Mesmerizing Mr. Mafia

No Response

Wailing.

Everyone in the room seemed to be doing it, if they hadn't been injured anyway. Those who were shot, were an eerie silent.

"Daddy," Sophia cried. Her cheeks wet from the rivers flowing from her eyes. "Are you ok?" She wrapped her arms around his neck.

Angelo nodded painfully slow, and rested his head on the wall before closing his eyes.

"No no no," I rushed over and kneeled at his side. "Don't pass out. That's bad, remember? Open your eyes."

He opened them briefly before they shut again.

"What do I do?" I asked as Gianna ran over, crying. She wasn't going to understand me, and I'm sure no one else would. Could he go to the hospital? Was he as wanted here as he was in New York? I didn't want to risk it, but I didn't really have another choice.

Blood pooled from Angelo's abdomen, staining his white shirt far beyond recognition. Gianna went off in Italian, took her wool scarf off and started wiping some blood off Angelo. "Mio bambino," she cried.

An idea suddenly came to me and I started digging through all of Angelo's pockets in search of his cell phone. There had to be someone in his contacts that could help. I found it in his left leg pocket and quickly typed in his password. I was one of two people that knew it.

There were so many names I recognized in the contact list, but none of them were currently here in Italy so they couldn't be very helpful.

"Button." I looked up to see one of Angelo's eyes slightly open. He reached up and grabbed the phone from my hands and I watched as he hit one of the apps. It didn't open though. Nothing happened. It was like a panic button or something. "Is he dead?" Angelo looked over to his father who was laying on the ground a couple feet away from us.

"No," Lorenzo said as he walked over. He actually looked sad and that was a new emotion for him so I was slightly proud. Still pissed off, but proud nonetheless.

Angelo reached for his gun, undoubtedly attempting to finish Mr. D'Amico off once and for all. Gianna, however; had different plans. The woman grabbed the gun before he could and muttered something to him.

"I called for an ambulance," Sienna said as she too came over, a tired Eloisa in her arms. I looked at her for a brief moment before looking away in disgust. She was a bitch and I wanted her to know that.

"We can't go to a hospital," I said, my eyes firmly on Angelo and my despondent little Sophia.

Angelo tried to shake his head. It looked weird but I understood what he was doing. "We can."

"I thought-"

"The Family's in better favor here," Lorenzo clarified. "Not nearly as wanted by the popo. And even if by any chance he got caught, he'd probably just get a warning."

"Why didn't you tell me that?!" I snapped. Had he not been on the ground wounded, I probably would have slapped him. That's critical information.

Angelo didn't say anything and his eyes remained closed.

"Daddy?" Sophia asked.

No response.

_______________

"I'm not hungry," Sophia said before pushing her chicken nuggets out of her way. We left the hospital awhile ago and found a McDonalds nearby. Much to my dismay, Sienna and Lorenzo followed with their annoying little Eloisa. I made sure they didn't sit by us though. I just wanted to have some quality time with Sophia. She obviously didn't want the same though.

"Baby, you gotta eat," I pushed the nuggets back in front of her. "Daddy would want you to."

She stared at me for a few moments. I knew what was coming next and I didn't like it one bit. Her face scrunched up and the tears started coming again. "Can we go see him?" She rubbed her eyes ferociously.

"Finish your food first."

She nodded and started eating her food.

The light seemed to suddenly go dim. I looked up to see Sienna standing right next to me, in the distance I could see Lorenzo and Eloisa at a different table. "Can I talk to you?" She asked.

I turned back to Sophia, "How about no? Goodbye Sienna."

"Look," she pushed me over and slid onto the bench next to me. "I'm really sorry about what Lorenzo and I did to you. It was horrible, I get it, but we're sisters. We forgive each other. It's what we do."

Have you ever squinted at someone because they're so stupid? Yeah, well I didn't think that was even a thing until Sienna opened her mouth, "You done, baby?" I asked Sophia. She nodded while swallowing her last bite. "Good," I reached over the table and grabbed her trash, "Lets go," I moved away from the table and headed to the door with Sophia.

"Chloe!" Sienna yelled after me. I didn't stop, and instead continued leaving the fast food joint. The walk back to the hospital was a short one, but it was freezing and dark outside so it seemed a lot longer.

"Mommy," Sophia stopped walking and pointed behind us. There was a man dressed in a fancy black suit wearing a fedora walking casually behind us.

At this point in my life, I was feeling pretty invincible so I stayed where I was and let him come to us.

The tall, muscular man with the beard outstretched his hand to me, "My condolences, Signora D'Amico and signorina Sophia. My name is Marco and I run the mafia house here in Italy while The Don is gone. Were you on your way to see him? How is he?"

I was slightly taken aback. Not too bad though.

"We don't know yet," I said slowly, fearing that I may start crying as hard as Sophia. "No one would say anything, so we went to get some food."

"Do you mind if I walk with you?"

I shook my head, "That's fine."

We started walking again and I couldn't help but notice Sophia's interest in Marco. She looked genuinely curious as she studied every inch of him the whole way back to the hospital.

I actually liked the lack of D'Amico family and friends I was seeing in the waiting room. That must've meant people could go in to see Angelo now. "Do you speak Italian?" Marco asked me.

I shook my head, "Not at all."

"Alright. I'll go and ask about him," he dismissed himself and walked up to a friendly looking nurse.

"Auntie!" Sophia pointed to a room that Dominica was walking out of.

I pulled her towards the room and stopped just before entering. I let Soph run inside because there was no stopping her at this point anyway. Absolutely nothing would stand in her way of getting to daddy. "How is he?" I asked Dominica.

"Well, he'll live. He's in a lot of pain though. Even he can't hide that."

"What about your dad? Do you know if he's here?"

"No. Lorenzo said one of his personal guys picked him up. He's worse off than Angelo at this point though. I just wish the bastard would die already."

Same.

"Hey, where is Lorenzo?" She asked.

"Back at McDonalds," I said. She nodded and walked off. I walked into the small room to see Gianna sitting next to Angelo's bed, and Sophia already snuggling away with a very miserable looking Angelo.

It was cute and heartbreaking all at the same time.