Chapter 16 - The Man Who Wouldn't Wake|
The hospital waiting room smelled of antiseptic and burnt coffee.
Sophie sat with Clara beside her, staring at the double doors through which doctors had taken Massimo. The bullet had struck his shoulder and passed close to his chest. The surgeon said the injury was serious but survivable.
Sophie had heard the words.
She simply couldn't make herself believe them.
Rafael sat opposite them with his arm bandaged.
“Dominic is in custody,” he said. “Two of Vittorio's men were arrested at the scene.”
“Where is Vittorio?” Clara asked.
“Gone.”
Sophie closed her eyes.
“Of course he is.”
The original ledger had been secured, and copies were already with independent investigators. But Vittorio still had allies, money, and enough influence to make witnesses disappear.
Clara looked at Sophie.
“We should leave Chicago.”
“And let him walk away?”
“I'm not saying forever. I'm saying we can survive somewhere else.”
Sophie understood the temptation. She had spent her life trying to build a small, peaceful business. She had never asked for a war against a crime family.
But Massimo had been shot protecting them.
Her mother had died trying to expose the truth.
And her sister had spent years living in fear.
“No,” Sophie said. “We finish this.”
Clara studied her.
“Because of Massimo?”
“Because of us.”
Hours passed before the surgeon emerged.
Massimo was stable. He had lost blood, but the bullet had missed major vessels. He would need surgery and weeks of recovery.
Sophie finally let herself cry.
Clara wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“You love him.”
Sophie shook her head.
“I barely know him.”
“That's not what I asked.”
Sophie looked at the floor.
“I don't know what love is supposed to feel like when everything is this complicated.”
Clara considered that.
“Maybe it feels like wanting someone to live even when you're angry at them.”
The words stayed with Sophie.
When Massimo woke the next afternoon, Sophie was beside his bed.
His voice was rough.
“Did we get the ledger?”
She laughed through her tears.
“Hello to you, too.”
“Did we?”
“Yes.”
He exhaled.
“Good.”
“You were shot.”
“I noticed.”
“You could have died.”
“I noticed that, too.”
Sophie stood.
“You don't get to make jokes about this.”
His expression softened.
“I'm sorry.”
“Stop apologizing and start making better decisions.”
“I'll try.”
She sat again.
For a long moment, they looked at each other.
Then Massimo said, “When this is over, you should leave me.”
Sophie stared.
“Excuse me?”
“My life is dangerous. You deserve a future that doesn't involve armed men, threats, or being used as leverage.”
“You don't get to decide what I deserve.”
“I know.”
“Then stop doing it.”
He turned his face toward the window.
“I don't know how to love someone without trying to protect them from everything.”
Sophie felt her anger soften, though it did not disappear.
“Protection isn't the same as control.”
“I know that now.”
“No, Massimo. You know the words. You have to learn how to live them.”
He looked back at her.
“What if I fail?”
“Then you apologize, make it right, and try again.”
A faint smile touched his mouth.
“You make it sound simple.”
“It isn't. That's why it matters.”
She reached for his hand.
He held it gently, as if he understood that the choice to stay belonged to her.
Outside the room, Clara was speaking to an investigator.
She returned with a pale face.
“Vittorio has contacted the press,” she said.
Sophie stood.
“What did he say?”
Clara held up her phone.
The headline was already spreading across the city.
ROMANO HEIR ACCUSED OF FORGING RECORDS AND ORCHESTRATING HIS FORMER FIANCÉE'S DEATH.
Massimo read it in silence.
Then another notification appeared.
A photograph of Sophie leaving the hospital.
The caption read:
THE FLORIST WHO DESTROYED THE ROMANO FAMILY.
May you like
Vittorio was no longer hiding.
He was preparing to destroy them in public.
