CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

The new detail chief, the man Mick put in charge after he safe-housed the capos that were on duty during the attack on Bella, met the convoy of SUVs as Mick, Roz, and Nikki arrived at the Paris hospital.

"Any news?" Mick asked as soon as they stepped out. He was putting on his suitcoat.

"Yes, sir," the detail chief announced. "We found her attackers, sir.

"Who?"

"Two Frenchmen with ties to local gangs."

Roz was impressed. "You've found them already?"

"Yes, ma'am. And nice to meet you, Mrs. Sinatra."

"Nice to meet you. And that's excellent news," Roz said.

But Mick knew that wasn't the only news. "But?" he said, his green eyes trained on the detail chief.

"But they were found dead, sir. Both had a single gunshot wound to the head."

"A mob hit," Nikki said affirmatively.

The chief nodded. "Yes, ma'am. Probably local, but we're working on that aspect."

"But how can you be so certain it was the attackers and not somebody else?" Roz asked the chief.

"They were caught on security video outside Bella's home," Nikki said. "Before they put on their masks."

"It was a positive identification," the chief added.

"Update Nikki on any other developments and I'll get with you later," Mick said.

"Yes, sir."

As Nikki remained outside to discuss further findings, Mick placed his hand on Roz's lower back and they entered the Paris hospital and made their way through the double doors of the ICU. Two of Mick's men from the new detail were on duty outside of one of the rooms and Gloria Drakos was standing just beyond the guards on her phone. With her back against the wall, she talked quietly. As soon as Mick saw his daughter his heart squeezed. Even from the other end of the hall he could feel his child's pain.

When Gloria heard footsteps she glanced toward the elevators. When she saw her father and stepmother walking to her, she ended her phone call and started running to them.

Mick walked faster, hurrying to her, and Gloria ran into his arms. She began sobbing as soon as she felt her father's touch.

Roz rubbed her stepdaughter's back and fought back tears herself as Gloria sobbed. Bella was Glo's mother, and they were extremely close, and it broke Roz's heart to see someone she loved so anguished.

When Gloria's sobbing eased and she finally released her father, she took his handkerchief out of his suitcoat pocket and dabbed her eyes. "Hey Ma."

"Hey baby," Roz said as she gave Gloria a hug too. "How is she?"

Gloria shook her head. "Not good." They could see the devastation all over her beautiful brown face. "She's in really bad shape."

Mick hated to hear that, and he dreaded seeing a strong woman like Bella in such a weakened state, but it couldn't be helped. "Let's go," he said as he placed one hand on Roz's lower back and his other hand on Gloria's lower back. He and Gloria became especially close when she started confiding in Mick about Oz. But before they could get to the room, they heard a male's voice cry out Gloria! and they all turned.

And there was Oz.

A force of nature himself, Odysseus "Oz" Drakos, flanked by two bodyguards, with his long hair and long overcoat flowing as he walked, was hurrying to his wife. Although Gloria had indicated to her father and stepmother that she wasn't interested in seeing Oz right now, as soon as she saw her husband she ran to him. Oz grabbed her small body and lifted her off her feet as he held her. Mick and Roz could see his eyes squeezed shut as he held her. Like seemingly every marriage in the family except for maybe Tommy Gabrini's and Big Daddy's, their marriage was on shaky ground too. Many believed Gloria and Oz's union were the least likely of all the marriages to succeed.

When they stopped embracing, Oz put Gloria back on her own two feet and they walked over to Mick and Roz. Oz hugged Roz and shook Mick's hand. Mick had serious issues with Oz because he knew through his sources that Oz was once again the head of the Greek Mafia, but he put that aside for now.

"How's Bella?" Oz asked the group.

Gloria was once again dabbing her eyes and shaking her head.

"We haven't seen her yet," Roz said.

"Okay," Oz said as he steeled himself. He loved his mother-in-law although she scolded him every time she saw him. And they all went into Bella's room.

Bella was worse than even Mick had imagined. Her beautiful face was swollen twice its normal size. The bruising was horrific. The fact that her leg was broken and in a cast surprised them. The tubes everywhere and the sound of all those machines just made it a difficult scene. Even Roz's heart ached for Bella. She was a sight to behold.

Roz looked at Mick. He was standing there, his suit coat open and his hands on his hips, staring at Bella. At the brutality of that beating she took. And she was raped too? Of all of them in that room, Mick was shaken the most. Because he was convinced this happened to her, not because of her own affiliations, but because of her connection to him.

" I didn't expect this ," Oz said with pain in his voice as he looked at his mother-in-law. He was summing it up for all of them.

Gloria looked at her father whom she believed was the only person in this world, other than herself, that truly loved her mother. "What are we going to do, Daddy?" she asked him. "You can't leave her here like this."

It wasn't lost on Roz that Gloria seemed to think Bella was Mick's responsibility. But that was probably because Mick acted as if she were. But in this case, Roz agreed with Gloria. Mick couldn't leave her here when the United States had the best doctors and hospitals in the world.

"I've already arranged to airlift her back to the States on my plane," he announced, to Roz's surprise.

But Gloria was so grateful she hugged him. "Thanks, Daddy."

"Whoever did this didn't give a damn about Belle," Mick said. "It's me they're after. She was just a convenient target."

"Like I was," Roz said.

Mick nodded and placed an arm around Roz. "Like you were, yes," he said regrettably.

He stared at Bella for a few seconds longer, his face unable to shield his pain, and then he left out of the room to find the doctor.

Gloria looked at Roz as if to apologize to her. She knew Roz and her mother didn't get along. She knew Roz didn't want Bella in their lives any more than she would want some girlfriend from Oz's past in her life. But Roz hugged Gloria. "Don't worry, baby," she said. "I'm all in. Your father will get her back home for the best care she can get. Despite our differences, and we sure as hell have differences, I would have never wished this on Bella. Your father will see to it that those bastards that did this to her will pay. They're messing with the wrong family now," Roz made clear.

Gloria hugged her stepmother tighter. Only a strong woman like Roz could put her own feelings aside and understand. That was why she loved Roz so much.

But Roz wasn't going to pretend to be thrilled to have her rival in close proximity to her husband once again. But it was just another burden she had to suck up and bear. It was just another day in the life of being married to a man that everybody depended on until they drained him dry. Then they expected Roz to pick up the pieces and refuel the tank, only for them to drain him again.