Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN HE ALMOST LOST
The ambulance arrived seven minutes later.
Dante rode beside Gemma, ignoring the frantic calls lighting up his phone.
She had sustained a serious wound beneath her left arm. The emergency team stabilized her, and surgeons prepared to treat the injury.
At Massachusetts General Hospital, Dante waited outside the operating room.
His charcoal suit was stained with blood.
Gemma's blood.
He stared at his hands.
Five years.
She had worked for him for five years.
She knew every weakness he tried to conceal.
And he had never asked whether she was happy.
Enzo arrived shortly after two.
“The Falcone family is demanding an explanation.”
Dante didn't look up.
“They can wait.”
“Bianca says this is a misunderstanding.”
Dante laughed without humor.
“Then she can explain why her mother attacked my assistant.”
Enzo went still.
“What?”
Dante showed him the photograph.
Enzo stared.
“That's impossible.”
“Apparently not.”
At three twenty, the surgeon emerged.
“Mr. Lombardi?”
Dante stood.
“Is she alive?”
“Yes. She's stable. She lost a significant amount of blood, but we were able to treat the injury.”
Dante closed his eyes.
For one moment, his knees almost failed him.
When Gemma woke, he was sitting beside her bed.
She blinked.
“Dante?”
He leaned forward.
“I'm here.”
Her eyes filled.
“You shouldn't be.”
He shook his head.
“Don't start.”
She tried to smile.
“You're supposed to be getting married.”
“Not anymore.”
Gemma stared.
“What?”
“I canceled it.”
Her expression crumpled.
“Dante, you can't.”
“I already did.”
“They'll retaliate.”
“Then we'll deal with it.”
She looked away.
“You don't understand what you've started.”
Dante took her hand.
“Then tell me.”
Gemma hesitated.
Finally, she whispered:
“Your brother didn't die in the fire.”
Dante felt his chest tighten.
“I know.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Her eyes met his.
“He was never supposed to die.”
Dante stared.
Gemma continued.
“The fire was staged.”
“By whom?”
She swallowed.
“Your father.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Dante's father, Vittorio Lombardi, had died six years earlier.
A feared man.
A brutal man.
But a man Dante had believed loved his sons.
Gemma closed her eyes.
“Luca discovered something. Something your father couldn't allow him to reveal.”
Dante's voice was barely audible.
“What?”
Gemma looked at him.
“Your family's fortune.”
May you like
She paused.
“It's built on money stolen from people who were supposed to be protected.”
