Chapter 2 - he looked at me
Dante pushed his heavy armchair back in a single fluid motion, the leather creaking as he surged to his feet. His broad frame loomed over the side of the bed in an instant, his sharp blue eyes locked onto his brother's face.
"What?" Dante demanded, his voice dropping into a sharp, commanding rasp.
At the medication cart near the window, Nina Patel looked up sharply. Clad in clean medical scrubs underneath a warm knitted cardigan, Nina was calm, intelligent, and fiercely professional. She set down her syringe tray instantly, her alert eyes darting between the toddler and the monitoring equipment.
In the open doorway, Elina Ruiz froze completely. Dressed in her neat maid uniform with her dark brown hair pulled back, Elina stood holding a wicker basket of crisp folded linens. Terror flashed across her face as she saw her tiny daughter standing so close to the fearsome boss of the Moretti family. She opened her mouth to apologize, her hands gripping the basket so tightly her knuckles turned white.
Mia didn't flinch under Dante's intense gaze. She lowered her pointing finger from Matteo, tapped her own chest with a delicate hand, and then pointed right back at Matteo’s closed eyelids.
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"He looked at me," Mia said plainly, her bright eyes wide with honest conviction.
Dante’s chest expanded sharply as he drew in a heavy breath. The frighteningly calm demeanor he maintained to rule an empire cracked for a fraction of a second, revealing a raw, desperate hope beneath.
