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They wouldn’t let her go with him in the ambulance. She was so frantic that Marcus drove them all to the hospital. This time, however, the fiction of Chrissy’s sisterly relationship to Saks was ripped to shreds. The staff would give her no information about Saks at the desk and told her to go the waiting room.
Chrissy, Marcus, and Gloria entered the waiting room to find two men wearing Hades Spawn jackets. One was the man at Saks’ apartment. His jacket had embroidered badges that announced him as “Oakie” and “President.” The other’s jacket said “Spade.”
She remembered seeing the man at the party at the Red Bull, talking with Saks.
Spade stood with his arms crossed when a nurse in blue scrubs talked with him. He signed something on a clipboard and gave it to her. His face was grim.
When the nurse left, Chrissy worked up the nerve to talk to him. “What’s happening with Saks?”
“They took him to pre-op to stabilize him for surgery. He lost a lot of blood. They had to fix that before they could take him in.”
Chrissy didn’t know how to respond.
“Maybe you should go,” growled Oakie. “We’ll take care of this.”
“No,” said Spade. “She should stay. Anglotti may want to talk to her, and he said he’d be by once he booked the two assholes.”
“His family should know,” piped up Gloria.
Oakie snarled when Gloria spoke. “Yeah,” he said with a dismissive rumble. “That’s why Saks made Luke his contact on all his papers.”
“Hey,” said Gloria, raising her hands. “You don’t know a thing about Saks’ family.”
“You’re right. Because he didn’t want to have anything to do with them.”
“Gloria,” said Chrissy. “Just give it a rest. If it wasn’t for us, or his family, Saks wouldn’t have a bullet in his shoulder right now.”
“Still—” said Gloria.
“Leave it, Gloria. For once in your life, just listen,” said Marcus. “I’ll be right back.”
The two bikers paced while Chrissy sat, miserable and worried sick about Saks. When she faced her grandfather, she’d have some choice words for him.
The two bikers on the opposite side of the room wouldn’t stop glaring at them.
Marcus strolled back into the waiting room and sat next to them. “I called your grandfather,” he said quietly. “He’s furious.”
“Furious,” snapped Chrissy. “Why? Because those goons didn’t finish the job?”
“It’s not like that, Chrissy,” rumbled Marcus. “He didn’t send those guys.”
“Right. You told me—”
“He didn’t send those guys. He’s making a call to Saks’ uncle and letting him know what happened.”
“That’s gutsy. Or incredibly stupid.” Chrissy crossed her arms and glared at Marcus.
“No. It’s necessary. Better Vits hears it from your grandfather than the streets.”
More leather-jacketed men entered the waiting room and spoke to Oakie and Luke in hushed tones. Some of them glanced toward Chrissy, Gloria, and Marcus with undisguised curiosity and contempt.
Half an hour later, and with a great deal of noise, her grandfather, father, and mother entered the waiting room.
Immediately after them filed in another group of people. The only one she recognized was Vits Rocco, Saks’ great-uncle. There was a man and an older woman and a younger woman who crowded to the Spawns’ side of the room. Chrissy stared at them. The man had the height of Saks, and the same kind of face. But the nose and the eyes of the woman marked her as Saks’ relative as well. This must be his mother and father. And the girl? She had a more feminine version of Saks’ face. She must be his sister.
They spoke with Luke and then glanced at Chrissy. She wanted to fade into the wall she stood against and possibly to the depths of Hell to hide. It was her fault that Saks was hurt.
“So sorry to hear about this,” rumbled her grandfather.
“Chrissy, are you okay?” asked her mother.
“Yes, yes, of course. We came in after—” All of a sudden, tears welled in Chrissy’s eyes. This was impossible. She was worried, frightened, and angry as hell. Chrissy trembled, wanting to explode, but all that came out were tears.
Her mother wrapped her arms around her. “There, there,” said Maria Serafini. “I didn’t know you cared about him.”
“Care?” snapped Chrissy too loudly. Suddenly all eyes in the room were on her, but she paid no attention. “Why should I care? He’s just another piece on the Serafini game board, just like I am.”
“Christina!” growled her father in warning. He glanced over to Vits, who looked away.
“No! I won’t stop. This was entirely ridiculous, this whole thing. And now Saks is in surgery, having to literally fight for his life!” She pushed her mother away and straightened. “There’s one thing I will never do. And that’s to have anything to do with you or the Roccos ever again.” She spun around and started for the door when a doctor entered.
“You all the family of Anthony Parks?” He seemed pretty surprised.
You could hear a pin drop as the three different factions that held sway over Saks’ life waited for some someone to come forward. It was a Rocco who did.
“I’m Anthony’s father.”
The doctor blinked. “He mentioned a... Chrissy. Asked if she was here.”
“That’s me,” she replied, stepping forward.
“He’d like to see you.”
“But what about him? He’s okay? If he’s talking, he’s gotta be okay, right?” asked Mr. Parks.
