THE MAFIA BOSS WAS DECLARED DEAD—BUT THE MAID WHO HELD HIM THROUGH THE NIGHT DISCOVERED HIS HEART WAS STILL BEATING

By the second afternoon, Gabriel could sit upright without assistance.

He was still weak, and Elena refused to let him leave the clinic, but the color had begun returning to his face.

I had never seen him without his suit.

Without his watch.

Without the men who waited for his smallest gesture.

He wore a plain gray T-shirt and dark trousers Elena had borrowed from her brother. His hair was uncombed, his jaw shadowed with stubble, and a small bandage covered the wound beneath his collarbone.

He looked younger.

And more human.

I was changing the dressing on his arm when he asked, "Do you have family?"

I glanced up.

"My mother lives in Indiana. My father died when I was seventeen."

"And siblings?"

"One younger brother. Thomas. He's studying engineering."

"Does he know where you are?"

"No."

Gabriel frowned.

"You left your family without telling them?"

"I didn't want them dragged into this."

"You're protecting them."

"I'm trying to."

He looked down at the bandage.

"That's what I used to tell myself."

I paused.

"What do you mean?"

He looked toward the window.

"My father built the Falcone organization. He taught me that if people feared you, they couldn't hurt you."

"Did it work?"

"For a while."

"And then?"

He was silent.

Then he said, "Then everyone around me became afraid to tell me the truth."

I tied the bandage carefully.

"That sounds lonely."

His eyes returned to mine.

"You're not supposed to say things like that to me."

"Why not?"

"Because people usually want something."

I stepped back.

"I want you to stop bleeding on Dr. Rossi's clean sheets."

He stared at me.

Then he laughed.

"You truly have no idea who I am."

"I know who you are."

"No, Matilda. You know the man who helped you up after Carmine knocked over your tray. You don't know what I've done."

I lowered my eyes.

"Then tell me."

He looked surprised.

"You want to hear it?"

"I want to know whether the man I'm risking my life for deserves it."

The words hung between us.

For a moment, I thought he would order me out.

Instead, he leaned back against the pillow.

"I have hurt people. Some deserved punishment. Some were simply standing in the wrong place when I made a decision. I've built businesses with honest money and protected them with dishonest men. I've told myself that keeping order justified the things I did to maintain it."

His voice grew quieter.

"Sometimes I believed that so completely that I stopped asking whether it was true."

I stared at him.

"Do you regret it?"

"Some of it."

"That's not enough."

"No," he admitted. "It isn't."

I didn't know what to say.

I had expected arrogance, excuses, perhaps a threat.

Instead, he had given me something much more unsettling.

Honesty.

That evening, Elena allowed me to sleep in the room upstairs while she monitored Gabriel.

I woke at midnight to the sound of voices.

Gabriel was on the phone.

His voice was low but clear.

"I don't care what Carmine announced. Nobody touches the docks. Nobody moves weapons. Nobody retaliates."

A pause.

"Because I said so."

Another pause.

"No. You don't have my permission to kill him."

I stood in the doorway.

Gabriel noticed me and ended the call.

"How long have you been there?"

"Long enough to hear you telling someone not to murder your underboss."

"He isn't my underboss anymore."

"Then what is he?"

"A problem."

I folded my arms.

"You're still running your empire from a clinic bed."

"Someone has to."

"Maybe someone else should."

His expression hardened.

"That's easy for you to say."

"No. It's easy for you to believe that nobody else can do what you do."

He stared at me.

I continued before I could lose my nerve.

"Your people are fighting because they don't know what happens without you. You taught them that everything depends on one man. Now that they think you're dead, they're tearing each other apart."

Gabriel said nothing.

"Maybe the problem isn't that you're missing," I whispered. "Maybe it's that you never taught them how to live without being afraid of you."

For a long time, he looked at me.

Then he turned toward the dark window.

"My father would have called that weakness."

"Your father isn't here."

"No."

He swallowed.

"And neither is the man I thought I had to become."

The admission surprised us both.

I moved to the chair beside his bed.

"Gabriel, what happens if you survive?"

He looked at me.

"I take back control."

"And then?"

"I find out who betrayed me."

"And after that?"

He didn't answer.

I understood.

He had spent his entire life preparing to win a war.

He had never considered what might come after victory.

Before I could say anything else, Elena hurried into the room.

"Gabriel, we have a problem."

She held up a phone.

A video was playing.

Carmine stood in the mansion's grand hall, surrounded by senior lieutenants.

"The Falcone era is over," he announced. "As acting head of the organization, I will ensure stability. Anyone who challenges my authority will be treated as an enemy."

The men applauded.

Gabriel watched without moving.

Then Carmine continued.

"There is one final matter. The woman who worked in the house, Matilda Higgins, has stolen confidential property. She is believed to have fled the estate with sensitive information."

My stomach dropped.

"I haven't stolen anything!"

"I know," Gabriel said.

The video continued.

Carmine held up a photograph of me.

"If anyone finds her, bring her to me."

The room fell silent.

Gabriel's expression changed so completely that I barely recognized him.

The warmth disappeared.

The tiredness vanished.

In its place was the cold, controlled fury that had made powerful men fear his name.

He reached for the phone.