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On October 12, at 11:56 in the evening, Corrado Alphonse Moretti died

There had been a strong lurching in his stoushed from the bullet wounds in his chest Pain swept fro hihts and sounds distorted, as reality twisted and the world around him faded away

And then there was nothing

No bright lights No gentle voices No angelic presence Only blackness He heard nothing, he saw nothing, and he felt nothing After everything Corrado had done in his life, he had expected hellfire and brimstone

He was a bit disappointed, to say the least

A few ht, Corrado was violently shocked back to life His heart beat once again as oxygen saturated his body, but his newfound peace was instantly destroyed: Thehim from the darkness of afterlife, he was transported to a tiet

It was a decade earlier but only a few feet away froy hospital room he now lay in, soiled with blood, sweat, and bitter tears The roo—heartbreak and misery, the harsh stench of imminent death thick in the air

Corrado stood quietly in the doorway that warm October day, his eyes fixed inside the sterile rooe, but he seee hospital bed Tubes and wires ran fro hih to drown out the strangled voice in the corner

Vincent DeMarco sat near his son, rocking and franticallyto hiitated and deranged al, his hair a dirty mess and his shirt soiled with blood Vincent’s wife’s blood, to be preciseblood that had been spilled less than twenty-four hours before

The sight of it sickened Corrado It wasn’t the first time he’d seen Maura’s blood, but it would certainly be the last She was dead and never co to accept the truth

“She’s can’t be gone” The words caught in his throat “This is my fault”

Corrado wanted to tell hi absurd, but it would be a waste of breath He couldn’t comfort him No words would take his pain away And, truthfully, Corrado couldn’t iuish his brother-in-law felt He didn’t fear death, didn’t fear jail or eternal da Celia He’d vowed to honor her, to cherish her, to protect her

It was no wonder Vincent was so quick to take the blame He had failed at that—he had failed to protect Maura

“It’s one, and it’s my fault”