Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN AT THE MAFIA BOSS’S BEDSIDE
Lorenzo Moretti did not live in a mansion.
He lived in something closer to a fortress pretending to be architecture.
Stone walls rose above the Hudson north of Manhattan. Cameras covered the gates. Armed guards stood beneath heated porticos. The driveway alone looked longer than several blocks Nora had once walked to clinicals.
She stepped from the SUV wearing a borrowed coat worth more than every possession she had lost.
A doctor was waiting inside.
“Dr. Elias Park,” he introduced himself quickly.
Nora barely acknowledged him.
“Possible abdominal penetration. Hypothermia. Loss of consciousness twice. Pulse was thready before transport.”
Elias looked at her.
“You medical?”
“Former nursing student.”
He nodded once.
“Then you’re helping.”
Nico objected.
“She’s a civilian.”
Elias snapped, “She knows more about his condition than you do.”
Nico shut up.
Nora almost liked the doctor immediately.
Lorenzo was moved into a medical suite hidden behind what looked like a library wall.
Of course he had a private hospital room inside his house.
Of course he did.
Elias cut away the shirt.
The bullet had entered beneath Lorenzo’s rib and lodged near the abdominal wall after striking bone.
“Lucky,” Elias said.
Lorenzo opened one eye.
“I dislike that word tonight.”
Elias examined the bruising.
“You should dislike bleeding more.”
Nora checked the monitor.
His temperature remained dangerously low.
“Warmed fluids.”
Elias nodded.
Already moving.
Nico hovered near the door.
Lorenzo noticed.
“Stop looking like a widow.”
Nico’s face hardened.
“You almost died.”
“But I didn’t.”
His eyes moved toward Nora.
“Apparently because she has poor judgment.”
Nora folded her arms.
“You told me to leave you.”
“Yes.”
“I ignored you.”
“I noticed.”
“Get used to disappointment.”
Something amused moved through his eyes.
Then Elias began removing the bullet.
For twenty minutes the room became clinical.
Nora disappeared into what she remembered how to be.
Gloves.
Gauze.
Vitals.
Pressure.
She anticipated what Elias needed before he asked.
By the time the bullet dropped into a metal tray, even Nico was looking at her differently.
Elias held it up.
“This hit something before it hit you.”
Lorenzo frowned.
“Meaning?”
“The deformation.”
Nora leaned closer.
A flat scar crossed the lead.
“Glass?”
Elias shook his head.
“Metal.”
Nora pictured the car.
“The door.”
Lorenzo looked at her.
“The first shot came through the driver’s side.”
Nico stared.
“You were shot before the crash?”
“Yes.”
“You said the crash injured you.”
“I was busy drowning.”
Nico swore in Italian.
Lorenzo smiled faintly.
Then Elias’s expression changed.
“What?”
Nora had noticed it too.
There was an unusual dark residue along the bullet’s surface.
Elias scraped a sample.
“Could be lubricant.”
Nora shook her head.
“Smell it.”
Elias did.
His eyes sharpened.
“Bitter almond?”
“Faint.”
Lorenzo looked between them.
“I dislike medical people sharing facial expressions.”
Elias placed the bullet carefully inside a specimen bag.
“There may be chemical residue.”
“Poison?”
“Maybe.”
Nico’s face went hard.
“They poisoned the bullet?”
Nora looked at Lorenzo.
“Someone wanted to make sure surviving the first shot didn’t matter.”
Silence.
Lorenzo turned toward Nico.
“Who knew the route?”
“Six people.”
“Names.”
Nico hesitated.
Lorenzo’s voice sharpened.
“Names.”
“You. Me. Salvatore. Driver. East gate captain. Vincent.”
Nora saw Lorenzo’s face change at one name.
“Salvatore?”
Nico looked away.
Salvatore Greco.
She knew enough from tabloids to recognize it.
Lorenzo’s father’s oldest friend.
A man photographed beside the Moretti family for decades.
“Anyone else?” Lorenzo asked.
“No.”
“And who changed the vehicle?”
Nico frowned.
“Changed?”
“My regular sedan was supposedly unavailable.”
Nico looked stunned.
“I didn’t authorize that.”
Lorenzo went still.
“Who did?”
“I’ll find out.”
“No.”
He looked toward the door.
“Nobody leaves.”
Nico stared.
“Boss?”
“Seal the estate.”
Nora laughed once.
Every man looked at her.
“What?”
“You people love sealing buildings.”
Lorenzo actually smiled.
Then his face tightened from pain.
