Page 90 of Condemned By Pain
“Only... bread...”
“No... ma... ma...”
“Stay...”
I shake him. “Salvario!”
He starts thrashing, his face contorted in pain. His cries echo down the corridor.
Bruno comes running out. I grab my phone and call Liam.
“Come to the mansion.”
I hang up, open the camera, and record him—thrashing, crying, as if someone were injecting unrelenting pain directly into his veins.
I send the recording to Liam, then I’m on my feet, heading to the kitchen. I fill a glass of water and race back. Bruno circles him, barking, howling.
I splash water on him. It does nothing. I hurl the whole glass, still, he doesn’t stop.
The glass slips from my hand and shatters on the floor. I drop to my knees, grab him, shake him. His body trembles. Words spill out in broken strings—carrying agony like he’s reliving it all over again.
“Please don’t do this.”
“I’m begging you… leave Mama alone.”
“Don’t do this.”
His eyes are wide, tears streaming.
I shake him again.
“Salvario!” I call his name in desperation.
Panic rises inside me. I’ve seen his panic attacks countless times, but never like this.
By the time footsteps reach the corridor, his jaw is locked, teeth chattering. His body shakes, but he doesn’t move. He’s stopped muttering. His eyes are still open—bloodshot and vacant.
Liam and Luca arrive.
Liam kneels, fills a syringe, and injects it into Salvario’s forearm.
“What’s happening to him?” My voice is frayed.
“Looks like psychogenic non-epileptic seizures,” he says, not looking away from Salvario.
I turn to Luca.
“Take him to his room.”
Luca nods and lifts him. I walk beside them and open the door. Luca lowers him onto the bed. Bruno leaps up beside him.
I step closer. His eyes are closed now. I pull out my handkerchief and wipe his face. My jaw tightens. I blink against the sting in my eyes.
How much suffering has fate written into his life?
Liam comes to my side. I step back. He starts an IV.
“He’ll wake in a few hours,” he says, then turns to me. “Tell me how it started.”
