Chapter 3 - THE INTERROGATIONThe corridor had emptied completely. Even Dr. Wexler had found a sudden, pressing emergency in the basement archives. Only Dante Vance and his shadow remained.
Elena stopped two feet away from him. Up close, he towered over her, radiating an aura of suppressed violence and chilling wealth.
"Whoever you are," Elena said, her voice shaking slightly with residual adrenaline, "and whatever war you're fighting out on the streets, you bring a child with internal bleeding into a general hospital like this again without calling ahead for an emergency trauma team, and I will personally have security throw you out on your ear. Do you understand me?"
Marcus’s hand twitched toward his jacket. "Watch your tone, nurse—"
Dante raised a single finger. Marcus froze instantly.
Dante did not look angry. He looked fascinated, the way a scientist might look at a newly discovered chemical reaction that defied the laws of physics. He stepped closer, his dark gaze piercing straight through Elena’s defenses.
"She would have died in the car," Dante said quietly. "You knew that before you touched her."
"She almost died on my table because whatever caused those internal lacerations happened at least an hour ago," Elena snapped back. "You wasted precious time playing mobster instead of getting her to a pediatric surgeon. Who is she to you?"
Dante didn't answer immediately. He looked through the glass window at the small, pale face resting against the white hospital pillows. A rare, haunting shadow crossed his hardened features—a vulnerability he kept locked behind nine iron gates.
"She is my daughter," Dante said softly. "My only daughter, Chloe."
Elena stared at him. The words didn't quite compute. "Your daughter? Then where is her mother?"
Dante’s eyes hardened back into slate. "Dead. Shot through the heart three hours ago in a safe house downtown. They came for both of us. I got out with her. The men who did it are currently hunting us."
The air in the hallway turned to ice. Elena took a half-step back, reality crashing down around her. This wasn't just a medical emergency. This was an assassination aftermath. And she had just walked right into the middle of a mafia bloodbath.
"Then why bring her here?" Elena hissed. "If they're hunting you, they'll trace you to this hospital within the hour! You've put every patient and staff member in this building in mortal danger!"
"Because," Dante said, stepping closer until she could feel the heat radiating from his coat, "every other hospital in this state is owned by my enemies, or corrupt enough to sell our location for a price. This is the only place left with an operating room that isn't compromised."
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He reached into his coat pocket. Elena flinched, expecting a weapon. Instead, he pulled out a heavy, platinum-encrusted signet ring and laid it heavily on the nurse's station counter next to her elbow.
"You saved her life," Dante said, his voice dropping an octave, rich with absolute command. "Now, I am placing her life in your hands. Lock down this ward. Trust no one in uniform. Because within ten minutes, the people who killed her mother are going to come through those doors to finish the job."
