Debt to the Mafia

Chapter 16

—AMELIA—

When I made it through the door of the jet I noticed that the men were all staring at me. I turned to Nico and saw he was talking with the pilot so I just made my way over to an empty seat and sat down. Minutes passed before Nico had finished speaking with him and took a step towards the isle. He pulled out his phone and stopped. Turning  towards the door in a panic, he rushed back out. I looked out of the window to see what was happening. 

A group of men were huddled around something as they made their way up the steps. I couldn’t make out what it was until they entered the jet. They were holding a stretcher that had Mario on. My view was obstructed and I was anxious to see the severity of his wounds. I stood up and rushed towards them. 

“Mario!” I exclaimed. 

“Sit down Amelia, you’re in the way” Nico desperately said. 

“No, I can help! Take him into Michele’s private room” I demanded. Surprisingly, they did as I asked without questioning me. They carefully shifted Mario onto the bed and removed the stretcher. 

“I need some medical equipment and some room” I said as I assessed Mario’ damaged body. He had bruises and cuts on his face and a bullet wound to his arm. I couldn’t see any other injuries because of his clothing. I grabbed the pair of scissors from the bag that Nico had brought in and cut up his shirt carefully. I noticed multiple bruises on his chest and ribs, a large gash going across his pectoral muscles and a few scrapes on his side. He was clearly tortured by Ezio’s men. 

“It’s okay Mario, I’m going to help you” I reassured him. I glanced out of the door that led down the idle of the jet and saw Michele standing there glaring at me. I flashed him a blank expression before looking up at Nico. 

“Could you shut the door please?” I asked him and kept eye contact with Michele until it was shut. I didn’t want to deal with him at the moment and I certainly didn’t want him distracting me. 

“We are about to take off Amelia” he warned me as I removed Mario’s cut clothing from his body. I decided to start on the cuts to his face because of how bumpy the jet would be as we took off. Using an antiseptic wipe, I dabbed at his face and cleaned each cut. Once we were up in the air, I started on the most severe injury he had, the bullet wound. He flinched and yelled when I entered the wound with the tweezers to search for the bullet. It was too difficult to find it when he was moving in pain so I asked someone to get Mario’s some alcohol to numb his senses. I tried again and felt the metal of the bullet. Carefully, I removed it from the hole in his arm and placed it on the side. Soon after, I stitched up the wound and began closing up the cut on his chest.

“I’m so sorry Mario, this is all my fault” I groaned apologetically. He raised his arm and held my wrist.

“This was Ezio, not you” he grumbled. I looked back at his sympathetic eyes and smiled. 

“I wish he would find someone else to obsess over” I sighed. He sniggered and laid his head down onto the the pillow, letting go of my wrist. 

“Clearly you are a very special girl” he grinned. 

“If you wasn’t then Michele would have handed you over by now” 

“Maybe he is just too proud” I mumbled. He chuckled and then hissed in pain.

“I know him, he wouldn’t think twice if you wasn’t important to him”. My mind was completely scrambled and I didn’t know what to think anymore. I just wanted to know what went on inside Michele’s head. I finished stitching his cuts and focused on his side. 

“Tell me if this hurts” I instructed as I placed my hands on his ribs. Once my applied pressure lightly, he jolted and cried out in pain.

“You’ve got a few broken ribs” I told him. I sat back and re-assessed his wounds, making sure I hadn’t missed any. 

“Do you have any pain anywhere else?” I asked him. He shook his head and smiled.

“Grazie Amelia (thank you Amelia)” he groaned. I stroked his arm reassuringly and the got up from the bed. 

“You need to try and get some rest, I’ll get you another drink for the pain” I replied and headed for the door.

“siamo fortunati ad averti”. I turned to face him and chuckled.

“What does that mean?” I asked. He took a second to smile at me before he said “it means, we are lucky to have you’”. I blushed and flashed him a quick smirk and then left the room. 

“How is he?” Ricco asked with panic on his face. I grabbed his forearm emphatically and smiled.

“He’s gonna be fine, he just needs another drink to settle him” I told him. Ricco let out a sigh of relief and glanced down at the floor.

“I’ll sort that out... thank you” he said and I rubbed his arm gently before moving past him and sitting back into my seat. Unfortunately for me, the only seat that was free was the one opposite Michele. The awkward silence was unbearable. I could tell he wanted to say something by the way he kept looking at me and then looking away. 

“He’s going to be okay” I informed him, not turning away from the window. 

“That’s good” he said bluntly. I rolled my eyes and scoffed. The same flight attendant that disappeared into Michele’s private room when I first got here came over. She brushed at Michele’s arm seductively and smiled. 

“Can I get you anything sir?”. Michele removed her hand and dismissed her. I was kind of shocked, I thought he liked to get his stresses out using other women. From the way he is sitting, he is clearly uptight. I didn’t want to speak to him and I knew we had a long flight to Italy. The only way I could make sure that he wasn’t going to try and have a conversation with me was by going to sleep. I called over his whole and ordered her to get me a pillow and a blanket. I wouldn’t normally speak to anyone like this but I was so angry with Michele that I didn’t care. She returned and gave me the pillow and a large, soft, beige blanket. I snuggled up on the chair and shut my eyes. I could feel Michele watching me but I just tried to ignore him. It didn’t take me too long to drift off.