La Donna

Nine

I was surrounded by a cold sense of darkness and uncertainty. Everything around me was pitch black. I couldn't see anything in front of me, nor behind me. I was held in this frightening captivity alone.
Am I dead?

Suddenly, a flash of white light washed over the black room I was stuck in. It was then that Gianni came to me bloodied and full of bullet holes. My brother looked concerned as if to ask me what I was doing here when I wanted to ask him the same question and a million more.

"Gianni!" I ran toward him, yet he fell further away from me. "Gianni, fratello, I miss you so much! I'm so sorry I couldn't come to your funeral. I desperately wanted to risk everything and show up for you." I emphatically apologized to my older brother's ghost.
"Dominucci." He replied with Dominic's petname.
"What? What does Dominic have to do with you? Is he behind your death? Did he pull the first trigger?" I reached out for his hand, but was met with nothing in return.
"Dominucci." My brother repeated himself. I'm guessing that was his way of confirming that Dominic was behind his hit.
A shudder of shock and fear came over me and I dropped to my knees. I wept in my hands to cover my lamentations.
"Oh," I sobbed. "Gianni." I shook my head.
The white light reappeared and everything was gone.

[...]

I slowly opened my eyes to see my husband praying with Filomena and my mother beside him. They all held hands as if they were trying to conjure something devious to heal me. Soft mutters emerged from the other side of the room and I saw Daddy clearly making plans with a few of our men. From what I could make out it was Horace, Rick, and Nino attentively listening as my father directed them. Olivia stood outside the room with our nieces and nephews, trying to keep them occupied.
I then turned my eyes to see Dominic and Vincenzo standing at the door, both with their arms crossed, whispering to each other.

Gianni's appearance made me completely disgusted with our brother. A pang of intuition rocked in my stomach the more I silently studied my brother and our brother-in-law. Dominic was the brains of the operation and Vincenzo was the driving force. I knew he recruited soldiers to carry out the hit. And it wouldn't come as a shock to me if they tried to pull the same shit on me.

"Benedetta,"

Michelangelo flew over to my body. He threw his arms around me and held me tight. Soft sobs of joy escaped him the longer he kept me in his embrace.
"Bellissima." He muttered my nickname into my neck. "A Dio Grazie."

"Mia figlia vive!" Mama cried out with her rosary pointed up to the sky. "È un miracolo!" She exclaimed through her tears.

My husband pressed his forehead to mine while he whispered to me.
"I thought I lost you and I cannot imagine a single day of my life without you with me and Raffele. Sei il mio tutto."

"Are you hurt?" I mustered out softly as I tried to get a better glance at his arms and chest.
"No. I was spared, but my heart shattered when you were shot." He shook his head. "Ti amo molto."
"Ti amo, Michelangelo." I murmured back.

A moment of chaos ensued as everyone else in the room crowded around me with hugs, soft touches on my legs and hands, and words of joy.

Dominic leaned in to give me a hug. I accepted his embrace and it took a lot out of me to not tip him off about me knowing everything. There was a hint of worry in my brother's touch right as he pulled back from me to go over to our sister and his kids.

This was a hard pill to swallow, but I think I have to knock-out my own flesh and blood from the family.

[...]

I had to be kept overnight to be monitored by doctors and nurses. Michelangelo didn't want Raffaele to see me this way, so he let our son stay with my parents for another night. He chose to be with me for the night to keep me company. I could tell he was anxious about me dying in my sleep. Technically, I already did die and that's how I was able to see Gianni.