“The surgery went well. He’ll need recovery and physical therapy, but he should be fine.”
“Can I see him?” said the woman next to Saks’ father. “I’m his mother.”
The doctor looked around the waiting room and pursed his lips.
“In a bit. He did ask to see this young lady here, so let’s start with that. And his immediate family. But the rest of you should go home. He’s still in recovery and shouldn’t have visitors. He’s had a concussion and now a gunshot wound.” He shook his head and sighed. “Don’t you people ever stop?”
“We keep you in business,” said Oakie. “One of us will hang around. He’s our brother, and obviously someone needs to stand watch over him.” He glared at the Roccos and the Serafinis in the room, the faces of whom drew up in anger at the insult.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” spit Vittorio Rocco. “We’re his family.”
“And he’s our brother,” said Oakie. The rest of the Spawn lined up next to Oakie, forming a wall of biker muscle.
“Enough,” said the doctor. “As I said: all of you, out of here, or I’m calling security.”
“Come,” said Chrissy’s mother. “Vittorio, Carmello, Maria, to our house while we wait for news.”
“That’s generous, daughter,” said Pandolfo. “We’ll eat, have some wine. And relax and talk.”
“Sounds like a party.” Chrissy snorted. “I’m going to talk to Saks.” She glared at the doctor. “Can you get me out of this room?”
The doctor looked happy to help her.
She flounced down the halls of the hospital, following the doctor as he took the winding hallways to the recovery room. It took everything not to gasp when she stepped in. Saks was hooked up to tubes and wires, and lay very still in bed with his eyes closed. “I thought you said he was okay.”
“Yes. But this was major surgery. He’s going to be okay. Just needs to rest.” He stood as she turned to stare again at Saks. “I’ve got other patients. If you have any questions you can ask the nurse.”
“Okay,” said Chrissy. For the first time in her life she was totally at a loss as to what to do. Saks was hurt, all because her crazy family got on board with an insane scheme to get her married into the Rocco family. Marcus said it wasn’t Serafini men who did this, but who? His own family wouldn’t try to hurt Saks, would they? It was all damn strange and she couldn’t parse any of it.
She walked toward Saks, quietly and scared. Tentatively, she reached out and touched his leg.
Saks’ eyes fluttered open and he smiled dozily. He shifted and groaned. “Hey...”
“Hey,” she replied weakly.
A nurse came in and checked Saks’ stats. Chrissy stood silently, watching her. “You did a good job,” the nurse said. “The EMTs said you put the compression on his shoulder and slowed the blood loss.”
“Yeah,” she said. What could she say? That pressing one of Saks’ towels to his shoulder was the least she could do?
When the nurse left again, she asked Saks quietly, “How do you feel?”
“Pretty doped up.” He grinned sloppily. “So, pretty good considering I had a bullet lodged in my shoulder.”
“Yeah. That guy was an ass for shooting.” She couldn’t stand seeing him like this.
“Tomorrow,” he fought to keep his eyes open, or to stop from rolling, “will be a different story when they put me on a morphine drip.” He moved the hand on his uninjured shoulder. “Or I’m on it now. And they take if off. It’s different... drugs are wack.”
“Oh.” Wack?
He blinked a few times and then squinted as he stared at her. “Chrissy, your eyes are red.”
“I didn’t get much sleep last night.” She dropped her gaze and then brought it up when he chuckled.
“Ohhh yeah,” Saks said, grinning again. “I remember that.”
“How can you even talk to me?” she burst out. “If you hadn’t gotten involved with me none of this would have happened.”
“Hell, Chrissy. This isn’t a thing. Just a shoulder wound.”
“Those men could have killed you.”
“Well, they tried and didn’t, so score one for me.” He grinned at her again and she thoroughly lost it.
“How can you even joke?” Chrissy was beside herself. This reminded her of the nights when her father’s associates would turn up bloody and her father would call the local doctor he had in his pocket. And the men would laugh at how the other guy got it worse, and drink themselves stupid as the doctor stitched their wounds. Chrissy realized now that other guy would be a Rocco, part of Saks’ family. She was horrified.
“Hey, Chrissy. Don’t cry.” He tried to sit and fell back against the bed. “It’s okay. I’ve had worse.”
“Worse? Worse?” How could she get involved with such a man? Someone who considered a bullet wound no biggie? This was bad. She’d never wanted this life. Worked hard to avoid it. Now, in Saks’ unconcerned eyes, it stared her in the face. What it meant to be the woman of an organized crime member. Waiting for the man to come home. Wondering if he died that night when he wasn’t back when he said he’d return.
“I’m glad you’re okay, Saks,” she said between the tears. “But I have to go.”
“Oh,” said Saks. Disappointment showed in his eyes. “Sure. Come see me tomorrow. I won’t be so loopy. I promise.”
“’Bye, Saks.” She walked out of the room and, gathering speed, out of the hospital as tears spilled over her cheeks and blurred her vision.
She couldn’t see Anthony Parks, aka Saks, again. Ever.
