Chapter 6 - Calls for Help and Wrong Receivers

Massimo's call was answered with a sigh. "Now's not a good time," a woman's voice hurriedly stated. "Call back later." "It won't take long," Massimo said, matching her annoyed tone. She sighed again. Massimo could faintly make out a different voice, a man's voice, on the line, too. He had to strain to hear what was said. "Just hang up." Was that the same man Massimo had heard earlier when he visited his wife's apartment? Their meeting was so brief Massimo couldn't be sure. "Listen," Massimo began, "I just want to—" "No, you listen," the woman cut him off harshly. "This isn't a good time so call back later. Goodbye." She immediately hung up, leaving Massimo to listen to his phone's dial tone. He frowned at the device. His wife wasn't going to make this easy on him, was she? · Meanwhile on the other side of the warehouse, Elena picked up her phone. Despite having her hands full treating a bullet wound, she knew whoever was calling wouldn't stop until she answered. "Hello." "Elena," her half-brother's voice greeted her, "wherever you are, you need to get back home. Fast." Elena carefully used a pair of forceps to pull out the remaining parts of the shattered bullet. "Matteo, I don't have time for this. I'm at work." "You're not going to be working for long if Don Morello finds you. He's ballistic that you're not only working but married—thanks for the heads up on that dumbass move, by the way. You're not just screwing over Dad by doing this, y'know." Elena began on her patient's sutures. This was the sixth one, and she was concerned about running out of materials. Maybe she could get Luca to fetch more? "Don't ignore me, El," her half-brother whined. "You could get branded a traitor for this breach of contract. You're not too much of a dumb b***h to forget what kind of consequences traitors face, right?" "I don't know," Elena snapped back, tired of having to pacify her half-brother. She should've blocked her whole family, not just her dad. "It's not like I've known about this world longer than you or have had to actually fend for myself unlike your pathetic self." "Then you need to—" "I don't need to do s**t," Elena replied with cool fury. "If you care that much about me, you can look into who I'm working for nowadays. Then you'd know I'm fine, and I'm done playing the good little pawn." As Matteo squawked in indignation, Elena hung up. She barely had a moment to catch her breath before another man was giving her advice. "Don't have those conversations here," Don Massimo told her. When had he come over? How long had he been watching? "Sorry," Elena said, donning her well-worn mask of subservience. "I won't let anything like that interfere with my work again." She tied off the man's stitches and rose to her feet. Elena looked for her next patient, but Massimo got in her way before she could move. "The issue is not with your work. The issue is that we had a shootout not a half hour ago, so anyone could know we're here, including potential enemies. And we don't give enemies any leverage—understood?" Massimo's usual cold voice reached sub-zero levels of icy harshness as spoke. Elena knew she shouldn't further anger her boss, especially when her family or the Morellos might be kicking up a fuss in the near future. She needed to cement herself as the Ferraro's family doctor—an untouchable person, so long as Don Massimo found her valuable. So, even though she thought her boss was just in a bad mood and redirecting his anger to her, Elena bowed her head. "Yes, Don Massimo." Despite working as efficiently as she could, Elena did not finish treating Massimo's men until noon. She had run out of clean gloves to use, so her hands were dry from constantly using disinfectant on them in between caring for the different injuries. The dried skin stung, but that was nothing compared to the ache in her back and fingertips from bending over and keeping her hands steady for so many hours on end. Elena found Luca and informed him of what medical supplies she'd need restocked. If something like this happened again—which she knew it would—Elena wanted them to be as prepared as possible. Luca nodded along. "I'll get right on that, Doctor, but you should restock your personal go-bag, too, so that we're ready for unforeseen emergencies. Keep the receipts, and I'll make sure you're reimbursed for the expenses." Elena perked up at the mention of not paying out of pocket for her supplies. But she was more pleased that Luca had called her by her title. She had proven her worth—at least a little bit—tonight. Luca handed her a nondescript shopping bag. "You should change into something less bloody before you leave. Bathroom's down that way and then hang a right—first door on the left." Elena looked down and realized that an outfit change would be necessary. She hadn't had the time to worry about something so trivial when people's lives were on the line, but she could now acknowledge her clothes would need a thorough wash. Even then, the blood might still stain. She resolved to pack a spare set of scrubs in her medical kit. "Where's your apartment?" Luca asked. "I—or one of the other men, if you prefer—can give you a lift home." "Would that be okay?" Elena asked, unable to keep her enthusiasm under wraps. She was not looking forward to navigating four different subway lines and then two buses to get home during peak public transportation hours. "It's not," Massimo said curtly, stiffly walking towards them. "Luca, we need to move up that meeting, which means we have to leave now." "Apologies, Don Massimo," Luca replied. He shot an apologetic look at Elena. "Get home safely, Dr. Elena." Elena smiled back, even though she was annoyed. Her boss really was taking out something bad on her, that's for sure. "Of course," Elena said. "And should you need me, you know my number." It took Elena much longer to get home than it took to leave it early this past morning, and it was also a less enjoyable journey overall. As she entered her apartment, she could only think about getting some rest. Bubbly Aria was sprawled out on the couch, reading a book, but still cheerily greeted Elena. Elena couldn't find the energy to speak. Aria frowned. "You poor thing! How early did the hospital call you in? No, don't answer: I'm making us tea and drawing you a bath." "I really just want to lie down and sleep," Elena confessed. "Say no more. Oh, but before I forget, you left your phone on the counter and someone called while you were out." That certainly woke Elena from her tired daze. Elena had two phones—one her family knew about, because it was for mafia business, and the other they didn't, because it was for regular life. She used to only have one, but after her half-brother Matteo called and almost stupidly revealed to Aria that Elena and her family were part of the mafia, Elena had gotten a second one. She liked to keep her two lives separate, especially now when she had a good chance of cutting off ties with the mafia world in another year. Elena frowned and grabbed her civilian phone. The caller wasn't in her contacts. "Did they say who they were? What they wanted?" "No, they didn't," Aria said, suddenly sheepish. "I was on a date, so I told the guy to call back later. He seemed a little tense." It could be nothing, maybe just someone who misdialed. But after talking to Matteo, Elena felt she should be cautious. What if someone from the Morellos had got her personal phone number? What if it was Don Morello himself? "Y'know what, let's have tea actually." Aria's green eyes lit up as she went to the kitchen. Now alone, Elena looked back at her phone. She only hesitated for a moment before sending the unknown number a text. "Who are you?"