I Sold His Gifts To Leave My Mafia Husband Chapter 03
It was already four in the afternoon by the time I got to Sunnyside.
The building stood on the edge of Queens, far from the routes the Vitale family usually traveled.
The care center had been converted from an old apartment building. The hallways reeked of disinfectant and urine, the paint was peeling, and the fluorescent lights flickered overhead.
I pushed open the door to her room.
Eight beds were crammed inside.
Grandma was curled up on the one closest to the wall.
She had gotten so thin. Three months ago, when I’d visited her at The Willows, she had still been able to walk in the garden. She had recognized me. She had smiled and called my name.
Now her cheekbones jutted out sharply, and the back of her hand was a mess of bruises from needle marks.
“Grandma.”
I crouched beside the bed and took her hand.
She stared at me, her eyes vacant. Her lips moved.
“Who are you?”
My breath caught.
“I’m Daisy. Your Daisy.”
She tilted her head, studying my face.
“Daisy’s just a little girl,” she said softly. “You’re not her.”
The next second, she suddenly clutched my hand, her grip surprisingly strong.
“Where’s Matteo?” she asked, her voice urgent. “He said he was taking me somewhere safe. Why did he leave me here? The people here won’t give me any persimmons. He promised he’d bring me persimmons when he came back.”
Tears fell onto the back of her thin, fragile hand.
“I’m taking you with me,” I whispered. “We’re leaving right now.”
The night nurse told me discharge paperwork couldn’t be processed until the supervisor arrived the next morning.
“I’m her legal guardian.” I laid my documents on the desk. “The person who brought her here had no authority to supersede my rights. And you have no right to keep her here.”
Once she saw the guardianship papers, she didn’t try to stop me.
I signed every form and carefully lifted Grandma into a wheelchair.
By the time I pushed her downstairs, it was seven o’clock.
The temperature was only a few degrees above freezing.
Grandma was wearing a thin cotton jacket.
I took off my down coat and wrapped it around her, tucking it in from head to toe.
When Matteo moved her to this facility, he had also canceled her driver and guards.
I tried to hail a car from the curb.
Fifteen minutes passed. No one accepted the ride.
Grandma started shivering.
I dialed Matteo’s number.
He picked up on the sixth ring.
I could hear the clinking of glasses in the background. Several men were discussing port numbers. I could even hear Bianca laughing.
“What is it now?” he said, his voice already laced with impatience.
“Matteo, where did you put my grandmother?”
My voice was shaking, but every word came out clear.
“You went to get her?” He sounded amused. “Didn’t I tell you to wait until the dock terms were signed before you dealt with her?”
“She’s eighty-three!”
It was the first time I had ever shouted at him.
“She’s been in a place like that for three months. She got pneumonia. You took money from her protection account to buy Bianca a necklace. Send your driver. Now.”
There was a beat of silence on the line.
Then Bianca’s voice drifted over.
“Matteo, what is she interrupting negotiations for this time? The Conti delegation is still waiting.”
When he spoke again, his voice had turned to ice.
“Daisy, call a car yourself. She’s still on the protection list. I only changed her care facility. If you think you can take her, then you can pay for her yourself.”
“You pulled her nurses, her driver, and her guards, and you funneled the difference into Bianca’s accounts.”
My voice came out as a raw whisper.
“In front of your father and the Family adviser, you put Grandma on the protected list yourself. You promised that as long as I was your wife, she would never be abandoned.”
“I’m the one responsible for that list,” he cut in. “She can’t even recognize people anymore. There’s no difference between a regular care center and a private facility for someone like her. Stop making a scene.”
“Matteo—”
He hung up.