“I know you work for h-her, th-that you’re on her s-side,” Rosella gasped, eyes rolling back in her head as the pain swamped her.
“Shh...my love-”
“It hurts!”
“Mio Dio, Franco quanto ancora?!”
Franco Marsala’s face was dismal as he shook his head in response to Bianca’s demand to know how much longer. “I believe she is hemorrhaging. It seems she has been for a while,” he said. “If that is the case, we could lose them both.”
Bianca blinked, her round face sweaty and pale. “The baby? Franco...the baby...what can we do?”
Franco Marsala reached into his bag and extracted a case of gleaming surgical tools. “Whatever we can,” he said.
~29~
It wasn’t just about him anymore. It wasn’t about him at all, actually. This was about Rosella and the baby she carried. His child.
The two words in his head then, were like a wrecking ball slamming his chest and he sat down hard behind his desk. It was late. Well after 10pm and the halls were silent. He had already taken four trips to Ogdensburg since following Athena there the first time. Each visit brought him closer to confronting his mother or going to knock on the door to the house where Rosella was staying. Every time, he lost his nerve.
He didn’t know how to talk to her-how to apologize. He could see that her life was now a far cry from the life the vibrant, vital woman wanted to live. He had returned from the last visit, determined to settle all Tesano business. He had accomplished that as best he could. After leaving the office that night, he was heading back home to pack...and go to his family.
Stone thought of Zach then and left his chair. He didn’t know what he would tell him. He could almost see the betrayal that would darken his lover’s eyes when he said he had chosen a lie over him.
What was the bigger lie, he wondered. Choosing a life with a woman he couldn’t be a true husband to? Or the lie he’d already been living? Hell, he didn’t even know whether Rosella wanted a husband. Beyond all that, however, was the child they had made together. Their child was more important than all the rest. Being part of its life was worth any lie he’d have to tell to make it so.
The office door opened and he looked up from the note he was about to leave for Devonny. He smiled, seeing that it was Gabriel.
“What’s happenin’ Grek? Make it quick, I’m on my way out of town.”
Gabriel frowned, spread his hands. “What the fuck are you talkin’ about? You called me.”
Before Stone could question that, Vale rushed in on Gabriel’s heel and slammed his skull with the butt of the gun he carried. The blow sent Gabriel sprawling unconscious to the floor.
“Vale, what the hell-?” Stone was moving from his desk, but stopped when Vale turned the gun his way.
“Sorry Stone, you don’t have time for me to explain it to you.”
“Vale-”
It was the last word Stone Tesano ever uttered.
~~~
“Gabe? Gabe! Gabriel-!”
“Wait, wait, I think he’s comin’ around...Grek? Grek, you with us man?”
“Dammit he’s slippin’ back under-”
“Gabriel! Come on man.”
Gabriel began to shake his head and immediately groaned, wincing as though something excruciating was going on behind his eyes.
“Gabe we’re gonna need you to wake up now. We need you to tell us what happened here.”
The request seemed to be the encouragement Gabriel needed. Eventually, his eyes opened to thin slits.
“Wh-what happened?”
Humphrey and Vale exchanged looks.
“We were hoping you could tell us,” Humphrey inclined his head. “Where’d you get that?”
Gabriel frowned again. “Get what?”
“Grek,” Vale whispered.
Gabriel followed Vale’s disturbed look to where his hand rested along his side and the gun that lay against his palm.
“Jesus!” He shrieked, sending the weapon to the carpet. Frantic then, he pushed to his hands and knees. There was no strength to stand. “Why am I on the floor? Why is there a g-gun?” He panted the questions, while bracing on all fours and struggling to steady his breath.
“What do you remember, Gabriel?” Humphrey asked.
“Fuck that! Just tell me!”
Vale shifted then, moving aside to clear Gabriel’s view of the desk and what lay alongside it. Stone’s green stare bore into him, fixed but unseeing.
Terror had Gabriel trying to scramble to his feet again, but he could barely support his weight and slumped back to the base of the chair his brothers had pushed him against. “Wh-what happened-Stone! Stone! Stone...”
