Illicit Temptations (Tempted Series Book 1) (38 page)

I sit here in the hallway of the emergency room covered in Mikey’s blood and know that I’ll always remember the way his blood stained my hands. I know that I’ll always remember the look in my father’s eyes as he tried to control the bleeding. I’ll remember the sorrowful look the paramedic gave me when he asked who Mikey’s next of kin was. He wasn’t going to
let me ride in the ambulance with Mikey the cops wanted to question me. I explained I was the only person Mike had in this world and he let me ride to the hospital with him.
He told the cops that they were treating me too explaining that they could follow us to the hospital and question me there. He will never know how grateful I was to him in that moment.

I fear that every time I close my eyes, I will relive the moment we arrived at the hospital and how the paramedics started shouting for help from the doctors. They rambled off a bunch of medical terms and the doctors in the emergency room started hollering orders, but the one sentence that will always play back in my head is “He’s lost too much blood.” I don’t remember who exactly made the declaration but I know that when I heard those words I felt my heart shatter and hope diminish. After that, the nurse wearing the Hello Kitty scrubs pushed me aside and told me they needed to take him into surgery to remove the bullet. I must’ve opened my mouth to protest because she shut me down with a hard stare telling me Mikey would die if I didn’t let them do their jobs. That’s all she needed to say for me to retreat into the hallway watching as a team of surgeons and nurses ran wheeling Mikey out of my sight.

I leaned back against the wall and lifted my head to see my father walking towards me looking disheveled; his dress shirt untucked matching my hands covered in Mikey’s blood. His hair that was never out of place was a mess and his face looked worn and tired. There were a pair of police officers walking behind him, but they stopped by the door allowing us privacy. I watched his every step as he made his way beside me falling into the seat next to mine. I didn’t speak, and neither did he we just sat there for a few moments before he reached down and took my hand in his, squeezing it tightly.

“What if he doesn’t make it?” I asked barely audible.

“He will,” he said hoarsely. I turned my head to look at him realizing my father needed Mikey to live almost more than I did. I probably would’ve felt sorry for him looking as distraught as he did, but all I felt was anger towards him.

“Why is that because a Valente already died for a Pastore? If history repeats and it sometimes does, then Mikey will die taking a bullet for me just like his dad died for you,” I couldn’t hide the resentment in my voice not that I cared if I sounded bitter it was time my father knew how poisonous his lifestyle truly was.

“Mikey’s not going to die,” he said, raising his voice an octave higher.

“You don’t know that!” I said as I stood up on my wobbly feet and stared down at him. “You can’t guarantee me that he’s not going to die. You just hope that he doesn’t to save your own conscience,” tears started to well in my eyes as anger boiled in my veins. “I used to think you were my hero, the one person in my life I could always count on to make sense of things. I knew that you lived a shady life and your business endeavors were mostly illegal, but I always chose to brush
that aside and see the good in you. There was even a point in my life where having a gangster for a daddy was
enticing, but that was because you loved your family.”

“Don’t talk about my love for you in the past tense!” He said cutting me off.

“If you loved us as much as we thought you did none of us would be in the situations we are currently in. Some thug wouldn’t have kidnapped me and Mikey wouldn’t be fighting for his fucking life. Don’t you dare tell me you love us because if you did, you would’ve let your love for us drive your decisions and not your love for money and power. For years, I’ve watched my sister be so sad and never understood why, but your pal Deke enlightened me. What kind of monster sends the young man his daughter loves to prison? You sent Anthony to prison to avenge Val’s death, ruining his life and forcing him to break Adrianna’s heart. Don’t you get it? Every bad thing that’s happened to us has been at your hand!”

“Nikki, that’s enough,” Aunt Gina said, walking towards us with Nana beside her.

“Gina mind your business,” my father lifted his head, looking me in the eye. “Get it all out you’re entitled.”

I looked at him torn between wanting to scream and yell at him for all the horrible choices he made in his life and the need to wrap my arms around him just because he was my daddy the one man I measured every other man against even Mikey. I turned around putting my back towards him deciding it was better if I didn’t look at him anymore. There was nothing left to say. I took the bottle of Gatorade Aunt Gina offered me and waited for word on Mikey in silence. Aunt Gina took a seat next to my father and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

“She’s been through a lot Vic she doesn’t mean it,” she said in an attempt to console her brother.

“Everything she said is true,” I heard my father say. I wiped away the tears that fell from my eyes he was still my dad no matter how angry I was. I still loved him and hated that my words inflicted pain on him regardless if he deserved it or not or how true the words were.

“Miss Pastore?” I lift my head to see two police officers standing before me.

“Yes,” I confirm that they’ve found the person they were looking for. I know that they aren’t here to give me an update on Mikey or tell me that he’s dead like the pair of cops that visited my grandma the day the man she loved died.

“We need your statement,” the female officer explained.

“For crying out loud you cops are relentless,” Nana says from her chair. “Poor girls been through hell and back and you’re going to make her relive it all.” She shakes her head disgusted and I look back towards the officers.

“It’s fine, let’s just get this over with,” I say running my fingers through my hair only for them to get stuck in the knots. I needed to shower to wash this nightmare away.

“Okay, can you start from the beginning?” The male officer asked, taking out his tape recorder while his partner reached into her pocket for a pad and pen. “Both you and Mr. Valente live in New York so what were you doing in Florida?”

I glanced over at my father who dropped his head to his hands a memory of him and me flashed through my mind of when I was a little girl and he’d take me in his arms and dance with me. Dancing was kind of our thing at every family party you could catch my dad and me on the dance floor.

