Chapter 2 - THE MAID WHO FOUGHT BACK
The assassin screamed.
It was not loud, but in the midnight silence of the private hospital wing, it was enough.
Nora twisted away as the man’s bleeding hand left her mouth.
The syringe dropped.
Zeo moved.
Pain exploded through his chest when he threw the blanket aside. His injuries had been managed, not invented, and four days of lying nearly motionless had weakened him more than he expected.
But the assassin did not know that.
All he saw was a supposedly comatose mafia boss sitting upright.
“What the hell—”
Zeo seized the metal water pitcher from the bedside table and swung it.
The pitcher struck the man’s temple.
He staggered.
Nora kicked the syringe beneath the bed.
“Door!” Zeo barked.
Nora understood immediately.
She slammed the emergency lock.
The assassin recovered and lunged.
Zeo barely avoided him.
His stitches pulled beneath his gown, and warmth spread across his bandages.
Blood.
Wonderful.
He had survived two bullets only to reopen his chest fighting a man dressed like a nurse.
The assassin grabbed Zeo by the throat.
Nora snatched the IV pole.
She swung it with both hands.
Metal crashed against the attacker’s shoulder.
He turned toward her.
That mistake ended the fight.
Zeo drove his forehead into the man’s face, caught his wrist, and forced him against the bed rail.
“Who sent you?”
The man laughed through blood.
“You already know.”
Zeo tightened his grip.
“Thomas?”
No answer.
“Camilla?”
The assassin smiled.
Then he bit down.
Zeo saw the movement too late.
The man’s body convulsed.
Nora stared.
“What happened?”
“Capsule.”
Within seconds, the assassin went limp.
Nora backed against the wall.
“You people actually do that?”
Zeo looked at her.
“You people?”
“Mafia people.”
Despite the blood leaking through his bandages, something almost resembling amusement touched his face.
“You hit him with an IV pole.”
“He was trying to murder us.”
“Good answer.”
Zeo reached beneath his pillow and found Nora’s burner.
He dialed a number from memory.
A man answered on the first ring.
“Rossi?”
“Gabriel.”
Silence.
Then a sharp inhale.
“Boss?”
“Private suite. Now. Use the service elevators. Bring Dr. Aris and nobody else.”
“Five minutes.”
“Three.”
Zeo disconnected.
Nora looked from the dead assassin to Zeo.
“I should go.”
“No.”
Her face changed.
“You don’t get to tell me that.”
“You heard Thomas and Camilla. They know someone may have been in this room.”
“They didn’t see me.”
“This man did.”
“He’s dead.”
“He came through a controlled hospital corridor. Someone opened that corridor for him.”
Nora became still.
Zeo saw understanding arrive.
Someone on the hospital staff was helping Thomas.
Which meant Nora could walk downstairs and straight into another killer.
“You’re safer here,” Zeo said.
“With you?”
“For tonight.”
“That is not as comforting as you think.”
The corner of Zeo’s mouth moved.
Then his knees nearly buckled.
Nora caught him.
The moment surprised them both.
Her arms wrapped around his waist. His hand landed against her shoulder. For one strange second, the feared Zeo Rossi depended entirely on a hospital maid to remain standing.
“You’re bleeding.”
“I noticed.”
“Get in bed.”
He stared at her.
Nora pointed at the mattress.
“Now.”
Nobody spoke to Zeo Rossi that way.
Apparently Nora had missed the orientation meeting.
He sat.
Three minutes later, the door opened.
Gabriel Rossi entered first.
At forty-three, Zeo’s cousin had the compact build of a boxer and the permanent expression of a man expecting bad news. Behind him came Dr. Aris.
Both stopped at the sight of the corpse.
Then Gabriel saw Zeo sitting upright.
“You look terrible.”
“I was shot.”
“You looked terrible before that.”
Zeo nodded toward Nora.
“She saved my life.”
Gabriel’s eyes shifted to her.
Nora still held the IV pole.
“Twice,” Zeo added.
That changed Gabriel’s expression.
Dr. Aris hurried forward and examined Zeo’s bandages.
“You tore two sutures.”
“Repair them.”
“Here?”
“We’re leaving.”
“You cannot leave.”
“Watch me.”
Nora stepped away.
“I’m definitely leaving.”
Zeo caught her wrist.
Not hard.
But enough to stop her.
She looked down at his hand.
Zeo released her immediately.
“Thomas knows the assassination failed when this man doesn’t report.”
“That isn’t my problem.”
“It became your problem when you heard them.”
Nora’s eyes flashed.
“I mop floors for sixteen dollars an hour, Mr. Rossi. I have three overdue bills, a landlord who thinks plumbing is a luxury, and exactly zero interest in becoming collateral damage in a criminal civil war.”
Gabriel raised an eyebrow.
Zeo ignored him.
“Then let me protect you.”
“I don’t want anything from you.”
That sentence landed strangely.
Everyone wanted something from Zeo.
Money.
Protection.
Access.
Fear.
Nora wanted the door.
“Why did you help me?” he asked.
She looked genuinely confused by the question.
“Because they were going to murder you.”
“You know who I am.”
“I know what people say.”
“And you helped anyway.”
“You were defenseless.”
Zeo almost laughed.
Nobody had used that word about him in thirty years.
Nora pulled off her cleaning gloves.
“My shift ends at six. I have another job at nine.”
Zeo stared at her.
“You’re going to work?”
“Yes.”
“After this?”
“Rent does not care about assassination attempts.”
Gabriel looked away, concealing a smile.
Then Nora said something that erased it.
“And my brother’s treatment definitely doesn’t.”
Zeo’s attention sharpened.
“What treatment?”
“None of your business.”
She walked toward the door.
Gabriel blocked it.
Nora looked at him.
“Move.”
Gabriel looked at Zeo.
Zeo considered ordering her detained.
That would be easy.
It would also make him exactly what she already suspected he was.
“Gabriel,” Zeo said.
His cousin stepped aside.
Nora opened the door.
“Nora.”
She looked back.
“You cannot return to your apartment.”
“I’ll decide that.”
“They may already know your name.”
That frightened her.
Only for a second.
But Zeo saw it.
“Use the burner,” he said. “There’s one number saved now. Mine.”
“You’re supposed to be in a coma.”
“Apparently I’m recovering.”
She almost smiled.
Almost.
Then she disappeared into the corridor.
Gabriel waited until the elevator doors closed.
“You’re letting her walk away?”
“Yes.”
“She knows everything.”
“She knows what she heard.”
“She could sell it.”
“She won’t.”
Gabriel studied him.
“You know her for four nights.”
“I know people.”
“You thought Camilla loved you.”
That silenced the room.
Zeo slowly looked toward him.
Gabriel lifted both hands.
“Fair point?”
“Unfortunately.”
Dr. Aris began replacing Zeo’s bandage.
Then Gabriel’s phone vibrated.
He checked the screen.
His face changed.
“What?”
Gabriel turned the phone around.
A security image showed Nora leaving through the hospital’s employee entrance.
Across the street waited a black SUV.
Thomas’s SUV.
A man stepped out.
Nora stopped.
Zeo stood so quickly Dr. Aris cursed.
On the security feed, the man approached Nora.
He said something.
Then he held up a photograph.
Even through the grainy image, Zeo recognized the person in it.
A teenage boy in a hospital bed.
Nora’s brother.
May you like
Zeo’s voice became quiet.
“They already know exactly who she is.”
