The Capo’s Daughter Needs No Permission Chapter 03
The ER doctor glanced at my scan and immediately paged the on-call surgeon.
“Acute appendicitis with risk of perforation. She needs surgery now.”
“Any longer and she could go septic.”
Lying in the hospital bed, I felt my hands begin to tremble.
The hospital needed an emergency contact to confirm my medical history and someone to pick me up after the surgery.
I called my mother.
No answer.
I called fifty-eight times.
On the fifty-eighth attempt, Marco finally picked up.
Before I could say a word, he started yelling.
“Are you done yet?”
“If no one’s answering, it means we’re busy. Your damn ringtone is making Ava lose her game.”
“Follow the rules. We’ll talk to you when we’re free.”
He hung up.
When I tried to call back, I realized he’d blocked my number.
So I called Ms. Albright.
She heard the pain in my voice and rushed to the hospital without a second thought.
She helped me fill out the paperwork, covered the deposit, and stood in the hallway discussing my post-op care with the doctor.
Right before the OR doors swung shut, she gently touched my head.
“Don’t be afraid, Romy. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”
By the time the anesthesia wore off and I opened my eyes, Ms. Albright had already gone back to the school to handle some work.
Two other people were in the room.
Marco stood at the foot of my bed, his expression anything but worried.
“You could’ve had this surgery any other day, but no—you had to pick the day Ava was getting her graduation photos taken.”
“That photo shoot was for the Ferraro Family’s summer banquet. It was her first official appearance as a protected orphan. Did you do this on purpose so we’d miss it?”
My mother shot him a glare.
“Your sister just had surgery. Don’t talk like that.”
She turned to me. “Your father’s with Ava. We’ll take care of you today.”
That’s what she said, but her attention never settled on me for more than a second.
I was so thirsty. I needed water.
Marco was on his phone, picking out filters for Ava’s photos.
My mother was on a video call with Ava, helping her choose which dress to wear for the banquet pictures.
In the end, it was a nursing assistant on his rounds who noticed my cracked lips. He picked up my cup and helped me take a sip.
He looked from me to my mother and Marco.
“She’s a post-op patient. Are you two her family?”
My mother’s face stiffened.
As soon as the assistant left, Marco turned on me.
“You really know how to make us look bad in front of strangers.”
“It’s just a sip of water. You could have said something, couldn’t you?”
My mother didn’t disagree.
She just opened a takeout container and held out a bowl of seafood soup.
I have never been able to eat seafood.
When she saw I wasn’t taking it, her expression hardened.
“What is it now?”
“We already missed half of Ava’s photo shoot because of you. Are you trying to keep us here all day so she won’t have a single decent picture for the Family banquet?”
“Drink it or don’t.”
Then they left together.
The middle-aged woman in the next bed had witnessed the entire exchange.
She lowered her voice and asked, “Honey, were those really your mother and brother?”
I stared at the closed door.
“I wish they weren’t.”