CHAPTER 2 – THE WOMAN WHO REFUSED THE MAFIA BOSS
CHAPTER 2 – THE WOMAN WHO REFUSED THE MAFIA BOSS
Emma stared at her mother's message until the words blurred.
Everything is paid.
Three words.
Three words that should have felt like salvation.
Instead, they felt like handcuffs.
"I didn't agree to any of this."
Emma stood in the center of the luxurious guest suite, still wearing the same faded sweater she'd cleaned apartments in all morning. Around her, movers quietly placed the last of her belongings inside closets larger than the bedroom she had rented in Queens.
Mrs. Vivian Cole folded her hands.
"You weren't asked."
Emma turned sharply.
"That's not employment. That's kidnapping."
Vivian met her eyes without emotion.
"Miss Walker, Mr. Marchetti has many flaws."
A pause.
"But he never forces people to stay."
Emma almost laughed.
"My apartment is empty."
"Your lease has been paid for six additional months."
"My mother's hospital bill—"
"Paid."
"My jobs?"
"The agency has been compensated."
Emma felt trapped from every direction.
Every escape route had already been purchased.
Upstairs.
Dante stood before the wall of security monitors.
Luca entered carrying another folder.
"She's furious."
"I noticed."
"She's also packing."
Dante looked toward the screen.
Emma was stuffing clothes back into the same canvas tote she'd carried every morning.
"Open the elevator."
Luca frowned.
"You mean... let her leave?"
"If she wants."
"You think she actually will?"
Dante answered without hesitation.
"Yes."
Because unlike everyone else in his world...
Emma Walker had something money couldn't buy.
Pride.
The private elevator doors slid open.
Emma marched inside without looking back.
Her heart pounded.
She expected alarms.
Bodyguards.
Someone to stop her.
Nothing happened.
The elevator reached the lobby.
The security guards nodded politely.
One even held the front door open.
Cold Manhattan air struck her face.
She was free.
For exactly thirty-eight seconds.
A black SUV exploded through the intersection.
It wasn't slowing down.
Emma heard tires scream.
Someone shouted.
"LOOK OUT!"
She turned.
Too late.
The vehicle swerved directly toward the sidewalk.
Toward her.
A pair of powerful hands wrapped around her waist.
The world spun violently.
Glass shattered.
Concrete scraped beneath them.
Emma hit the pavement with a cry.
A heavy body covered hers.
The SUV slammed into a line of parked cars before speeding away.
Silence.
Then screaming.
People ran in every direction.
Emma opened her eyes.
Dante was above her.
One arm shielded her head.
The sleeve of his white shirt was soaked crimson.
Blood dripped steadily onto the sidewalk.
He had taken the impact against a steel mailbox.
"You idiot!"
Emma pushed herself upright.
"You're bleeding!"
"It's nothing."
"It is absolutely not nothing!"
He looked toward the disappearing SUV instead of his wound.
"Black Range Rover."
Luca's voice crackled through Dante's hidden earpiece.
"We've got traffic cameras."
Dante's expression darkened.
"No."
Luca paused.
"...Boss?"
"They wanted me to chase."
His eyes shifted to Emma.
"They weren't aiming at me."
Emma felt ice spread through her stomach.
"They were aiming..."
"You."
Five blocks away...
Inside the fleeing SUV...
A bald man wearing leather gloves smiled while watching drone footage on a tablet.
"So."
He leaned back.
"The famous Dante Marchetti really did jump in front of her."
Another man frowned.
"You think she's important?"
The bald man smiled wider.
"She wasn't."
A pause.
"But she is now."
He closed the tablet.
"Tell Volkov."
Another silence.
"We've finally found the only thing Dante Marchetti values more than himself."
Back at the penthouse...
A doctor stitched Dante's arm while he refused anesthetic.
Emma stood against the far wall.
Watching.
The needle pierced skin again.
Not once did he flinch.
"You need eight stitches," the doctor said.
"I'm aware."
"You should rest."
"I'm busy."
The doctor sighed.
"You're impossible."
"I've been called worse."
When the doctor finally left, silence filled the room.
Emma crossed her arms.
"You almost died."
"No."
"You don't even know how fast that SUV was going."
"I calculated it."
She stared.
"You... calculated it?"
"Approximately forty-six miles per hour."
"That's insane."
"It was survivable."
She pointed toward the fresh bandage.
"This says otherwise."
Dante looked down briefly.
"I've survived worse."
Something about the way he said it made Emma stop arguing.
Not because he sounded proud.
Because he sounded tired.
"You should have let me get hit."
The words escaped before she could stop them.
Dante slowly looked up.
"What?"
"You barely know me."
"You clean my house."
"I cleaned your house."
"You sang to plastic plants."
Emma blinked.
"...What?"
"You thought they were real."
Color flooded her face.
"You watched that?"
"Yes."
"Oh my God..."
"You apologized after trimming fake leaves."
She wanted the floor to swallow her whole.
"I didn't know they were fake."
"I know."
"You watched all that?"
"I watched everything."
Emma groaned.
"I'm never recovering from this."
For the first time...
The corner of Dante Marchetti's mouth moved.
Not a full smile.
Barely noticeable.
But real.
Emma caught it.
"So..."
she whispered.
"You can smile."
The expression disappeared instantly.
"I wouldn't spread rumors."
Downstairs...
Luca received an encrypted message.
Unknown sender.
Only one sentence.
Next time we won't miss the maid.
His face lost all color.
He rushed upstairs without knocking.
"Boss."
Dante turned.
Luca handed him the phone.
Dante read the message once.
His jaw tightened.
Once again.
Then he quietly handed it to Emma.
She read it.
Every drop of blood drained from her face.
"This is because of me..."
"No."
Dante's voice was colder than winter.
"This is because someone believes you matter."
He walked toward the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Manhattan.
Lights stretched endlessly beneath the night sky.
His reflection stared back at him.
Hard.
Merciless.
Deadly.
"They made one mistake."
Emma looked at him.
"They touched someone under my protection."
His phone rang.
He answered without greeting.
"Find the driver."
A pause.
"I don't care how."
Another pause.
"And Luca..."
His eyes never left the city.
"Tell every family in New York."
Silence settled over the room.
May you like
Then came the sentence that would ignite a war.
"By sunrise... I want the man who ordered that attack begging for permission to die."
