Page 21 of Urgent Vows
"There is a hairline fracture on your pinky finger," he says to me when he is done. "But no other damage to bone, though I am sure you are aware that you have a remodeled break on your clavicle bone and two ribs."
I didn't know about the clavicle, but I did the ribs.
"Any others?" Severu has returned to my bedside and hovers like a gargoyle.
"At some point she suffered a spiral fracture in her right forearm."
Now, I understand why the doctor X-rayed both of my hands and arms. He didn't do any X-rays on my lower body, so he won't see the worst of the damage, which is the hip that shattered from the fall that killed my mother.
"You thought I was lying?" I ask Severu.
On the one hand, he barely knows me. On the other, he can see with his own eyes what my father is capable of.
"The spiral fractures are rare, but can indicate abuse as they occur from twisting or pulling a bone with great force. They almost never occur from a fall, or being hit with an object." The doctor's voice is clinical.
But these are not random medical facts to me. They are the story of my past.
"If we exhumed your mother's body, we would find all sorts of the same healed injuries, wouldn't we?" Severu asks me.
"No." I sigh. "My father had my mother cremated." Getting rid of the evidence.
"There was a casket at the funeral. It was buried in the Jilani family plot."
"It was empty except for an urn of ashes and whatever my father put inside to make it heavy so the pall bearers wouldn't notice."
"How do you know that? You were still in the hospital when she was buried."
"He taunted me with it."
SEVERU
I am so enraged, I want to tear Francesco Jilani limb from limb.
I already instructed Miceli to take him to the box. I had planned to punish the man and remove him from his position as my consigliere. Now, I know I will kill him.
My fury is not reserved for Francesco though. How could I allow the man to dance with my wife after what he did to her this morning? Am I so worried about what my syndicate thinks that I put her in the path of danger for the sake of appearances?
"Leave," I bark. "Everyone out."
"But we need to discuss treatment," the doctor says.
"After," I say.
Everyone leaves, even Aldo. Catalina is looking at me with confusion.
"I am sorry." It is the first time I have said those words since becoming a made man at fourteen.
Her eyes widen and her mouth drops open with a puff of air. "But I thought you never apologized."
"I have never done something I was willing to apologize for until now."
"You are sorry you made me dance with him?" she asks, like she wants to make sure.
"Yes. But I am also sorry that I did not know what he was doing to you."
"You couldn't have done anything. Not even the don can interfere in family matters."
"I could have removed him from his position."
