Walking into the ballroom, I see it’s much smaller than the ballroom from yesterday. There’s only about a hundred men from the family here along with their women. Perfect timing, those goddamn sheets are being shown off by Johnny.
I’m going to throw a punch at the next fucker who smacks me on the back. Champagne is flowing already. I take the glass I’m handed and swallow it without a second of appreciation for the fact it’s a five-hundred-dollar bottle.
Johnny is in conference with Pop and Carlo, all of them looking smug. I’m not in the mood for their asses right now and take a seat with my crew at their table. Even though the last thing I want to do is eat, I need something to soak up the liquor. Things are winding down when Johnny calls me over to him. I can’t avoid him.
I take a seat next to him. “What?”
A frown. “I thought you’d be in a better mood. What did she do?”
“Nothing, don’t worry about it. She isn’t your concern anymore. She is my woman.”
“Regina needs a firm hand. You can’t let her get away with anything.”
“You don’t know shit about what Regina needs. Don’t fucking start with me. I’ll handle my wife the way I see fit.”
The bastard pounds the table. “I—oh.” He clutches his chest and goes down on his face.
All hell breaks loose.
***
Regina
It’s been almost three hours since Dominic left the room, and almost two hours since I managed to climb out of bed and get dressed. A few minutes after I stumbled out of bed, wrapping a towel around me, two twittering idiots came to get the sheets. I left them to it, hiding in the bathroom until they were gone. The words to ask them where Dominic was were trapped in my throat.
I check my phone for the hundredth time, still nothing. We’re supposed to leave Chicago in two hours. A honeymoon for a week in Paris, because Dominic told me I could go anywhere I wanted. He never even teased me about picking Paris. I suggested it haltingly. He nodded and said if it was what I wanted, then we would go. Like everything else I have said I wanted, he didn’t hesitate to give it to me.
Stupid, the tears start all over again. Why did I say it? Why did he say those things? Why had it felt so dirty, when only yesterday I had been sure I didn’t believe dirty was wrong? What changed inside me, had me twisting in shame that I thought was long gone? The knock on the door startles me.
“Regina, it’s Vincent. I need to take you to the hospital. It’s Johnny, it looks bad.”
The next twenty minutes pass in a blur. Vincent drives like he’s trying out for Formula 1, zipping in and out of lanes. He drops me off at the entrance to the hospital, telling me Johnny is on the fourth floor and the room number. Dominic is with him.
I make it to the elevator only to see it fill before I can get on. Damn it. I wait until it closes and punch the button again. I look to the other elevator, it’s on the seventh floor. Screw this, the stairs are off to the side. I can make it up four floors. I’m only on the fifth step when the heavy door is slammed against the concrete wall.
Surprise at the sound has me looking back, and it’s Richard. I’m plunged into ice-cold fear at the sight of him. He slams the door closed behind him. “Darling, you don’t look pleased to see me. What, no kiss?”
I back away up the steps. Everything inside me screams to run from him. It’s clear he’s been up for days. His hair is a mess. The clothes he’s wearing are wrinkled and even from ten feet away he reeks. He follows me with menace in his smile. I make it to the landing, where the words “second floor” are emblazoned on the back of the door.
“Richard, what are you doing here?” I have no idea what to say or do. All I know is I need to buy time for Dominic to find me.
“I came to save you, darling.” Mocking, he tilts his head as his eyes go wide with exaggerated surprise. “You swore you love me. Don’t you remember? Becoming my wife was your every dream come true.” He closes his eyes as he shakes his head. “How could you let another man touch you?” he screams at me.
My legs give out from under me. I fall against the wall.
“You did it, didn’t you? You spread your legs like the whore I always knew you were deep down. You loved it, didn’t you?”
Shaking my head, I wonder how long it’s going to take Vincent to get to Dominic and tell him I should be there already. Dominic, where are you?
19
Dominic
The doctors and nurses have cleared out of the room. There isn’t anything else they can do with Johnny’s refusal and a do-not-resuscitate order on file. They were giving us privacy to say our goodbyes. Where the fuck is Regina? It doesn’t matter how much she thinks she hates him; if she misses the end she’ll never forgive herself. I check my phone to see if I missed a call or text from Vincent explaining why the fuck he isn’t here with Regina yet.
“You need to get me back to New York, Dom. I can’t die here. Mama will be pissed if I die here with her in New York.”
“Then she should have come to her granddaughter’s wedding. You aren’t going to die. You aren’t fucking up my honeymoon,” I say without heat. We both know he’s dying, and my honeymoon was already fucked up without him dying.