With Broken Ribs and a Shattered Ankle, She Climbed 42 Floors—The Mafia Boss Never Forgot Her

Nora was discharged from the hospital twelve days after the attack.

Her ankle remained in a rigid boot, and she needed crutches to move safely. The doctors warned that her ribs would take several more weeks to heal and that she must avoid strenuous activity.

Raphael offered to arrange a rehabilitation apartment with round-the-clock nursing care.

Nora refused.

"I don't need a palace."

"It's not a palace."

"Does it have marble floors?"

"Yes."

"Then it's a palace."

He sighed.

"What do you want?"

"A quiet apartment, a reliable nurse, and a door that locks from the inside."

Raphael arranged exactly that.

The apartment belonged to one of his legitimate property companies. It was modest, clean, and located in a building with independent security systems. Nora chose the room overlooking the park and insisted on keeping her own phone and keys.

Raphael respected the conditions.

He also made sure she had a way to contact emergency services without going through his security team.

On her first evening there, Nora sat on the couch with her injured leg elevated while Raphael reviewed the case files at the dining table.

"You know," she said, "most bosses don't visit employees after discharge."

"Most employees don't arrive at work covered in blood."

"I wasn't technically at work."

"That is not the part of your argument I find persuasive."

She smiled faintly.

Then she looked at the documents.

"Have the investigators identified the people who attacked me?"

"One vehicle has been linked to a contractor associated with Peter's network. The identities of the men remain under investigation."

"Does Dominic still have access to the security system?"

"No. His credentials have been suspended while the access logs are reviewed."

"Does he know?"

"Yes."

"How did he react?"

Raphael considered the question.

"He was angry. Then he asked whether you were safe."

Nora looked down.

"That sounds like him."

"Do you trust him?"

She thought carefully.

"I trust that he cares about you. I don't know whether that means he is innocent."

Raphael nodded.

It was an answer he respected.

Later that night, Nora reviewed the old financial records again. She had always been good at finding patterns in numbers. A payment that looked insignificant on its own could become suspicious when placed beside another transfer, a travel record, or an invoice created at the wrong time.

She compared the suspicious payments with the dates of several security changes at Raphael's properties.

The same pattern appeared repeatedly.

Money moved out of a company.

A security contract changed.

A staff member lost access.

Then a new contractor appeared.

The pattern suggested that someone had been weakening the organization's internal safeguards while stealing from it.

Nora found one entry that made her sit upright despite the pain.

A payment had been made to a private security company three days before the attack. The invoice described a routine system inspection at the garage where she had been assaulted.

The authorization carried the initials P.S.

Peter Sloane.

But the attached approval form carried another signature.

Dominic Vale.

Nora called Raphael immediately.

He arrived within twenty minutes.

She showed him the documents.

"This is the first direct connection between the security changes and the attack."

Raphael studied the page.

"Could the signatures have been copied?"

"Yes. But the invoice is real. The company performed the inspection."

"Who hired them?"