Page 4 of Unforgivable Ties
“You could say that,” I grunted, sitting down on the examination table.
He lifted my shirt, revealing the bandaged wound underneath, and tilted his head in curiosity. “How did this happen?”
I was so frustrated by the situation I hadn’t thought about how I was going to explain my patched wound to Cesare. It was too professional for me to say I had done it myself.
“Well…” I sighed, and told him the entire story.
“A civilian? Who just happened to be there?” he asked skeptically.
“I’m pretty sure if she was an enemy she would have offed me the minute she saw me,” I responded, running my hand through my hair. “Either way, don’t tell anyone.”
“Alright,” he said, raising his eyebrow. “But are you sure it was the right move letting her go? Who’s to say she won’t go to the cops?”
“I’ll deal with that if it happens,” I snapped, wincing as Cesare unwrapped the bandage from around my torso. He simply observed me with those cold eyes of his, his lips tightening into a tight line.
“This is great work. You said she was a student?”
“Yes,” I grumbled, “Second year, I think?”
“Would’ve never guessed.”
We were quiet as he assessed me using various medical tools. The machines beeped and whirred as they tracked my vitals and inspected my injuries. Eventually, he concluded that there wasno internal damage and the stitches Stephanie had given me would heal properly.
“I can’t believe you can just leave the bullet in there,” I muttered, glancing at my abdomen.
“You’ve been shot plenty of times. How did you not know that?” Cesare asked, not bothering to hide the look of judgement on his face.
Every other time I had got shot hadn’t been near a vital organ. Cesare had always effortlessly pulled the bullets out of my arm or thigh and stitched it up.
“Just make sure to not get it wet and change the gauze,” he said, wrapping my wound in new gauze.
“Got it,” I said, nodding absentmindedly. My mind drifted back to Stephanie’s help, and the way her brown eyes had softened when she looked at me, when most people recoiled in fear.
“And do you know how much overtime I have now? How many bodies are there?” he asked with a sigh, peeling off his gloves and discarding them into a bin next to the examination table.
“Seven,” I said with a grimace, rubbing my thumb over the wadded gauze bandage on my side. The doctor flicked an unimpressed glance my way before scribbling something onto his clipboard.
“Do you know how long it takes to get organs out ofonebody, let alone seven?”
“They’re in rough shape. Doubt you’ll be able to get much.”
Cesare groaned, running a hand through his silvered hair. “Just what I need,” he muttered, more to himself than to me. “More work and less profit out of it.”
“Thanks for the help,” I said, sliding off the examination table. “I’ll see you later.”
I ignored Cesare’s bitching as I walked out of his office. What he had said had been bothering me—did I make the rightdecision letting Stephanie go? Yes, she was kind to me and helped patch me up. I was certain that she was now thinking about the situation she had gotten herself into, and she must have thought it would be best to notify the police about the shooting.
Whatever. We had a lot of crooked cops on our payroll. If they caught any inkling of something we might have done, they’d let us know we were on the police’s radar.
I’d just have to forget about it, and her, for now.
Stephanie
The day of the shooting, I had run home, my errands completely forgotten. I was covered in the mystery man’s blood, and I was terrified someone would see me and ask questions I couldn’t answer.
I had considered going to the cops. But I had gotten a look at some of the man’s tattoos, and he was probably just a thug caught up in some gang related shooting. I didn’t know if it was related to territory, drugs, or reputation, but I didn’t care and the police probably had more important things to do.
So, I stayed silent, and would forever keep the memory locked away. It would hide in the abyss of my heart, longing for more information, but forever staying unanswered.