with no glimpse of him inside. "Miss TerraNova, I'm Doctor Spinelli," he started slowly and clearly. I wanted to strangle him and tell him to get on with it.