Fate

III

"Antonio?" Liza knocked as she entered. Carlito and Vincent were under orders to never deny her access to Tony's room, of course. But she still knocked out of courtesy.

"Wha's goin' on baby." Tony smiled,hoping she wouldn't think it was unusual."Hi." she blushed back, unsuspecting. "My nurse said you didn't take your pills last night." she started, checking the machines to ensure his vitals were good throughout the night. Tony rolled his eyes, "Tha' bitch is lying, I didn't see nothing." He swapped the pills for yayo, courtesy of Carlito. Liza stifled a laugh knowing it was far from the truth. Tony had a knack for avoiding things that were good for him.

"You're doing much better." she informed, pulling up her stool beside him as he sat in his bed. "You may be discharged by the weekend." She informed him, her delicate hands adjusting his gown so that she could have better access to his bandages without fully exposing him-not that he would mind. Tony shuddered at the contact, watching as she worked to fix his wounds like she always did.

"Good. I take you out for dinner then." he stated, figuring he would speed up the process of winning her back. Liza chuckled nervously, "We'll see Tony." she settled on. For the past week, she had barely been near him to hold a proper conversation; mostly because she wanted him to heal, but also because she was wary of who he became. Pedro had told her what he could, and she read every Miami article she could get her hands on. Although his name wasn't specifically mentioned in most material she read, she put it all together based on what Pedro confirmed.

Of course Tony knew that.

He wanted to believe she was naïve to his business as she was naïve to her father's. But he knew his mess wouldn't be able to hide from her. "No." Tony said, his eyes following her movements as she slowed her work in an attempt to hide from his gaze. "You can't deny me, woman. Because you're mine." Tony's frustration at her evasion finally seeped through the cracks- his heart monitor elevating slightly. After everything he had seen and done, he hoped he would have been able to drown in his cocaine and money, but it didn't silence the thoughts that tortured him anymore.  He just wanted companionship.

Elvira had barely offered such, and the hookers he paid didn't count. He wanted the real deal by his side-as it should have been from the start- for good.

Liza halted, gently readjusting his bandages. "Tony.."  she knew eventually that temper of his would make an appearance, making it hard for her to deny him. "What? You gonna tell me there's some other chazzer? I'll kill him and we move on," he shrugged. He wasn't going to waste much time; he knew what-more specifically- who he wanted.

Liza was appalled, "Tony! Why would you say that?" she was disturbed. She always hated when he got angry- because then he would say the most hurtful things and ramble..she hated seeing him act like he was losing his mind. Now with his newfound power, she could only imagined it worsened.

"What?" he shrugged, knowing he would follow through on his promise. "I know you never had nobody else. You think I didn't know where you were all this time?" Liza perked up at this, ignoring his previous comment, "What? Why didn't you call? or write?" she questioned, finishing adjusting his bandages. Tony watched as she rose to her feet, discarding her gloves all the while trying to hide her teary eyes.

This is ridiculous. She scolded herself. This is your ex from almost a decade ago- pull yourself together.

Tony sighed,wishing she would look at him. "Because I was getting into shit." he shrugged, not yet wanting to disclose details of his rise, downfall, and now rebranding. "Thought you would be better off without me, yeah? I let you live your life and I tried to live mine." he grabbed at her hands the moment he could, pulling her so close that they shared a tight airspace.