Chapter 3 - Ryan Showed Up At My Hospital—But The Mafia Boss Standing Beside Me Made Him Tremble
The hospital corridor remained silent after Ryan spoke.
I had imagined this moment a hundred times.
Ryan screaming.
Ryan threatening.
Ryan begging.
Instead, he looked calm.
Too calm.
That scared me more.
Lucian stood between us.
"You need to leave."
Ryan smiled.
"This doesn't concern you."
"It concerns me now."
Ryan's eyes shifted to me.
"You've been telling stories."
I felt my throat tighten.
"I've told the truth."
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"I know what I saw."
"What did you see?"
"The medication orders."
His expression changed.
Only for a fraction of a second.
But Lucian saw it.
So did I.
"You're involved," I whispered.
Ryan laughed.
"You always were dramatic."
He stepped closer.
Lucian stopped him.
"One more step."
Ryan looked at him.
"You think your reputation scares me?"
"No."
Lucian's answer was almost casual.
"I think your understanding of my reputation will."
Ryan looked around.
There were security officers at both ends of the corridor.
He swallowed.
Then he smiled.
"You can't keep her forever."
Lucian looked at me.
"She decides where she goes."
That was the first time he made it completely clear.
Not to Ryan.
To me.
Ryan left.
But I knew he wasn't finished.
The evidence we found changed everything.
Hospital administrators opened an internal investigation.
Federal agents became involved.
The medication theft was larger than I had imagined.
Ryan had been using my access as a nurse to move information.
He had never asked me to participate.
He had simply used my schedule and login details to make his thefts look legitimate.
That was why he'd always been so obsessed with my hospital password.
I had given it to him once.
Before I realized how dangerous he was.
I felt sick thinking about it.
"I should have known."
Lucian sat beside me in his office.
"You were manipulated."
"I should have protected my credentials."
"You were being controlled."
"That's not an excuse."
"No."
He looked at me.
"It's an explanation."
I stared at the rain outside.
"I hate that you always know what to say."
"I don't."
"Sometimes you do."
He smiled faintly.
"I've had a lot of practice."
"At comforting women?"
"No."
His expression darkened.
"At surviving damage."
I wanted to ask what he meant.
I didn't.
That night, Sofia brought me tea.
She sat beside me.
"My son doesn't talk about his past."
"I've noticed."
"He thinks it makes him weak."
"He's wrong."
"I know."
She smiled.
"His father died when he was sixteen."
I looked at her.
"How?"
"Trying to leave the business."
That explained more than I wanted to know.
Sofia continued.
"Lucian became the man everyone feared because he believed fear was the only thing that kept people alive."
"Does he still believe that?"
She looked toward the office.
"Not anymore."
I followed her gaze.
"Why?"
She smiled.
"Because you said no to him."
I laughed.
"I say no all the time."
"Exactly."
The next day, I returned to work.
This time, I didn't enter alone.
A security guard accompanied me.
Lucian had arranged it.
I complained.
He ignored me.
The staff noticed.
Rumors multiplied.
By noon, I was called into the administrator's office.
Daniel Price sat behind the desk.
He looked tired.
"Amanda."
I closed the door.
"Why were you working with Ryan?"
His face hardened.
"I wasn't."
"The records say otherwise."
"The records are forged."
"I saw you with him."
"That proves nothing."
"You accessed medication systems while off duty."
He said nothing.
I placed the documents on his desk.
"Why?"
He looked at me.
Then smiled.
"You have no idea what you've walked into."
The door behind me closed.
A lock clicked.
I turned.
The hallway was empty.
Daniel stood.
"You shouldn't have trusted Lucian Moretti."
I felt my heart race.
"Why?"
"Because he isn't protecting you."
"What do you mean?"
"He found you for a reason."
"That's a lie."
"Is it?"
He took a step closer.
"Your father owed his family money."
My entire body went cold.
"My father?"
"You didn't know?"
"No."
Daniel laughed softly.
"Of course you didn't."
I backed toward the door.
"Open it."
"No."
"Daniel."
"You've been walking into a trap since the night Lucian found you."
The door opened.
Lucian stood there.
Daniel went pale.
Lucian's face was expressionless.
"Leave."
Daniel tried to move.
Two security officers took him.
He shouted:
"Ask him about your father, Amanda!"
Then he was gone.
I turned toward Lucian.
"What did he mean?"
He didn't answer.
"Tell me."
"I was going to."
"When?"
"After I knew more."
"You're hiding something."
"Yes."
"What?"
He looked at me.
"Your father once worked for my father."
The room spun.
"I don't understand."
"He wasn't a criminal in the way you think."
"Then what was he?"
"An accountant."
"For your family?"
"Yes."
"What happened?"
Lucian looked away.
"He discovered financial fraud."
"By whom?"
"My uncle."
I swallowed.
"What does that have to do with me?"
"Everything."
He handed me a file.
Inside were documents dated twenty-three years earlier.
My father's name.
My mother's name.
And one line that made my hands shake.
Amanda Turner — protected beneficiary.
"What is this?"
Lucian sat down.
"Your father placed money in a trust before he died."
"He never told me."
"He couldn't."
"Why?"
"Because someone wanted it."
"Who?"
"My uncle."
I stared at him.
"You knew?"
"I knew there was a beneficiary."
"You knew it was me."
"I suspected."
"How long?"
"Three weeks."
The same time he'd started coming to the subway station.
The same time he'd started appearing near my hospital.
"You were watching me."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because someone else was."
My eyes filled with anger.
"You should have told me."
"I know."
"You're no better than Ryan."
The words hurt him.
I saw it.
But he didn't defend himself.
"I deserve that."
I turned away.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A man's voice whispered:
"Now you know."
I froze.
"Who is this?"
"You should have stayed quiet."
The call ended.
Lucian stood.
"Who was that?"
I looked at him.
"Someone who knows about the trust."
May you like
His face became cold.
"Then we have a much bigger problem."
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