Chapter 3 - The Price of ProtectionBefore Dominic could answer, the heavy double doors of the recovery suite swung open.
Isabella Rossi walked in, flanked by two armed guards who remained in the hallway. When she saw my eyes open, a radiant, tearful smile touched her lips.
"Thank God," Isabella whispered, rushing to the opposite side of the bed, taking my left hand into her soft, warm palms. "The doctors said if you made it through the third night, the worst had passed."
"Mrs... Rossi..." I managed, struggling to sit up before a sharp pain tore through my side, forcing a gasp from my lips.
"Stay down, child," Isabella instructed gently, pressing my shoulder back against the pillows. "You took seven bullets meant for me. You saved my life."
I looked between the elegant silver-haired woman and the imposing crime boss standing beside her. "The glass... the shooter... what happened?"
Dominic stood up, walking toward the window that overlooked the Manhattan skyline. His posture was rigid, radiating a dangerous, heavy authority that filled every corner of the room.
"The man who ordered the hit on my mother is named Victor Costa," Dominic explained, his voice flat and cold as granite. "When you threw yourself over my mother, you ruined his operation. By morning, Costa’s men discovered you survived the emergency surgery."
He turned back to face me, his gray eyes piercing straight through my confusion.
"In our world, Clara, a witness who humiliate a Don cannot be allowed to live. Within four hours of your surgery, Costa put a half-million-dollar bounty on your head to ensure you never spoke to federal prosecutors or identified his shooter."
My stomach plummeted into an icy abyss. "A bounty... on me? I'm just a waitress... I don't know anything!"
"They don't care what you know," Isabella spoke softly, squeezing my hand. "They only care that you exist."
"So... the ring?" I asked, looking up at Dominic, my voice trembling. "What did you do?"
"I married you," Dominic revealed deadpan. "Under the laws of the five families and the state of New York, you are officially Clara Rossi. As the Don's wife, any attack against you is an automatic declaration of full-scale war against the entire Rossi Syndicate."
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I stared at him in absolute, horror-struck silence. "You... you married an unconscious woman in an ICU?!"
"I saved your life," Dominic corrected cleanly. "And as long as you wear that ring, nobody in this city can touch you without stepping over my corpse."
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