Chapter 6 - Returning To My Mother Room At St Jude Hospital
The hospital corridors were bathed in the sickly yellow glow of fluorescent lights as I hurried toward room 412. Delia was awake, sitting up against the pillows while adjusting the intravenous drip for my mother.
My mother’s eyes flickered toward the doorway as I stepped inside, a faint tremor running through her frail fingers. For two years I had believed she was too far gone in her stroke-induced paralysis to recognize anyone.
"She knew," Delia said quietly, reading the shock written plainly across my face. "Your mother has been conscious every single day; she just couldn't blink fast enough to stop the poison."
I dropped to my knees beside the hospital bed, taking my mother’s cold, thin hand in my own calloused palm. A single tear tracked down her weathered cheek, wetting the back of my hand like burning acid.
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"I'm sorry, Mom," I choked out, the mafia boss facade completely shattering against the reality of my own blindness. "I let the fox into the henhouse."
Delia placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, her touch grounding me when the room threatened to spin away. "Forgiveness is for later, Mr. Vance," she said firmly. "Right now, we need to move her out of this hospital before Celeste realizes we found the ledger."
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