Made of Steel

48. What once united us, no longer exists

 Adriano Di Lauro

It pisses me off that they take her away without telling me anything at all.

She's my wife, I'm the one who pays for this hospital, and these idiots won't tell me what the hell is going on.

What good is it to me to have so much power if the main thing is beyond my control?

The health staff excludes me, marginalize me and separate me from my wife as if they had every right, as if they felt more for her than I did or if what happened to her hurt them as it hurts me.

It's absurd, this started as a good deal, one more business, a mean to an end... Now everything has become complicated.

Days ago she asked me to let her go and... I should.

There was a time when I felt that the ice built around me was not going to melt. I was cruelly certain that no one could make me bend anymore.

But today I see her and my skin shakes with a simple sigh of hers. I feel like I'm suffocating at the feel of her tiny, fragile body so lax. The steel wall disappears to become red hot, burning with flames.

I keep watching her while they take her away from me, feeling her mine, feeling myself hers...

I don't want to let her go, but am I willing to break my promise and take the consequences? Am I willing to risk being destroyed once again?

I move from one side to another trying to stay calm, but how? My children were kidnapped and they are now unconscious in a hospital room, while my wife has just collapsed in my arms. The situation has gotten out of hand and I hate it. The worst thing is impotence which corrodes me and eats me up inside as if it were a kind of cancer.

"Adriano, son, calm down," my mother holds me back, but with a simple look she moves away from me.

Dr. Moccia appears in the hallway, and I walk over to him instantly.

"What's wrong with my wife?", I ask in my most imposing tone.

"She lowered her blood pressure, nothing serious," he informs, calming the sickness in me. "We've already stabilized her, we want to..."

I don't hear anything else, because I rush into the room to find her with her head resting on the pillow while she bites her lips.

Even in this fragile status I find her sensual.

I approach with heavy steps to notify her of my presence without scaring her and immediately she focuses her beautiful emerald spheres on me. For a few seconds, I thought I would never see them again.

"How are the kids doing?", she asks in a small voice.

"Same as when we left them."

"I don't care if she is their grandmother or the mother of your ex-wife, Adriano", she doesn't need to name her to know who she is referring to. "I want her in jail. Whether it's ten years or ten days, she can't go unpunished."

"I'll take care of it, don't worry."

The look she gives me reminds me of her words a half hour ago.

'Because they are my children, mine!'

At least one part of the equation went according to plan and even exceeded my expectations.

"Dr. Di Lauro", the doctor gets into the room with my parents, "how are you feeling?"

"Great," she replies, reactivated. "I want to go with my children."

"Okay, don't forget Dr. Lambert's instructions."