Chapter 36
Dante supported Elena’s limp weight, guiding her down the stone steps into the reinforced wine cellar beneath the main villa. He eased her into a sturdy wooden armchair under the dim glow of an incandescent bulb. Maya appeared moments later, carrying a surgical suture kit, antiseptic, and clean towels. When Elena looked up through her sweat-matted hair and saw Maya’s swollen belly, a wave of profound shame and bewilderment washed over her exhausted features.
"You must be Maya," Elena whispered, wincing as Maya cut away the ruined fabric of her coat to expose the bullet graze on her shoulder. "You're the woman raising my daughter... and carrying Dante's child."
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"Save your strength," Maya replied evenly, her hands remarkably steady as she poured antiseptic over the wound. She felt no jealousy or malice toward this broken woman—only a fierce maternal instinct to protect the peace of their household. "We can discuss the past later. Right now, you need to tell us how many men are following you."
Elena clenched her teeth as the needle pierced her flesh. "Volkov dispatched an elite eight-man strike team," she rasped, tears of pain leaking down her cheeks. "The ledger I took doesn't just have money; it holds the encrypted GPS coordinates of black-market weapons caches across the Mediterranean. Volkov wants to ignite a war, and he won't leave a single witness alive in this house. They tracked my car to the village down the road. They will be here within an hour."
