Chapter 8 - THE ONLY PERSON WHO COULD SAVE HIM
The bullet entered beneath Elio’s collarbone.
A second struck his abdomen.
Janevra pressed both hands against the blood while Bruno drove toward the hospital at impossible speed.
“Stay with me.”
Elio’s eyes opened.
“Bossy.”
“Shut up.”
His mouth almost smiled.
“That’s not very wifely.”
“Neither is becoming a widow after three months, so you’re going to cooperate.”
His hand found hers.
Cold.
Too cold.
“Janevra.”
“No.”
“I need to tell you—”
“You can tell me tomorrow.”
“In case—”
“There is no in case.”
“Janevra.”
“Tomorrow.”
Her voice broke.
“You tell me tomorrow.”
His eyes closed.
“Elio!”
The doctors took him from her.
Janevra stood in the emergency corridor covered in her husband’s blood.
For the first time since her wedding, she understood exactly what she wanted.
Not freedom from Elio.
A future with him.
And somebody was trying to take it away.
Three hours later, the surgeon emerged.
“The abdominal bullet caused significant bleeding. We controlled it.”
Janevra exhaled.
“But?”
“There’s another problem.”
Of course there was.
“Elio has a rare blood type. We’ve exhausted our immediate compatible supply.”
Bruno was already calling people.
Janevra asked, “What type?”
The doctor answered.
Janevra stared.
“That’s mine.”
Testing confirmed compatibility.
Bruno objected.
The doctor objected because Janevra was exhausted.
Janevra ignored both.
“Take what you safely can.”
While blood flowed from her arm into the collection system, Lena sat beside her.
“You love him.”
Janevra closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Saying it aloud felt terrifying.
“I love the idiot.”
Lena squeezed her hand.
“He loves you too.”
“He’s never said it.”
“He got shot running toward you.”
“That could be poor judgment.”
“Jenny.”
Janevra laughed through tears.
Hours later, Elio stabilized.
But Carlo escaped.
Worse, Daario escaped too.
Janevra assumed the brothers had returned to their father.
She was wrong.
Daario appeared at the hospital the following morning.
Alone.
Unarmed.
Bruno nearly killed him in the parking garage.
“Wait.”
Daario raised both hands.
“I came to help.”
“You shot at us yesterday.”
“I make terrible first impressions.”
Bruno slammed him against a car.
“Give me one reason.”
Daario handed him a phone.
On it was a recording.
Carlo’s voice.
Once Elio is dead, Janevra goes next. Her death must look like Moretti retaliation. Then we finish Victoriao.
Janevra listened twice.
Daario looked at her.
“My father never intended to spare any of us.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
At least he was honest.
“But I know where he is.”
Carlo had moved into an abandoned industrial property near the river.
He planned to leave the country within forty-eight hours.
Janevra looked through the ICU glass at Elio.
He could not protect anyone now.
For years, everyone had believed power flowed from men like him.
Janevra suddenly understood something her mother had learned first.
Information was power too.
She took control.
“Bruno.”
He looked at her.
“Call every captain still loyal to Elio.”
“They won’t take orders from—”
“Then tell them Mrs. Vieira is asking which side they want history to remember them standing on.”
Bruno stared.
Then smiled.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Janevra spent the next six hours doing what everyone had believed her incapable of doing.
She negotiated.
Not drugs.
Not guns.
Loyalty.
She showed the captains evidence of Carlo’s theft.
Proof he had siphoned millions from their businesses.
Recordings demonstrating he intended to sacrifice them once he regained power.
Men who had ignored Janevra at her wedding now listened in silence.
She did not threaten them.
She gave them a choice.
“Carlo rules through fear,” she said. “Elio earned loyalty by keeping his word. Decide which system you want to live under.”
One by one, they chose.
By evening, Carlo had lost most of his support.
Then Janevra did something he never expected.
She sent the financial evidence to federal investigators through attorneys.
Bruno stared at her.
“You realize what you just did?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve exposed legitimate Vieira companies too.”
“Yes.”
“Elio may lose millions.”
“He can make more money.”
“And Carlo?”
“He loses the weapon he’s spent eleven years protecting.”
Bruno smiled slowly.
“I understand why the boss married you.”
Janevra looked at him.
“He married me for ports.”
“No.”
Bruno shook his head.
“That may be why it started.”
He glanced toward Elio’s room.
“But it stopped being about ports a long time ago.”
That night, Elio woke.
Janevra was asleep beside his bed.
His fingers moved against hers.
She opened her eyes instantly.
“Elio?”
His voice was barely audible.
“You stayed.”
She almost laughed.
“Apparently I have a habit.”
He looked at the IV.
Bruno had already told him.
“Your blood.”
“Part of it.”
“You saved me.”
“Again.”
His eyes closed briefly.
“I’m falling behind.”
“You can repay me with interest.”
A faint smile.
Then he became serious.
“Carlo?”
“Losing.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing dramatic.”
Elio stared.
Janevra sighed.
“I turned most of your captains against him and sent his financial records to federal investigators.”
His eyes widened.
“You did what?”
“I also froze three shell companies through Lena’s family attorneys.”
Elio continued staring.
“Say something.”
“I’m trying to decide whether to kiss you or hire you.”
“Both positions appear unavailable.”
He laughed, then winced.
Janevra leaned closer.
“Elio.”
“Yes?”
“I thought you were going to die.”
His expression softened.
“So did I.”
“I hated you for what you said before our wedding.”
“I know.”
“I hated how invisible you made me feel.”
“I know.”
“But somewhere along the way…”
Her courage failed.
Elio squeezed her fingers.
“Tomorrow?”
She remembered the SUV.
What she had told him while he was bleeding.
Tomorrow.
Janevra smiled through tears.
“Tomorrow.”
Then Bruno burst through the door.
Carlo had made his final move.
Victoriao Moretti was gone.
May you like
And this time, Carlo had not taken him for leverage.
He had taken him for execution.
