Sold to the Capo-Chapter 129: A TRIP TO THE HOSPITAL

ADRIANA’S POV

"How’s he now?" I asked two days later when Michael entered the room in the casino.

I had thought about leaving. I was still thinking about leaving. But not before I made sure Vincenzo was okay. He was still in a coma, and every day that passed without him waking up felt like an eternity. I couldn’t bring myself to step foot in that hospital room, but I had made Michael go instead. Every morning, every night.

Hale was already conscious. Grace was back in the mansion. Henry, Lord Rossi, and Julius were still in the custody of the LaRosa family. The world kept moving forward, but Vincenzo... he remained trapped between life and death.

Michael leaned against the wall, his face unreadable. "Same as always."

That wasn’t an answer.

I exhaled sharply, burying my face in my hands. "What are the chances of him recovering soon?" My voice cracked slightly.

Michael hesitated. A split second too long.

I lifted my gaze to his, my heart pounding. "Michael?"

He ran a hand through his hair, his jaw tightening. "The real question should be—what are the chances of him ever recovering?"

The room tilted. My breath caught in my throat.

"What... what do you mean?" My voice barely rose above a whisper.

Michael sighed, his expression troubled. "Vincenzo didn’t just get shot, Adriana. His body went through hell. I know you didn’t want to hear about it but I think you should know what has been happening in the last few days at the hospital. They had to operate immediately. Then there was the damage to his ribs. Three of them were broken, two fractured. One of the broken ribs punctured his lung. He would’ve drowned in his own blood if they hadn’t gotten to him in time."

I gripped the armrest of the chair, my nails digging into the leather. I knew he was injured—I saw the blood, I saw the weakness and the light fading in his eyes—but hearing it like this...

Michael continued, his tone more clinical now. "They had to put him on a ventilator for the first twenty-four hours because his lungs were too weak. He was in surgery for hours, Adriana. His heart stopped twice. Twice. And even after they stabilized him, the internal swelling was bad. They had to put him in a medically induced coma just to give his body a chance to heal."

I swallowed hard. "But... but that was days ago."

"Yeah," Michael muttered. "And now? The problem isn’t just his body. It’s his brain."

I froze. "His brain?"

Michael nodded grimly. "His oxygen levels were dangerously low when we got him out of there. There’s no way to know how long he was losing blood before we got to him. And that kind of trauma? The brain doesn’t just shake it off. The doctors say there could be cognitive damage—memory loss, speech issues, motor function impairment. Hell, he could wake up and not even remember who he is."

A hollow, numbing silence settled between us.

Not remember who he is.

Not remember me.

I shook my head violently. "No. He’s strong. He’ll wake up, and he’ll be fine."

Michael didn’t argue. He just watched me with those knowing eyes, like he had already accepted the possibility of a different outcome.

I couldn’t. I wouldn’t.

Because if Vincenzo didn’t come back to me, then what was left of me?

Micheal shrugged. "This is why I think it’s best to see him one last time at least"

I looked up at him with tears brimming in my eyes. "I can’t. I just can’t. I don’t think I can bring myself to look at him without breaking down or blaming myself for it"

"It’s not your fault, Adriana. Don’t be too hard on yourself" Micheal tried to assure me but that fell flat.

I was silent, I couldn’t bring myself to talk, to get the words needed out. "I should go..." I muttered, already taking steps back.

"Wait.." he called out before I could take another step back.

I stopped in my tracks, folding my hands across my chest. "What?" My voice cracked despite my best attempts to keep it level.

"Do you still want to leave? I mean... we’ve been going back and forth about Vincenzo but we stopped talking about what you said. Do you still want to leave Sicily? I could book a flight today if you say yes"

I paused, weighing my options. "Do you think I should leave?"

"Do you want to?" He retorted, a brow raised.

A sad smile crept up my lips and I shrugged. "I don’t know if I want to leave. I fear that if I leave, I would regret it for the rest of my life because I...I think I would be leaving everything I like behind. Everything I love is here in Sicily and while I want to make a life with you, I want to know you as my father, I want to but ... I don’t want to lose him"

Mic1hael groaned. "This again, Adriana. But then you don’t want to see him yet you don’t want to lose him, don’t you get it? You could lose him, at least see him. Please... I know I shouldn’t be the one telling you to see him and I should rather be the one telling you that he’s not good for you but you’re hurting yourself and it doesn’t matter if he’s unconscious, he’s hurting too. He needs your presence. At least have some sort of closure or whatever you can" 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Closure. Closure meant we were ending it but we weren’t, were we?

"Closure? I don’t want closure with him even if I’m leaving Sicily because it feels like I’m never going to come back and I’m not going to leave him forever. Not with the way I feel about him"

I felt nauseous all of a sudden and I struggled to keep the bile down my throat as I felt it rushing up.

He didn’t seem to notice my discomfort, he was staring up at the ceiling. "You always need closure. You don’t know how much I’d kill just to get closure with your mother. Things I wish I had told her before she got taken away from me so abruptly" He sounded nostalgic, like he was reminiscing about the past. Reminding himself of the times he spent with the woman he loved and when I stared at him, I could see love.

But I felt weird. I was having a dizzy spell and I felt like I was one step away from throwing up. I was stressed. It was probably just from the stress.

I was silent, I wanted to bring myself to say something, to reply to him but oh fuck... I staggered slightly just to feel a strong arm around my waist.

"Fuck, are you okay?" I heard Micheal say, his voice filled with worry.

Was i okay? I was one second away from passing out and I was beginning to see things blurry. Did I get food poisoning? I had been too lazy to order food so I had ended up telling the waitress in the casino to get me food.

I don’t think I was allergic to the cucumber in the food, I don’t think I was yet it felt like I was about to throw it back up.

"I’m fine, I..." I paused and retched. "Wait, I think it’s just indigestion" I muttered, my voice weak.

He gripped me tighter and I felt him pulling me to the chair and even if I wanted to stop him, I couldn’t. Not with how weak I felt.

"You don’t look fine in any way. You look pale and... do you wanna throw up?" He asked, his eyes wide as he crouched in front of me.

I shook my head quickly and swallowed back down the bile that threatened to rush up again. "I’m fine" My voice cracked and I took a deep breath, pressing my hand to my chest. "I’m fine" I repeated.

"C’mon, get up." He ordered, his voice hard.

I wanted to stand up, I really did but then I feared that I would stagger and fall. "I just need a glass of water or something."

The words were barely out my mouth before he rushed to grab a glass of water of the table and he gave it to me. "Are you strong enough to grab it by yourself or do you want me to help you with it?"

I shook my head, my hands trembling as I took the glass in hand, wishing I could drink it without it spilling over but it seemed that my prayers were not going to be answered because the glass slipped from my hand and crashed the floor, shattering with a piercing sound.

"Shit" Michael cursed and the next thing I felt was him carrying me in his strong arms. "I’m here" he whispered, already moving out of the room.

"Where are we going?" I managed to whisper.

"The hospital"