The Rock Star and The Mafia

Chapter 50

Everything drug in slow motion, from the time the ambulance arrived at Bellevue, until Tommaso and Cassidy arrived and when someone finally came out to talk to him.  

He kept looking down at his shirt, it was covered in blood, her blood.  Tommaso looked a wreck as well.  Lorenzo had to hold him back when he got to the hospital and was surprised that Alessio allowed Mas to talk to him the way he did.

Everyone kept quiet after that blow up and they each went to their separate corners, except Cassidy.  She ended up getting coffee, carrying on with small talk to take people's minds off why they were there and eventually she got to Alessio.

"I had Tommaso grab some clothes for you to change into.  I didn't figure you wanted to stay in your tux all evening" Cassidy handed him the shoes, jeans and shirt to which he accepted with a grateful heart.

"You knew, didn't you?" Alessio asked, looking at the girl.  "Yes.  She called me upset and asked me to bring a test.  I was with her when she took it" Cassidy let him digest the information.  "Thank you for being with her" he told her, then walked off to change his clothes.

Getting the task done quickly, Alessio stepped back into the waiting room, feeling like the world was caving in on him.  He noticed Federico and Lorenzo having words, while looking at him, the men continued to talk.  Then Renzo made his way over.

"It was Lantana" Lorenzo told him.  Security cameras that were all over the place had captured a couple of shots of him, carrying what looked like a rifle bag, walking into a building across the street from the hotel.  This man was a lunatic going after his daughter that way.

"Why did you leave her alone on the sidewalk?" Tommaso had made his way back over to Alessio's side of the room.  He'd been crying and it was hard to see him like this.  Castellano ran his fingers through his hair and leaned his head back on the wall.

Lorenzo looked at Mas and said "Now is not the time, kid."  Mas just glared at his brother and then back at his boss.  He scoffed before turning back around to head back to his girlfriend.

Thirty minutes went by and then forty-five and then an hour.  Finally a doctor in bloodied scrubs emerged from behind steel doors.  Tommaso leaped to his feet as Alessio and he approached the doctor.

"You're the family for Ms. Sixx?" he asked.  Alessio and Tommaso nodded.  "Well frankly I'm not sure how she survived.  She was shot by a high powered rifle and it left quite an entrance and exit wound.  Miraculously it didn't hit anything major but..." the doctor started to say.

"But what?" Alessio asked.  "Are you the partner?" the doctor asked.  Alessio nodded.  "I'm sorry but the baby didn't survive.  I'm also guessing that you just found out?  She was only three weeks along.  We are getting her settled into a private room.  

She will probably be here three to five days.  It will depend on how quickly she heals.  Again, I'm sorry for your loss.  A nurse will be along shortly to take you to her room."  And with that he was gone, but his bombshell remained.

Alessio stumbled outside, leaving a very shell-shocked Tommaso standing there.  Once outside, Alessio found a wall to take his anger and pain out on but before Lorenzo or anyone else could get to him, he'd busted up his right hand pretty well.

Lorenzo had only seen his boss weep one other time, when they laid his parents to rest.  But this cry was different, it was one of pain and loss and the way he kept looking at Lorenzo was even more heartbreaking.  He was at his most vulnerable.

"Come on, Al.  We need to get this looked at now" Lorenzo was not in the mood to fight him and thankfully Alessio was compliant as he walked along side of Lorenzo.  They heard Tommaso and Rico say 'Jesus' as he walked by, his hand a complete mess.

How he didn't manage to break any bones was beyond a miracle.  He should have shattered his hand with the force he used on the wall.  It was going to swell and look gnarly for a while but it wasn't broken.  The ER doc splinted it up, admonished him and then let him be on his way back to the waiting room.

Cassidy was the only one left in the waiting room when they returned.  "The nurse came and got everyone else and took them to a different waiting area" she said and asked them to follow her.  The three of them walked in silence until they reached their destination.

"Mas is with her already" Cassidy told Alessio.  "Room 318" she added.  Alessio just nodded and started to walk towards Cheri's room.  Before he reached the room, he could hear weeping and it broke his heart.  It was Tommaso.  He was sitting beside her bed, his big hand covering hers.

"I'm so sorry about the baby, Cheri" he sniffed, knowing his sister couldn't hear him.  "It wasn't anyone's fault but Frank's" he said hatefully.  "I swear to you on my life that Alessio and I will make him pay for everything he's done to this family.  I swear it" he said vehemently.

Alessio knocked softly on the door, Tommaso's head popped up and he wiped the back of his hand across his face.  Standing, he made his way over to Alessio and said "You avenge your child or I will."  And with that, he left Alessio in the room with his love, the mother of his child.

If not for the IV's, monitors and oxygen canula (the strip of tubing that goes into the nose to deliver oxygen), Cheri looked asleep.  She was pale due to the blood loss but she looked peaceful and sleeping.

Taking her hand in his, he bowed his lips and pressed them into her skin.  She felt warm and alive but their baby was not and much to his surprise he felt a sense of loss, he couldn't explain it.  

"Baby, I'm so sorry" he wept.  "I'm sorry for how I treated you, for our baby, for making you feel that you were alone.  Please forgive me, Cheri.  Please" he begged.  He didn't really expect her to respond but she needed to know how he felt and how sorry he was.

Laying his head down on her bedside, his body gave into the fatigue and emotional exhaustion.  He didn't know how to fix this or if it even could be.  He was going to have to fight hard for them and what's worse is he didn't know if she would ever forgive him.  She had to.  He would make her somehow.  His last thoughts were of her, holding their baby and what that might have looked like.