Chapter 7 - The New Alliance
"So what?" Arya asked, crossing her arms over her blood-stained chest. "You're keeping me here as a prisoner?"
"Not a prisoner," Rocco corrected smoothly. "A partner. Or, more accurately, the head of medical security for the Marchetti empire, with full immunity, a reinstated medical lab on the top floor, and a blank check for your mother's medical care."
Arya stared at him, stunned. "You want a disgraced, blacklisted doctor to run your medical division?"
"I want the only woman who had the guts to stare down the barrel of my gun and save my son," Rocco replied, extending a large, calloused hand toward her. "Your license was stripped by corrupt hospital board members who took bribes from my competitors. I own those hospitals now. Your license is reinstated as of five minutes ago."
Arya looked down at his outstretched hand. She thought of her mother’s suffering, the endless months of scrubbing floors for pennies, the humiliation, and the stolen career she thought she would never see again. She looked past him at baby Leo, sleeping peacefully in his crib, alive because she had refused to let him die.
Slowly, deliberately, Arya raised her hand and shook Rocco’s.
May you like
"Deal," she said. "But on my terms. No assassinations in my hospital wing."
Rocco smiled—a rare, genuine smile that transformed his granite features into something almost human. "Agreed."
