Chapter 5 - Blood and Business
By dawn, the Rossi estate looked entirely different under the pale, watery light of a clearing morning storm. Leo and two other men in black suits had quietly removed Marco from the bedroom before sunrise, leaving no trace of the midnight altercation except for a faint smudge of dust on the rug where the lamp had fallen.
I was sitting in the armchair, nursing a cold cup of black coffee Leo had brought up, when Dominic finally stirred. He pushed himself up into a sitting position, wincing only slightly as his right shoulder protested the movement. The fever had broken sometime around four in the morning; his skin was cool, his color returning to a sharp, healthy olive tone.
“You look like you haven't slept,” Dominic observed, his voice stronger and clearer than it had been the previous night.
“I haven't. I spent the last three hours cataloging your medical supplies and wondering if your entire organization is staffed by backstabbing amateurs,” I replied bluntly, setting the empty coffee mug down. “Your white blood cell count is stabilizing, but if you lift heavy objects, flex that arm too quickly, or get shot again in the next two weeks, you’re going back to square one.”
Dominic leaned back against the dark pillows, studying me with an intensity that felt less like a patient evaluating a nurse and more like a predator appraising a rare, unexpected find.
“Marco was my cousin,” Dominic said quietly, the admission hanging in the heavy air of the room like smoke. “He thought I was getting soft. He thought expanding our syndicate into the northern ports required someone ruthless, not someone calculating.”
“He was an idiot who tried to poison a man with half an emergency room attached to his bedside,” I retorted. “Family loyalty doesn't mean much when stupidity is genetic.”
A short, genuine laugh barked out of Dominic’s chest—a rich, deep sound that transformed his lethal facade into something dangerously charismatic.
“You have a remarkable mouth, Miss Hayes,” he said, tilting his head. “Most people in this house tremble when I breathe too loudly. You threatened to sit on my chest.”
“Desperation makes people do radical things. Like I mentioned, rent is due Monday.”
Dominic reached over to the drawer of the bedside table, pulled out a heavy leather checkbook, and clicked a golden pen with practiced elegance. He scribbled something swiftly across a crisp piece of paper, tore it out, and held it out toward me.
I looked at the slip of paper, then up at him. “What is this?”
“Your retainer. For the next month,” Dominic said smoothly. “It covers your back rent, your groceries, your rusted sedan, and enough left over to buy a much better car so you don't break down on my driveway again.”
I walked over, took the check, and looked down. My breath caught in my throat. The number written there had enough zeros to solve every financial problem I had encountered since the downtown hospital laid me off. It was absurd. It was life-changing.
“This is... this is way too much,” I whispered, looking up.
“Nothing is too much for someone who keeps me alive and handles my traitors with a brass lamp,” Dominic said softly, his dark eyes locking onto mine with an unyielding gravity. “And you’re not leaving this estate, Nora. The syndicate knows you’re my nurse now. That makes you a target. Until my shoulder heals completely, you live here.”
May you like
My eyes widened. “Live here? In the fortress?”
“In the master wing,” Dominic corrected calmly, shifting his weight. “Leo will have your apartment packed up and your belongings moved by this afternoon. Consider it a perk of the job.”
