Every Man Who Loved Me Left Hating Me, Only My Father Knows Why novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: The Cane

We reached Rhode Island Hospital at seven in the morning.

Remo wore a clean shirt from Bianca's grandfather's closet, buttoned over the bandage, and he walked half a step behind me the whole way.

Neither of us had said a word about the night.

The cardiac waiting room was full of men in dark coats.

My father's captains stood along the wall, and Bianca sat in the corner with her knees pulled up.

In the middle of the room, in a plastic chair, with a pastry box open on his knees, sat Silvio Ruzzo.

He stood when he saw me and spread his arms.

"Cara. Thank God. I came the moment I heard."

"You were here before anyone called me," I said.

"The Pesaros and the Ruzzos are one community, in times of sorrow." His smile was gentle. "Eat something."

"My father is dying."

"He is resting. The doctors are very hopeful." He closed the box. "But the waterfront cannot rest, Lucia. The trucks, the union men, the payroll. Somebody has to hold it together."

The captains went still.

"I have offered to manage the dock accounts until Gaetano is well," Silvio said. "As a friend. As a brother."

"No."

He blinked. "I'm sorry?"

I walked to the center of the room, so every man along the wall could see my face.

"Last night, three men came through the back door of my mother's restaurant with guns," I said. "One of them shot my friend."

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