“We were visiting my Aunt and my Grandma,” I watched as my father lifted his head his eyes fixed on mine. “Mikey wanted to surprise me for my birthday and take me away,” I lied because no matter what the man I was staring at was still my dad and I wasn’t about to throw him under the bus.

“Fast forward to the night in question where were you when Deke Rogers took you?” The male officer asked.

“I was sleeping in the guest room,” I said, thinking back to how I had fallen asleep in Mikey’s arms whispering to him that I loved him.

“Were you alone?” The partner took over asking the questions.

“My aunt and grandma weren’t home when we got back that night, but I didn’t go to sleep alone. I went to bed with Mikey but when I woke up, he wasn’t there either.”

“Where was he?”

“I don’t know,” I cocked my head to the side, studying the woman who was firing questions at me. “I didn’t get a chance to ask him before he was shot.”

“Okay, so he wakes you up and then what?”

“He puts a gun to my head and tells me to get dressed,” I can feel my father’s eyes on me as I speak. “He tied my wrists before we left the house and then he took me to the warehouse that you found me in.”

“Do you know why he took you?”

“My father is a union delegate for the Longshoreman’s Association he wanted my father to have the ILA turn their heads and move drugs through the New York harbor,” I glanced over at my dad. My story was partially true my father did have ties to the union delegates. My grandfather was high in the ranks with the ILA before he died, that’s ultimately, how my father obtained control over the docks through his dad. “He told my father he’d kill me if he couldn’t get control over the docks,” I divert my eyes back to the police. “He would’ve killed me too, if Mikey hadn’t found me when he had.”

“What happened when Mr. Valente found you?”

“Deke was about to shoot me, but Mikey shot him first.” I said, closing my eyes remembering Mikey running towards me.

“When did your father show up?”

With my eyes still closed and my mind playing back the scene, I answered. “Within seconds, Deke’s men started shooting at my father and his associates. Mikey couldn’t see anything going on because his back was towards it all as he started for me. When he finally turned around and saw what was happening, he saw the gunmen try to shoot me,” I opened my eyes blinking away the tears. “He charged at me taking the bullet meant for me,” I swallowed hard. “He saved my life,” I look passed the police officers at the closed doors that they wheeled Mikey through so many hours ago wishing that I had the ability to return the favor.

The male officer looked at me placing a hand on my arm. “Have you been checked out?” He asked softly.

“Not until I know what’s going on with Mikey,” I say stubbornly. He opened his mouth to say something, but my father walks over to us.

“I’m ready to give my statement,” he says, shoving his hands into his pockets as he looks at me. “Give me a moment with my daughter and then I will meet you in the cafeteria,” the cops look at one another confused but then they turn to my father and nod.

“I hope your boyfriend makes it,” the female officer says before walking alongside her partner in the direction of where I assume the cafeteria is. I wait for them to disappear through the doors before looking back at my dad. He leans forward and presses his lips to my forehead.

“I love you Nikki. I don’t deserve to ask anything of you but I’m selfish enough to ask that you don’t doubt my love for you. I have made very bad decisions and maybe I was stupid enough to think that they never would affect you or your sister, but I swear to you I never wanted to hurt either of you. I only wanted to give you two girls the best possible life I was capable of. I swear on Val’s grave may he rest in peace that I never wanted to hurt Michael either my intentions were pure when it came to him.” He lifted his hands from his pockets and cradled my face in his palms. “I’m sorry for every bad thing that ever touched you,” he whispered pausing as if to memorize every feature of my face before smiling at me sadly. “I love you my little girl.”

His thumbs brushed away the tears that fell from my eyes before dropping his hands and looking over my shoulder towards Aunt Gina.

“Stay with her. Don’t let her wait alone.”

“You’re just going to give your statement right?” She asked skeptically.

“Yes,” he said with a slight nod. He gave me one final look before starting to walk away from me.

“Dad!” I said, watching as he stopped mid stride, looking back over his shoulder at me. “I love you too,” I said, choking with emotion.

The corners of his lips curved as he smiled at me, placing his hand over his heart and winked at me. I watched him walk away from me and couldn’t help but feel as if this too was a pivotal moment in my life one that I’d never forget. The moment my father told me, he loved me before walking away from me. Aunt Gina’s arms wrapped around me and I turned in her embrace, wishing my mother were here with me.

“Are you the family of Michael Valente?” I heard someone ask, forcing me to pull away from Aunt Gina and turn to face the doctor that was removing his mask.

“Yes,” I said hoarsely grabbing onto my Aunt’s hand for support, fearing what he was about to tell me.

He took a deep breath as his eyes found mine. “It was touch and go for a moment, but he’s stable. The bullet ruptured his spleen, so we had to perform a splenectomy. He was brought in just in time if we had waited any longer to do the surgery he would’ve died,” he paused for a moment. “I’m pretty sure we were able to get all the fragments of the bullet too.”

“He’s going to be okay?” I asked disbelievingly.

“He has quite the recovery ahead of him and it’s very important for him to be monitored with any abdominal injury such as a gunshot we worry about infection. Lucky for him the bullet didn’t puncture his stomach or his intestines,” he looked at me for a moment. “They’re moving him to recovery, but it will be a little while before you can see him so why don’t you let me call one of the residents to check you out.”

I opened my mouth to object, but he held his hand up so he could continue without interruption.

“If I had just gone through what he did the first person I’d want to see is my wife, but it would absolutely destroy me if she looked like you do.”

“Okay,” I said reluctantly. “But then you’ll let me see him?” I asked tiredly.

“You have my word,” the doctor said. I sighed, telling myself that I just needed to hold out a little longer before I saw Mikey.

My Mikey.

I glanced up at the tiled ceiling and silently thanked the man upstairs for answering my prayers and restoring my faith.