Chapter 3 - The Secret Behind His Weekly Visits
Northwestern Memorial Hospital smelled of antiseptic, coffee, and the peculiar anxiety of people waiting for news they could not control.
Mia lay on an examination bed while Dr. Aris Miller studied the results of her examination. Leo stood near the window, speaking quietly to Declan, who had arrived with a second security team.
“Is my baby okay?” Mia asked.
Dr. Miller turned toward her.
“The baby's heartbeat is strong. Your symptoms appear consistent with significant physical strain and dehydration, but we’re going to monitor you for a while. You need rest, fluids, and fewer hours on your feet.”
Mia closed her eyes in relief.
“Thank God.”
“And no more standing for six hours without a break,” he added firmly. “If the pain returns or you experience bleeding, you contact us immediately.”
Leo's gaze moved toward the doctor.
“Whatever she needs, arrange it.”
Mia opened her eyes. “I can speak for myself.”
“I know.”
“Then stop making decisions for me.”
The room went quiet.
Paulie suddenly became fascinated by a spot on the wall.
Leo looked at Mia. Instead of snapping back, he pulled a chair beside her bed.
“You’re right,” he said.
She blinked.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“I expected you to argue.”
“I can argue later. Right now, I’m listening.”
For the first time since she had met him, Mia saw something beneath his frightening composure. Not weakness, exactly. Something more uncomfortable for a man like Leo Castiglione.
Uncertainty.
Dr. Miller finished his instructions and stepped into the corridor. Leo followed him, leaving Mia alone for a few minutes.
She heard the doctor speaking in a low voice.
“Her blood pressure is elevated. Stress isn't helping. She needs a stable environment.”
“She'll have one,” Leo replied.
“You can provide security, Mr. Castiglione. You cannot provide peace by frightening everyone around her.”
Leo did not answer.
When he returned, Mia was staring at the ceiling.
“Can I ask you something?” she said.
“Anything.”
“Why do you come to my register every Tuesday and Friday?”
He sat down.
“I like apples.”
She gave him a disbelieving look.
“You come through a snowstorm to buy one apple. You wait in a twenty-minute line when three other registers are open. And you always ask how I'm doing.”
“Maybe I like the service.”
“Leo.”
He sighed.
“Because you looked at me like I was a person.”
Mia frowned.
“You are a person.”
“Most people look at me and see what they can get. Or what I can take away from them. The first time I came through your line, you were exhausted, your shoes were falling apart, and you had barely enough money to buy lunch. You still asked whether I wanted my receipt.”
“That’s my job.”
“No. Your job is to scan groceries. The receipt was a courtesy.”
He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees.
“You didn't know who I was. You didn't pretend to admire me. You didn't flirt. You didn't ask for anything. You were just kind.”
Mia studied his face.
“And that made you obsessed with me?”
His eyes lifted sharply.
The word hung between them.
“I'm not going to pretend I haven't thought about you,” he admitted. “But I know the difference between wanting someone near me and having the right to keep them there.”
For a moment, she had no response.
Then she remembered something.
“Tommy used to say that.”
Leo's expression darkened at the mention of the baby's father, but he waited.
“He said he cared about me. Then the test came back positive, and suddenly I was an inconvenience.” She swallowed. “I don't want someone who thinks I owe him because he helped me.”
“You won't owe me anything.”
“Not even gratitude?”
“Especially not gratitude.”
The answer unsettled her because it sounded sincere.
That evening, Leo arranged a car to take Mia home after Dr. Miller cleared her to leave. She refused his offer to move into his mansion, insisting that she needed her own apartment and her own life.
He accepted her decision, though not without arranging discreet security outside her building.
Before she left the hospital, he gave her a card bearing a single number.
“My direct line. If you need me, call. If you don't, you never have to.”
Mia tucked it into her purse.
As she reached the elevator, a woman in a cream-colored coat stepped out.
She was elegant, perhaps forty, with pale blond hair and eyes that reminded Mia of winter glass.
She stopped when she saw Leo.
“You brought her here?”
Leo's entire body went rigid.
“Isabella.”
The woman ignored him and looked at Mia's stomach.
“Oh, Leo,” she whispered. “You have no idea what you've just brought back into this family.”
Mia felt a cold knot form beneath her ribs.
“Who are you?” she asked.
The woman smiled without warmth.
“Someone who knows why he keeps coming to your register.”
May you like
Then she leaned closer and whispered the words that made Mia's blood run cold.
“Ask him what happened to the last woman who carried a Castiglione secret.”
