Chapter 3 - THE ENVELOPE COVERED IN BLOOD
The paramedics arrived seven minutes later.
Raphael rode in the ambulance.
He ignored the calls flooding his phone.
Ignored the messages from Victor.
Ignored the frantic voice of his security chief asking what had happened.
He sat beside Nora while a paramedic monitored her breathing and blood pressure.
Every time the vehicle turned, Raphael watched her face.
She looked impossibly young.
Twenty-eight.
Two years working for him.
Two years sitting quietly at the end of his conference table, correcting mistakes that men twice her age were too proud to admit.
He had hired her because she was brilliant.
He had kept her because she was honest.
And somewhere along the way, he had begun looking for her whenever he entered a room.
He had never examined why.
Now, watching her struggle to breathe, he understood.
And the realization terrified him.
At St. Vincent's Hospital, doctors rushed Nora into emergency care.
Raphael remained in the corridor.
His black shirt was stained with her blood.
He hadn't noticed until a nurse offered him a towel.
“Sir, you should clean your hands.”
He looked down.
Red.
Everywhere.
For a moment, he remembered being twenty-three, kneeling beside his brother after their first violent encounter with a rival crew.
Luca had been bleeding from the shoulder.
Raphael had promised he would never let anything happen to him again.
Six years ago, he'd broken that promise.
Now Nora was fighting for her life because she'd discovered the truth.
Raphael looked at the envelope.
He hadn't opened it.
Not yet.
He wanted Nora safe first.
But when his phone vibrated again, he saw Victor's name.
VICTOR SALERNO — 14 MISSED CALLS
Raphael stared at the screen.
Then answered.
“Where are you?” Victor demanded.
Raphael's voice was flat.
“Busy.”
“I heard there was an incident at the penthouse.”
“Who told you?”
A pause.
“One of the guards.”
Raphael looked toward the emergency department doors.
“Interesting.”
Victor hesitated.
“Raphael?”
“Yes?”
“Did Nora Pell make it upstairs?”
Raphael went completely still.
He hadn't told Victor Nora had been injured.
He hadn't told anyone outside the penthouse.
Yet Victor knew she'd been trying to reach him.
Raphael closed his eyes.
And suddenly understood that Nora had been right.
He ended the call.
Then dialed his attorney.
“Daniel.”
“Raphael? It's almost four in the morning.”
“I need independent investigators.”
“For what?”
May you like
Raphael looked down at the bloodstained envelope.
“For my brother's murder.”
