PrepMo 2020 Day 24 Plot background story

Antonio flew back to the United States, taking the first available flight. He wrung his hands for most of the flight, his stomach in knots. His grandmother, Bianca, he recently learned, was gravely ill. It would take him at least 14 hours to get home. His mother had left word he should come quick, but he had been unable to reach her, only leaving her a hurried message at the airport before leaving Italy.
Bianca’s crisp blue eyes lit up when Antonio walked into the room. He was the light of her life. She had always been so proud of him. His grandmother was frail, her skin gray in color. He felt ill looking at her. He was so thankful to have made it home to see her, but was not prepared for the experience nonetheless.
Antonio fell to his knees at his grandmother’s bedside. Nothing could have prepared him for this. She had always been so vibrant and full of life. He needed to get her out of this nursing home. He wanted her to die at home. And he was certain, just from looking at her, the time was close.
“I’m tired, my boy,” she whispered. “Let me rest. We will talk soon, love.”
He placed her frail hand back down at her side. Her hand was so cold. He had never felt anything like it.
“All my love, Grand-mama,” he said and softly kissed her forehead. He turned to head into the hallway but stopped one more time to look at her. She was still a beautiful woman, even with his wisps of white hair unmanaged and her beautiful blue eyes closed. In that moment, it seemed to Antonio as if he had been gone forever and a day.
“Momma,” Antonio wept into the phone outside of his grandmother’s room, “we have to get grandma home. She shouldn’t be alone here in this place.”
“She can’t go home, Antonio,” his mother’s voice came soft through the phone. “We’ve sold the house.”
“What?” Antonio did not care if his voice was too loud and ignored the scornful looks from nurses passing by. “How could you do that?”
“Do not take that tone with me, son!” his mother shot back. “While you were off gallivanting in Europe, we have had a lot to deal with. Don’t you dare come back here and act all high and mighty. It has been hell since your grandfather has been gone. We’ve been robbed blind.”
“Robbed?” he sunk to the floor in the hallway. “What do you mean robbed?”
“Embezzlement, from what your father explains to me,” she said through her tears. “He tries to keep it from me, but I know more than he thinks. He tried to tell me Bianca was better off in a nursing home so she could have the care she needed, but I knew there was something more…” her voice trailed off, lost in her tears.
Antonio was silent for a moment. He was unsure what to do. He had been gone too long, of course. He spent the last three years caring only about himself and his brilliant career.
“Brilliant,” Antonio scoffed to himself after hanging up, telling his mother he would see her soon. “Really brilliant, you loserly fop!” He snapped his head back against the cold cement wall. What kind of place was this for his grandmother? What had happened while he was away? He knew none of this would have happened if he had been home to watch over things. He should not have left. He should not have been gone for so long.
Suddenly alarms were going off. A nurse ran by him into his grandmother’s room. And another nurse, and another.
“What’s happening?” He asked, but they were moving too quickly to answer him. He jumped up and turned for the door to Bianca’s room.
“I’m sorry. You can’t come in just now,” a nurse said, pushing him back out into the hallway and closing the door. Antonio felt like his heart was in his throat. His hands were shaking. The sick feeling in the pit of his stomach told him all he needed to know as he watched the lights strobe on the wall outside of his grandmother’s room.