Page 70 of I Would Beg For You
I know I can trust my brother, that he’ll step up to stand by my side when I’ll need him as my second in command. So, I tell him about Thad, Anya, Declan Reeves, and finally, the whole truth about Joel Smith.
The disgust grows on his face with my every word. When I’m done, I can feel he’s ready to pick up arms to fight against the like of Naomi’s father.
“How does BeathaAnáil fall into this?” he asks.
“Joel Smith and many of his backers sit on the board of the Benedict Hospital. There’s been shady stuff going on there, andDonal O’Brien, who owned BeathaAnáil, held thirteen percent of the shares already. It was our steppingstone to acquiring majority shareholding in that hospital then outing them for whatever’s going on there.”
Luciano’s face has drained of color. I stare at him, perplexed, worry growing inside me. Before I can register what, I’m doing, I’m up, filling his glass with a double, then pushing it into his hand. He gulps it down in one go.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Benedict… That’s where Eliza…” he says and can’t continue.
It hits me like a brick landing in my gut. It’s the same hospital where his wife found out she was sick and where she died. I wasn’t here when my sister-in-law was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. I did a quick hop from Turin to be with Luciano for a few days, then had to head back. The plan was to come back in a few months, but that never happened. I came home for her funeral instead of Easter weekend.
I place a hand on his shoulder and squeeze. “I’m sorry.”
No matter how many times I say it, it feels hollow. I’ll never know what he went through, so everything I offer will come short. Still, I hope he knows he has all of my heart that I can give to him and his precious family.
Luciano stays silent for long seconds.
“They denied her a chance, you know.”
I frown, then go over to sit down next to him. “What do you mean?”
He gulps before speaking. “Her cancer. There was a drug trial starting and that could’ve helped. Her doctor got her on the list, then at the last minute, the hospital said she didn’t fit the eligibility.”
My blood is boiling. I’d adored Eliza. She was such a sweet girl. Too sweet, one would even think, but that’s who she was. She showed me good souls still existed in this rotten world.
“We’ll find who did this,” I tell him. “That hospital will be ours soon, and we’ll find the bastards responsible.”
Luciano looks at me with eyes heavy with pain and also murderous intent. Good. This is the determinized drive I need from him. Anything but the dead emptiness that’d been in his whole being when she passed and left him with an eighteen-month-old toddler on his hands.
I’m powered by this fire all throughout the day, Luciano by my side like a dark vigilante as we make moves on capitalizing on our shareholding of the Benedict.
A ray of light finally hits my world when a text comes in late in the afternoon.
Naomi:Come see me.
Me:What’s not on the menu?
My elation turns into a frown when she fails to respond after a full minute…then it blows out into full blown panic when the next text turns up.
Naomi:Anything you don’t want to be.
That’s not our code.
That’s not her texting me.
I dial Anya’s number and dive in as soon as she picks up.
“Where’s Naomi?”
“In Essex County, with the whole delegation.”
“You’re not with her?”
“Not today, no. Why?”
