Making of Them (Beating the Biker 3)

“He’s good, they tell me. They removed a blockage and put in stents. He’ll be asleep most of the night. Tomorrow they’ll have him sit up and walk around.”

“Wow, that seems quick.”

“They tell me that the faster he gets up the faster he’ll heal.” She shrugged her shoulders before turning into full-mom mode. “You must be exhausted from that long trip.”

“Not as tired as you must be. Can I do anything for you?”

“I’ll be fine. I’ve slept on and off in that chair, and I’m not really hungry.”

Chrissy glanced at her mother, who looked like she’d lost ten pounds in a month. She was a skinny woman, and her frailty worried Chrissy. Rose Serafini must have worried too much about her husband.

“I’ll get you something from the cafeteria.” Hungry or not, Chrissy would get her mother to eat something. “Come on, Gloria—I’ll get you something, too.”

“Go on,” their mother said, shooing them away. “I could use a few minutes alone.”

Chrissy looked at their father again. Except for the rising and falling of his chest, he was still. He looked terrible but, then again, he’d had major surgery. Guilt weighed down her shoulders. She should have been here for her family instead of gallivanting around the world with James Pearson.

Gloria took her arm as they walked the hall toward the elevators.

“Give me the scoop. How did you end up in the hunky biker’s arms?”

“Stop,” Chrissy admonished. “I told you he rode the elevator with me.”

“It seemed to me he was looking for another kind of ride.” Gloria’s eyes sparkled with mischief.

“What? You aren’t on the ‘all Roccos are bad’ train? And tell me, where is that ring that Mario promised you?”

“Don’t deflect,” Gloria snapped, though she blushed.

They got into the elevator, and Gloria punched the button for the main floor.

“What’s the story?” Chrissy queried. Her sister looked away. Chrissy was now sure there was more to her sister’s non-engagement than Gloria wanted to spill.

“Come on,” Chrissy said. “You know I’ll get it out of you one way or another.”

“Fine,” Gloria allowed, pouting. “Grandpa nixed the engagement.”

“What? When? Why?”

“After you left. Mario did propose, but Grandpa told him that there would no marriages. Just that. And good little soldier Mario won’t go against him.”

“But why would Grandpa do that? He told me not to worry about marrying a Rocco.”

“He’s shaken up, Chrissy, and I think it was because of the attack on Saks. The New Jersey family those goombahs came from won’t talk about them. In fact, they won’t talk to Grandfather at all.”

That was bad. Wise guy crime families may have had uneasy relationships with each other, but they kept the lines of communication open. Unless something bad was about to go down.

The elevator opened, and they walked quickly to the cafeteria. But it was a busy corridor with doctors, nurses, and other people coming and going. It wasn’t a place to keep their conversation going, and the pair fell into silence. They got their mother food, but Chrissy found her appetite had fled. The idea that her grandfather worried for the welfare of the family worried her, too.

“I should go see Grandfather.”

“He’s not here. He went fishing.”

“Fishing? With Dad in the hospital?”

“Yeah, it’s strange, isn’t it?” Chrissy’s brow furrowed as she looked to her sister, just as a nearby elevator dinged.

The doors slid open; Saks stood inside with another man wearing a Hades Spawn jacket. Her eyes strayed to the patch on the right that