Page 70 of Volatile Vice

An eye for an eye.

But even ifIdeserve this, Savannah doesn’t deserve to lose her mother. My father doesn’t deserve to lose his wife.

Fuck. I’ve got to get out of here.

I’m going to go slowly crazy?—

“Anyone here for Caroline Gallo?”

I jerk and turn toward the sound of the man’s voice. He stands by the double doors.

I stride quickly toward him. “I’m her son. Vincent Gallo.”

“Mr. Gallo, I’m Dr. Fife.” He shakes my hand. “We’ve been able to get your mother stabilized, but she’s going to need a triple bypass surgery.”

“So she’s not… I saw the paddles…”

He nods. “Yes, her heart did stop, but we were able to get it going again. We’re going to keep her under observation, and if she remains stable, we’ll be operating on her first thing in the morning.”

“How did my mother have a heart attack? She’s active, and she eats right.”

But does she? She and Dad always ate a lot of pasta and cheese.

“Heart issues in women are more common than most people think,” he says. “In the meantime, she was asking for her husband. Is he here?”

Nope. He’s locked up. “He can’t be here at the moment. May I see her?”

“Yes. I’ll take you back. We’ll be moving her to the ICU as soon as we can.”

I hold myself steady as I follow the doctor back.

My mother is still hooked up to all kinds of machines, and her eyes are closed.

“She needs her rest,” the doctor says. “Like I said, we’ll be transferring her up to the ICU as soon as we get a bed ready.”

I swallow and nod. “Thank you. Thank you for saving her.”

“She’s strong. She should recover well after surgery.” He gives me a smile—I can’t tell if it’s forced or not—and turns to the door. “I’ll give you a moment.” He whisks out of the area.

“Mom?” I say gently, tugging on her arm.

Her eyes open. “Vinnie? Savannah?”

Crap. I haven’t called Savannah. “She’ll be here as soon as she can, Mom.”

“What about your father?” She blinks heavily. “I need to see…my husband.”

She is delirious.

“You know he can’t be here, Mom. He’s…”

“Yes, I know.” Her eyes close again.

There’s not much else I can say to her, so I’ll let her rest. I’ll stay with her until they get her transferred up to the ICU, and of course I’ll be back for her surgery in the morning.

In the meantime, I have to call my grandfather. Tell him I didn’t get on that plane.

Not looking forward to that one. I punch in his number and hold the phone to my ear.