Chapter 2 - The Blood on His Shirt Wasn't the Only Secret
By sunrise, Sadi had transformed Dante's private study into an improvised emergency room.
She had no anesthesia.
No surgical tools.
No antibiotics.
Nothing appropriate for a man with a bullet lodged beneath his ribs.
Only a medical kit stolen from the mansion infirmary, sterile gauze, disinfectant, stubbornness and Dante's refusal to die.
He sat in a leather chair near the window.
His shirt was gone.
A temporary dressing covered the wound.
Sadi knelt beside him.
“You're developing a fever.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“My body feels like fire.”
“That is what fever does.”
Dante watched her.
“You sound angry.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
“Because you nearly died.”
He seemed surprised.
“Why does that bother you?”
Sadi tied another bandage.
“Because I don't enjoy paperwork.”
A strange silence followed.
Then Dante laughed.
It was not a full laugh.
Only a short breath of amusement.
Sadi looked up.
“You laugh?”
“Occasionally.”
“I heard otherwise.”
“People are wrong about many things.”
She stood.
“I need to remove the bullet.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No hospital.”
“I wasn't going to take you to one.”
Dante frowned.
“Then how?”
Sadi held up a scalpel.
“Very carefully.”
His expression became absolutely blank.
“No.”
“You're joking.”
“No.”
“You'd rather die?”
“Yes.”
Sadi stared.
“You're a ridiculous man.”
“So I've been told.”
The door opened.
Rosa entered.
She froze.
Sadi stood.
Dante was shirtless.
Blood marked the chair.
The storm had passed.
The room looked like a battlefield.
Rosa's eyes narrowed.
“What happened?”
Dante looked at Sadi.
“She saved my life.”
Rosa turned toward her.
For the first time, fear crossed her face.
Not because Sadi had broken Rule Three.
Because Dante had admitted needing someone.
Rosa quietly closed the door.
“Who knows?”
“Nobody,” Dante said.
Rosa nodded.
“Good.”
She looked at Sadi.
“You never came upstairs.”
Sadi nodded.
“I understand.”
Rosa left.
Dante leaned back.
“You're not frightened.”
“I am.”
He studied her.
“Then why don't you show it?”
“Because fear doesn't pay debt collectors.”
Dante almost smiled again.
He closed his eyes.
Sadi looked at him.
“Don't fall asleep.”
“I won't.”
“You might.”
He opened one eye.
“You're bossy.”
“You're bleeding.”
“Fair.”
Hours passed.
Sadi changed his dressings.
Kept him hydrated.
Monitored his temperature.
Eventually, the fever broke.
The bullet remained.
But Dante was stable.
That afternoon, Dante asked:
“Why nursing school?”
Sadi looked up from the records.
“I wanted to help people.”
“And now?”
“Now I clean rich people's houses.”
“Because of your father.”
“Yes.”
“Tell me.”
Sadi hesitated.
“My father owed a man.”
“What man?”
“I don't know his name.”
Dante's expression tightened.
“How much?”
“Sixty-eight thousand dollars.”
“I can pay it.”
Sadi looked at him.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I owe you nothing.”
“You already saved my life.”
“That doesn't mean you own mine.”
Dante nodded.
For some reason, her answer mattered.
Later that evening, one of Dante's men entered.
“Boss.”
Dante looked up.
“Speak.”
“We found the man who breached the south perimeter.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Bring him to the basement.”
Sadi stood.
“I should go.”
Dante looked at her.
“Stay.”
She frowned.
“I don't want to hear anything.”
“You won't.”
“Then why stay?”
Dante looked toward the door.
“Because someone is trying to kill me.”
“So?”
“I trust you more than the men downstairs.”
Sadi froze.
The words were enormous coming from a man like him.
Dante continued:
“Stay in this room tonight.”
She didn't answer immediately.
Then nodded.
That night, she slept on a sofa.
Dante remained awake near the window.
Around midnight, he heard Sadi breathing evenly.
He looked at her.
Something about her bothered him.
She didn't behave like anyone in his world.
She didn't flatter him.
Didn't fear him.
Didn't ask him for money.
She had looked directly at him while holding a scalpel and told him he was being stupid.
Nine years ago, Clara had done the same thing.
The memory hurt.
Dante closed his eyes.
Then he heard Sadi whisper in her sleep.
“Mom…”
He looked at her.
She frowned.
“No…”
Dante stood.
Sadi's hand closed around something beneath her pillow.
A pendant.
He waited until she moved.
Then he saw it.
Silver.
A small bird surrounded by a circle.
Dante's heartbeat changed.
He knew the symbol.
Clara had worn it.
Nine years ago.
The night she died.
Dante stared at Sadi sleeping on his sofa.
He walked toward her.
But before he could wake her, his phone vibrated.
A message.
The maid has the key.
Another followed.
Do not let her leave the house.
Dante stared.
May you like
Then looked at Sadi.
For the first time, he wondered whether her arrival at the Russo estate had been a coincidence.