Nora adjusted his blanket without thinking.
His eyes dropped toward her hands.
“You’re still cold.”
“I’m fine.”
“You nearly froze.”
“So did you.”
“I have a heated house.”
“You also have bullets in your walls.”
Nico cleared his throat.
“I can have a room prepared.”
Nora immediately shook her head.
“No.”
Lorenzo looked at her.
“You cannot go back.”
“You don’t decide that.”
“Men were looking for you.”
“And that is somehow your fault.”
“Yes.”
The direct answer surprised her.
No excuse.
No charm.
Just yes.
Lorenzo continued.
“So until I know who they were, you stay somewhere protected.”
“I’m not becoming your prisoner.”
“You won’t.”
“How do I know?”
He looked toward Nico.
“Give her a key.”
Nico frowned.
“To what?”
“The west guest suite. Exterior exit.”
Nora stared.
Lorenzo continued.
“Give her a phone. Cash. Car if she can drive.”
“I can drive.”
“Good.”
“You’re just giving me those things?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you should be able to leave.”
The answer silenced her.
He looked exhausted now.
“Staying means something only if leaving is possible.”
Nora did not know what to do with that.
Elias finished bandaging him.
“Sleep.”
Lorenzo ignored him.
His eyes remained on Nora.
“What happened to nursing school?”
She stiffened.
“Nothing relevant.”
“You saved me because of what you learned there.”
“I saved you because you were drowning.”
“Most people would have called for help.”
“Most people had phones.”
His expression hardened slightly at the answer.
Not against her.
At the world.
“How much did you owe?”
Nora’s face closed.
“Don’t.”
Lorenzo understood immediately.
“This is where you think I offer money.”
“Isn’t it?”
“No.”
“What do men like you offer?”
His gaze held hers.
“Usually solutions.”
“I don’t want one.”
“Then I won’t give you one.”
That answer was almost more irritating.
She turned away.
Elias approached with a set of clean scrubs.
“You need a shower.”
“I know.”
“And food.”
“I know.”
“Then sleep.”
Nora took the clothes.
At the door, Lorenzo spoke.
“Nora.”
She stopped.
“Thank you.”
No swagger.
No command.
Two simple words.
She looked back.
His eyes were already closing.
“You’re welcome.”
Two hours later, Nora sat in a guest bedroom larger than her old apartment.
She had showered twice.
The water ran black the first time.
A tray of food waited untouched beside her.
She should have felt safe.
Instead she stared through the window at armed men patrolling the grounds.
Then she noticed something on the bedside table.
An envelope.
Inside was no money.
Only a hospital identification badge.
Hers.
NYU Student Nurse — NORA KANE.
The photograph was from two years earlier.
Hair tied back.
Face fuller.
Alive in a way she barely recognized.
Her hands began to shake.
Nobody at the Moretti estate should have possessed it.
She opened the door.
Nico stood in the corridor.
“Where did this come from?”
His face changed when he saw the badge.
“I’ve never seen it.”
“Someone put it in my room.”
He took it carefully.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Nora.”
“Absolutely not.”
They reached Lorenzo’s suite together.
He was awake.
When he saw the badge, every trace of fatigue disappeared from his face.
“Where?”
“My room.”
Nico said, “West wing.”
Lorenzo looked toward him.
“Who prepared it?”
Nico’s jaw tightened.
“Housekeeping supervisor.”
“Find her.”
A guard entered seconds later.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“The supervisor is missing.”
Silence.
The guard continued.
“And we found something outside the west exit.”
Lorenzo’s expression darkened.
“What?”
“A photograph.”
He placed it on the bed.
Nora felt the blood leave her face.
It showed her standing beneath the George Washington Bridge two nights earlier.
Wrapped in her old blanket.
Sleeping.
Someone had been watching her before Lorenzo’s car ever hit the river.
On the back were four words.
SHE SAW TOO MUCH.
Nora looked at Lorenzo.
“I saw nothing.”
His voice was quiet.
“That may not matter.”
“Why would anyone photograph me before the crash?”
He studied the picture.
Then turned it over again.
“Because maybe they weren’t watching you.”
Nora frowned.
Lorenzo looked toward the river visible beyond his windows.
“Maybe they were watching the place where they intended my car to land.”
And suddenly Nora understood.
Whoever had tried to kill Lorenzo had known exactly where his sedan would leave the road.
They had planned the crash.
Chosen the river.
May you like
Watched the bridge.
And long before Nora ever touched the sinking car, someone had already photographed the one unexpected witness sleeping underneath it.
