After a while, the door of the OT opened, and they wheeled an unconscious man out. Ashton jumped to his feet and reached near him. Even from a distance, he could recognize the face. It was his dad’s! He gazed at his dad, speechless, while the nurses pushed him away.
“I’m Ashton Pierce, his son. How is he now?” he asked the first doctor who emerged.
“Mr. Pierce, the operation was successful at our end. We will have to observe the patient for the next twenty-four hours. We extracted two bullets from his abdominal cavity through laparoscopy. There was a lot of blood loss within the abdomen, and the viscera around was 50% harmed. We performed a percutaneous endoscopic surgery to extract the third bullet from his spinal canal. There was cerebrospinal fluid leakage and other impairments. We should be able to give a more comprehensive report after a twenty-four observation period.”
“Thank you, doctor, but will my dad survive?” he asked in a whisper, unable to even hope.
“Let’s observe him first.” The doctor left, and he went towards the room where his dad was transferred. It surprised him to see that his dad looked healthy, unlike those mangled prisoners they had rescued. Didn’t Gambino torture him as he did the others? He wasn’t allowed in the room where his dad was kept all by himself to be observed for infection.
“You will be allowed when the patient gains consciousness,” said the nurse.
“How long will it take for him to gain consciousness?”
“Five to six hours a least. Why don’t you go home? Leave your phone number with me. I’ll call you when your dad regains consciousness.” Ashton gave the nurse his number and left after thanking her profusely.
He had nothing else to do but go back to his hotel and freshen up, since it would take time for his dad to recover. The urge to call Hayley and her dad to thank them was too strong, but he couldn’t pick up the phone. He wanted to talk to his dad first. He wanted to know what was going on. How did a heartless man like Gambino spare his dad in the last fifteen years? Who shot him and why? Did Francesca have any hand in this? Did she really save his dad? Restless with worry, he waited for his dad to gain consciousness.
He didn’t call or meet his best friend since they didn’t know about his dad’s existence. Maybe he would tell everyone if his dad survived this trauma. After wasting the entire day worrying, he went over to the hospital in the afternoon.
After an hour, his dad gained consciousness, and the nurse came over to call him. She sanitized him and gave him hospital clothes to change into as per their norms for interacting with critical patients. Ashton meekly followed all protocols, and the nurse led him inside. The moment he went inside, his dad opened his eyes and looked at him in disbelief.
“Dad,” whispered Ashton, as tears spilled from his eyes. This was the moment he had been waiting for the last fifteen years, ever since Gambino’s men took him away.
“Don’t stress out the patient much, Mr. Pierce. He is still critical,” warned the nurse before leaving the room.
“Ashton, my boy,” said his dad, his voice hoarse with unshed tears. He held out his weak hand laden with intravenous channels. Ashton pulled a stool and sat down beside him, gently holding his hand.
“Ashton, I’m happy to see you doing so well. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me in the last fifteen years,” said his dad, making a valiant effort to talk.
“I haven’t been able to do anything for you, Dad. I couldn’t save you from Gambino. I couldn’t go to the cops to rescue you. I was so scared and weak. I’ve been such a terrible son to you.” He said as tears shook his body. His dad shook his head, his fingers clutching his to comfort him.
“No, Ashton. It is because of your sincerity that I’m alive today. If you had gone to the cops, Gambino would have tortured me the same way as he did to the others. It is because you dedicatedly paid him three times more than the debt amount that he treated me with respect,” said his dad, causing him to wipe his tears away.
“He made me pay three times the debt amount!” His dad nodded with a sad smile on his face.
“I thought he spared you because of Francesca Gambino, his daughter,” said Ashton with disbelief. He had never expected Gambino to treat his dad differently.
“It was true Francesca loves you, but she hardly stayed at home. If you had gone to the cops, she couldn’t have helped in any way. Don liked you for his daughter. He wanted you both to marry and take over from him eventually,” said his dad, laboriously.
“I think you should rest, Dad. We will talk later. Are you in pain? Should I call the doctor?” His dad slowly shook his head.
“I’m fine, my boy. I was dying to talk to you. Please don’t go.”
“Me too, Dad but every time I begged them for some update on you, they declined.”
“I know. Gambino had no intention of letting us go. When I realized this, I lost my mind. I wanted to end this somehow, and my only way out was to seek DeLuca’s help. He was the only one who was powerful enough to kill Gambino.” Ashton gaped at his dad in shock. So his dad was the one who gave Gambino away!
“He found out and shot me, but I survived because DeLuca arrived to kill him, and the Navy SEALS rescued me.”
The door opened, and the doctor entered to perform some tests on his dad. Ashton had to leave the room and wait outside in the lobby. However, his dad fell asleep later under the effect of painkillers and he didn’t get to talk. It was night, and he left after the nurse promised to call him if his dad woke up.
The next morning, he was eager to take an update on his dad. He reached the hospital and found his dad wide awake, although in pain. “Good morning, son. I was waiting for you.” A wide smile stretched across his features as he sat down beside his dad.
“Good morning, Dad. How are you feeling today?”
“Better. Tell me what do you do for a living? I heard you’re the GM of some big-shot hotel. How did you manage that? How does Van Every treat you?”
“Oh, how do you know so much about me?” Ashton found it strange that his dad was aware of everything about him while he was in the dark.
“Antonio used to talk about you. We were friends. He used to help me too. He was the one who gave DeLuca’s number to me when Gambino didn’t save him from the cops.” Ashton gaped at him in disbelief. Maybe Antonio wasn’t as bad as he had thought him to be.
“I’m now working as a GM in a hotel in Miami, Dad. Uncle Daniel and Aunt Jodie love me just like their own children. Their son, Alexander, is my best buddy. I couldn’t have found a better family than them but they don’t know about you. I was scared to tell them.”
“It’s good that no one knew. I wouldn’t have been spared. Gambino was an inhuman monster and used to keep tabs on you. Every time, Antonio used to talk about your sincerity in paying off the debt. It was the main reason Gambino was impressed with you.”
The nurse came in to summon him. “Mr. Pierce, doctor Jonson wants to see you in his chamber to discuss the report.” Ashton left while the nurse tended to his dad.
He entered the doctor’s chamber, and he showed him his dad’s reports with a grave expression on his face.
“Is everything alright, doctor?” Ashton asked, taking the reports to check for himself.
“There are bullet fragments lodged in the spine. It has to be surgically removed immediately to avoid neurological deterioration, sepsis, lead poisoning, and more. As for the abdominal region, we have irrigated the missile tract, yet the patient has developed traces of infections in the gastrointestinal tract. We have increased the antibiotics course to the maximum level, though. We would need to irrigate the tract again.” Ashton sat hopelessly with his head in his hands. He had been so happy to see his dad chatting normally with him as he used to when he was younger. His dad loved to talk, and it seemed nothing ahead changed with him. It had made Ashton easily reconnect with him as if they hadn’t been apart at all. But now it was all being snatched away. No, he couldn’t let that happen. He wouldn’t let his dad die.
“I wish to take him away from here. This is negligence, doctor. You should have checked for bullet fragments while performing the surgery. You should have irrigated the missile tract well.”
“We did whatever we could, Mr. Pierce. You are free to transfer the patient to a hospital of your choice.”
Ashton thanked the doctor and left to do what is needed. He would shift his dad to Columbia Hospital, where his foster dad had received treatment. They were the best in NYC. Within two hours, he shifted his dad there, and the treatment started. It was expensive, but saving his dad was his priority now!