“I know of her condition, and I am truly sorry for your loss, but do you know if his wife was an organ donor?”
Reaper snapped his head at the doctor as I stared in shock.
This was bad.
Beyond uncomprehendable.
No man would ever allow this.
It just wasn’t done.
“Mr. Doherty, I know this is out of left field, and the ramifications of such a thing aren’t for the weak, but if your sister-in-law is an organ donor, her heart could be given to your brother.”
“Get away from me,” Reaper sneered.
“I will give you some time to think about this. Just understand, Mr. Doherty, your brother, can only stay on bypass for so long before his body starts shutting down. When that happens, no transplant will save his life.”
“Get. The. Fuck. Out!”
Reaper was pacing as I stood off to the side, giving the caged lion time to think. And that’s precisely what Reaper was. An animal. There was no talking to him at this moment. I couldn’t even imagine what he was thinking, let alone deciding how he would make this decision. It was one thing for a man to give his life for a woman, but never the other way around. It just wasn’t done. Well, not in my world. It wasn’t even a thought. I would rather die than have the heart of the woman I loved beating in my chest.
No man could live with that.
It was too much.
Lorenzo cautiously walked over to me and whispered. “I’ve called UNOS. Mr. Franks is at the top of the list, Gio, but I can do nothing if a heart isn’t available. I can’t just go out somewhere and buy a heart.”
“He can’t have his wife’s heart, Lorenzo. I don’t know the man, but I know there is no way he will be able to live with himself if he ever finds out. No man could.”
“I get it. I really do, but there are laws, Gio. I can’t mess with that. Someone has to die for Mr. Franks to live. And as it stands right now, his wife is brain dead. She is an organ donor. I’ve seen her license. The hospital is just giving her brother time to say his goodbyes. Eventually, they will start harvesting her organs. If Reaper doesn’t allow this, her organs will go to someone else, and then what? Mr. Franks will die. Then what will happen?”
“I don’t know.”
“Look, this is a messed-up situation all around. Nobody should ever have to make a decision like this, but it’s done every day. Someone needs to talk to Mr. Doherty and tell him time is running out. He can either let the doctor perform the transplant, or he will be burying both husband and wife. The doctor is waiting. He needs an answer fast.”
Sighing, I took a deep breath and walked over to the caged animal.
“Reaper?”
Looking up, he said nothing as I stood before him, wondering what he was going to do.
“It’s time. The doctor needs your answer.”
13
Layla
It had been three days since Giovanni left, leaving me captive in his palatial mansion with servants, fancy linens, and tea every time I blinked. I wasn’t complaining about the digs or his sister, who was, in fact, pretty cool. I swore to God that if I had to drink one more cup of tea, I would be sick.
It was his mother.
The woman was a meddling old biddie who apparently had made it her mission to drive me crazy with her bazillion questions she kept asking. I swear the woman had a printout she was reading from. I couldn’t get away from her either. If I wasn’t with Illyria shopping, I was stuck with Nicoletta and her incessant roundtable of questions.
To make matters worse, she had somehow roped me into helping her plan some charity benefit the Valentinetti family hosted every year.
Like I knew anything about planning a benefit. The last party I went to was my cousins, Ravage’s eighteenth birthday party, and that was a barbeque that ended with everyone getting drunk and shooting off guns. I don’t think Nicoletta would appreciate it if I did that.
To top everything off, I hadn’t heard one word about my brother or the raid on the compound. It was like radio silence. I tried searching news articles for anything remotely to biker gang raids house, but nothing came up. It was as if it never happened.