Chapter five
1246 Words
ISABELLA POV
He opens the door and disappears inside. The door closes behind him with a soft click.
I stand in the hallway, staring at the closed door, my hands shaking,I want to pound on it. I want to scream until he opens up and tells me the truth.
But I don't. I will do the same thing if I don't want to talk and I would like for him to give me the space I need.
I let him sleep.
I head for the bathroom and shower quickly,the hot water stinging my scraped knees. I change into clean clothes.
I hid the money Rinaldi gave me in a dresser beneath old photographs and unused scarves.
I stop outside Matteo's room on my way out pressing my ears against listening. There is no sound coming from the other end, just silence.
I want to enter and crawl into bed with him the way we use to when we were children,when the world wasn't so cruel and our father was still around.
But I can't.
So I leave.
The hospital is the same as always,the same white halls filled with the smell of antiseptic and the soft beeping of machines.
I walk pass the nurses station saying hi to those sitting there and into the room that unfortunately has become my mother's home for the past few months.
She's awake when I enter. I find her sitting up for the first time in weeks. She still looks sick,thin and fragile but something in her eyes is different.
“Bella.” She calls out to me when I step it to the room. She holds her hands out “I was hoping you'll come.”
I cross the room and take her hands,her fingers are still thin,still feels cold but there's strength in them, something that wasn't there yesterday.
“They told me you paid for the surgery,”she looks up at me,eyes searching mine and I can see the question in them. “They said Matteo came in this morning.”
I nod. “ Yes mom… don't let such things bother you, just focus on getting well.”
She squeezes my hand. "Where is he? Why didn't he come with you?"
"He was tired," I say. The lie tastes bitter on my tongue. "He stayed home to rest. He said to tell you he loves you."
She studies my face for a long moment,she has always been able to see through me and know when I am hiding something. But today she doesn't push and I'm grateful for that.
It's better she doesn't know
"He's a good boy," she finally says. "You both are, you've always taken care of me.Thank you.”
Her eyes suddenly fill with tears as she goes to go on her knees. "I'm sorry, Bella. I'm sorry I've been such a burden."
"No mom." I reach out, pulling her up. "Don't say that. Don't ever say that. I'm happy to care for you."
She smiles at me,"You're a good daughter, Isabella. The best daughter a mother could ask for. And Matteo ..." She shakes her head. "That boy. He would tear the world apart for me, wouldn't he?"
I think about the bruise on this jaw and the exhaustion in his face when I left this morning.
How he suddenly had eighty thousand euros. He definitely would burn this world just to keep her safe.
"Yeah," I say. "He would."
We sit like that for a while,her hands in mine. The nurses come and go, checking the monitors, adjusting IVs.
There's a soft knock on the door and doctor Moretti walks in.
"Signora Bianchi," she says to my mother. "How are you feeling today?"
"Nervous," my mother admits. "But ready."
Doctor Moretti nods and turns to me. "I came to explain the procedure one more time, and to go over what happens after."
I open my mouth to say I've heard it before ...I've heard it a hundred times. But she's already talking, and I let her.
"After the surgery, your mom will need someone here. Someone strong." She looks at me. "The recovery is hard, Isabella. She'll need help with everything ...walking, eating, managing her medication. She can't do it alone."
"I'll be here," I say. "I'll take care of her."
My mother squeezes my hand. "You already do, Bella."
Doctor Moretti smiles at me. "I know you will. That's why I'm not worried."
She brings the consent form and goes over them before showing me where to sign.
She leaves with a promise to find me when it's over.
My mother pulls me closer. "Call your brother. Tell him I want him here when I wake up."
She cups my face in her hands “ And if I don't come out of there just know you did your best and take care of your brother.”
I feel the tears filling my eyes and shake my head “You'll come out mom, you have to. You are not allowed to die on me.”
She chuckles “okay okay” then she kisses my forehead. “I love you baby.”
She smiles at me as she is wheeled into the operating room while I stand alone in an empty room with beeping machines.
I pull out my phone to call Matteo and keep him updated when my phone buzzes with a text from an unknown number.
I open it and attach is a video.
The thumbnail is dark and blurry like it was taken in a hurry,I press play.
It's a short video. Ten seconds. Maybe less.
Matteo on his knees in a room that looks like a warehouse with concrete floors and bare walls with a single light bulb swinging overhead.
His hands are tied behind his back and his face is worse than this morning, he has a split lips, blood running down his chin.
One eye swollen shut and there is blood on his chest, on his stomach another purple bruise.
The video ends.
I cover my mouth to keep from screaming.
“No… no no” but the sound comes out of me anyway. My chest heaves. My hands shake so badly I almost drop the phone.
I try to call the number. It rings once, then a voicemail clicks on. A distorted voice fills the empty room:
"You have one hour. Come to Via dei Transiti, warehouse fourteen. Come alone. If you don't come, your brother dies. If you call the police, your brother dies. One hour, Isabella."
The line goes dead.
"No." My voice cracks. "No, please ..."
I dial again. Voicemail. Again. Voicemail. Again. Nothing. Just that same cold, distorted recording telling me my brother will die.
My phone slips from my fingers and clatters to the floor.
I sink to my knees beside it, The beeping of the machines fills my ears, mixes with the blood pounding in my head. I couldn't breathe.
My mother is in surgery.
My brother is tied up in a warehouse.
One hour.
I promised I'd be fine, Isa.
He promised. And now they're going to kill him.
I stare at the screen, the video has frozen on Matteo's face,his one good eye looking at the camera.
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