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

The ambulance arrived within minutes.

Gabriel was taken to the hospital under armed guard.

This time, no one declared him dead.

This time, doctors rushed him directly into surgery.

I sat in the waiting room with blood on my hands, staring at the floor.

Luca arrived twenty minutes later.

He sat beside me.

Neither of us spoke.

After an hour, Elena emerged from the surgical corridor.

I jumped to my feet.

"Is he alive?"

She nodded.

"He's alive. The bullet missed the major vessels, but he's lost a lot of blood. The surgeons repaired the damage. The next twenty-four hours will be important."

I covered my face.

"Oh, thank God."

Elena hugged me.

"He made it through surgery."

"Will he wake up?"

"We believe so. But he needs time."

I returned to the chair.

Luca placed a hand on my shoulder.

"He'll fight."

I looked at him.

"How do you know?"

"Because he has something to live for now."

For the next two days, I barely left the hospital.

I slept in a chair beside Gabriel's bed.

I held his hand.

I talked to him about ordinary things.

I told him Rosa had found the letter.

I told him the estate staff were being interviewed and that the legitimate businesses would be placed under new management.

I told him Carmine had been charged with attempted murder, conspiracy, and several other offenses.

And I told him I was angry.

Very angry.

"You promised me you'd stop running into danger," I whispered one evening. "You promised me you'd let other people help you."

He didn't move.

"You can't keep making promises and then getting shot."

The monitor continued its steady rhythm.

I leaned forward.

"I don't care about your empire, Gabriel. I don't care about the money or the mansion or the people who used to bow when you entered a room."

I wiped my face.

"I care about you."

The words escaped before I could stop them.

I stared at him.

"I love you."

The room seemed to grow quieter.

"I don't know when it happened. Maybe it was the night I heard your heartbeat beneath my cheek. Maybe it was when you let me order you to drink tea. Maybe it was when you asked whether I was afraid of you and actually waited for my answer."

My voice broke.

"But I do. And I'm terrified because I don't know how to love someone whose life has always been a battlefield."

I pressed his hand to my cheek.

"So please wake up. Not because your empire needs you. Not because your men need a leader. Wake up because I want you to have a chance to become the man you said you wanted to be."

For a long time, there was only the sound of the monitor.

Then Gabriel's fingers moved.

I froze.

"Gabriel?"

His eyelids fluttered.

He opened his eyes.

I laughed through my tears.

"You're awake!"

He looked around slowly.

Then he turned toward me.

"You said something about loving me."

I stared at him.

"You were unconscious!"

"Apparently not completely."

I hit his arm gently, then immediately regretted it.

He winced.

"Ow."

"I'm sorry!"

He smiled weakly.

"Don't apologize. I deserved that."

I began to cry again.

He reached toward me, and I leaned close enough for him to touch my cheek.

"Matilda."

"Yes?"

"I love you, too."

I closed my eyes.

He continued, his voice barely above a whisper.

"But I won't ask you to build a life around my danger."

I swallowed.

"Then don't."

"I want to leave the organization."

I looked at him.

"What?"

"Not just Carmine's part of it. All of it. I'll cooperate with the prosecutors and accept whatever sentence the court gives me. I'll put the legitimate companies into lawful ownership and sell the rest of my assets to compensate the people we harmed where possible."

His eyes held mine.

"I don't know if I'll ever be a free man again. But if I get the chance, I want to live without making people afraid."

I brushed his hair from his forehead.

"That sounds like a beginning."

He squeezed my hand.

"Will you be there?"

I thought about the cold steel table.

The poison.

The gunshots.

The fear.

Then I thought about the man who had helped me up from the broken glass.

"I'll be there," I whispered.

"But I'm not spending my life in a mansion full of armed guards."

His mouth twitched.

"Noted."

"And I'm not working for you."

"Understood."

"And if you ever tell me that I'm just a maid again—"

"I would never."

I raised an eyebrow.

He smiled.

"Fine. If I do, you have permission to hit me with another lamp."

I laughed so hard I had to cover my mouth.

For the first time in days, the room felt warm.

But the future was still uncertain.

Gabriel faced criminal charges for his own role in the organization. His cooperation could help reduce his punishment, but it could not erase his past.

I knew that.

He knew that.

And when the doctors finally allowed him to sit up, I made him promise one more thing.

"No more secrets."

He looked at me.

"No more secrets."

I held out my little finger.

He stared at it.

"What is that?"

"A promise."

He hooked his finger around mine.