Chapter 5 - The Orders of the Boss
The door to Suite 402 flew open a fraction of a second later, as if Marco Dayne had been standing directly on the other side waiting for the exact frequency of Luca’s voice.
Marco stepped into the room, his eyes darting immediately to the bed. When he saw Luca sitting partially upright, breathing on his own with his dark eyes fully conscious and blazing with lethal intent, the syndicate lieutenant stopped dead in his tracks.
For a man who rarely showed emotion, Marco looked as though he had just witnessed a resurrection.
“Boss,” Marco breathed, stepping forward and placing both hands firmly on the metal foot of the bed. “You’re back.”
Luca didn't look at Marco immediately. His gaze remained fixed on Tessa, who was standing beside the IV pole, her hand resting near the chart. Only after another long moment did Luca slowly turn his head toward his lieutenant.
“The leak,” Luca rasped out, his voice scraping like sandpaper over glass.
“Contained,” Marco reported instantly, snapping into professional command mode. “The floor is sealed. We have our own men at every elevator, stairwell, and service exit. The staff is vetted. Anyone who doesn't belong here has been removed or detained in the basement.”
“The doctor,” Luca whispered, his jaw tightening so hard the muscles jumped. “The one with the syringe.”
“Gone,” Marco admitted, a dark, dangerous shadow crossing his face. “He used a clean ID belonging to a resident currently on maternity leave. But we have his face from the security feeds. He won't see tomorrow.”
“No,” Luca said, his voice dropping an octave, carrying an absolute, chilling authority that made Tessa’s skin prickle. “Bring him to me. Alive.”
“Understood,” Marco nodded without hesitation.
Luca turned his head back toward Tessa. The intensity of his gaze was suffocating. Even exhausted, freshly extubated, and recovering from major trauma, he possessed a gravitational pull that commanded the entire room.
“You,” Luca said to her.
“Tessa Ward,” she repeated, holding her ground. “And for the record, Mr. Vesceri, I’m your nurse, not your subordinate. If you try to pull out those IV lines or refuse your pulmonary exercises, I will sedate you myself and strap your arms to the bed rails. Understand?”
Marco sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth, clearly expecting Luca to explode with rage. Nobody spoke to Luca Vesceri that way—not capos, not politicians, not even his own brothers.
Instead, a faint, ghost-like shadow of a smile touched the corners of Luca’s bruised lips. It didn't reach his eyes, but it was there—a fleeting acknowledgment of sheer, unadulterated grit.
“You saved my life,” Luca whispered, ignoring her threat entirely.
“That’s my job.”
“That was more than a job.” Luca shifted slightly, wincing as his abdominal muscles strained against the stitches. He looked back at Marco. “Listen to me, Dayne. I want a full security detail assigned exclusively to Miss Ward. Twenty-four hours a day. Nobody gets within ten feet of her without my direct sign-off. If anything happens to her while I’m breathing, I hold every single one of you responsible.”
Marco nodded solemnly. “Already on it, Boss. I’ve got two of our best men stationed outside her apartment in Federal Hill, and another pair parked downstairs in the ambulance bay.”
Tessa’s eyes flashed with immediate irritation. She stepped forward, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Wait a minute. Hold on. Nobody asked for a security detail!”
“You don't have to ask,” Luca said, his voice hard as iron. “You kept me breathing when half the hospital was trying to kill me. That makes you a target. In my world, targets don't walk around unprotected.”
“I am not in your world, Mr. Vesceri!” Tessa fired back, her professional detachment completely shattering under the weight of her frustration. “I live in the real world! I have an apartment, a job, a normal life! I can't have mobsters sitting in my living room and tailing me to the grocery store!”
“Your normal life ended at 11:18 p.m. last night when someone tried to poison me in this room,” Luca retorted, his voice rising, carrying a razor-sharp edge that brook no argument. “You chose to stand between me and a killer. You made yourself part of this whether you wanted to or not.”
Tessa opened her mouth to argue further, but the sheer unyielding logic in his words hit her like a physical blow.
He was right.
The false physician had seen her face. He had grabbed her wrist. He knew she was the reason Luca Vesceri was currently sitting up in bed instead of lying on an autopsy table. Even if she walked out of this hospital right now and never came back, the shadow of the Vesceri syndicate had already claimed her.
Tessa let out a long, defeated breath, dropping her arms to her sides. The anger drained out of her, leaving behind a cold, stark realization.
“Fine,” she muttered bitterly. “But if one of your guys tracks mud across my hardwood floors, I’m billing you for the cleaning.”
Marco let out a sudden, unexpected bark of laughter, quickly coughing to cover it as Luca shot him a warning glare.
May you like
“Dismissed, Dayne,” Luca commanded quietly, never breaking eye contact with Tessa.
Marco gave a sharp nod and slipped out of the room, closing the door behind him and leaving the two of them alone once more in the quiet, sunlit space of Suite 402.
