Chapter 3
Luca stared at him.
Then moved.
Together, they turned Gabriel onto his right side.
A violent shudder ran through his body.
He bit down hard enough to make the muscles in his jaw jump.
Nora inspected the shoulder wound.
Clean stitches.
Minimal redness.
Nothing that explained a fever over a hundred and three.
Then she moved lower.
Her fingers traveled along his back.
Thoracic spine.
Normal.
Lumbar region.
She stopped.
There.
Just above his waist, hidden inside a natural crease, was a line so fine she almost missed it.
Nora switched on her penlight.
“What?” Luca asked.
“Get me sterile saline.”
“What did you find?”
“Saline.”
He brought it.
Nora cleaned the area.
A thin layer of surgical adhesive dissolved.
Underneath was an incision barely two inches long.
Perfectly straight.
Perfectly sutured.
And hot enough that Nora could feel the infection through her glove.
Luca went completely still.
“What is that?”
Nora did not answer immediately.
She pressed gently around the wound.
Pus appeared between two sutures.
Gabriel made a low sound.
“Did anyone tell you they operated on your lower back?”
“No.”
“Did you sign consent for spinal surgery?”
His eyes met hers.
“No.”
Luca stepped closer.
His face had lost all color.
“Nora.”
She looked up.
“This man did not become paralyzed because someone shot him in the shoulder.”
The room seemed to contract around them.
Gabriel’s breathing changed.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying somebody opened your back after you were unconscious.”
Nora pointed toward the hidden incision.
“And whatever they did is badly infected.”
Gabriel stared at the wall.
For a few seconds, he said nothing.
Then his voice became terrifyingly calm.
“Vincent arranged the clinic.”
Luca’s head turned.
The private elevator chimed.
All three of them looked toward the hallway.
Footsteps approached.
Measured.
Unhurried.
Then Vincent Moretti entered the bedroom carrying a leather medical bag.
He was younger than Gabriel by six years and dressed as if midnight were a board meeting—charcoal suit, silver watch, immaculate shoes.
Two men followed him.
Vincent smiled.
It was a beautiful smile.
Warm enough for charity photographs.
Cold enough to make Nora’s stomach tighten.
“I heard we lost another nurse.”
His eyes found Nora.
They traveled slowly over her body.
His smile changed.
“Well,” he said. “Apparently not all of them.”
Nora stood between him and the bed.
Vincent raised an eyebrow.
“Who are you?”
“The person who found the second incision.”
Nobody moved.
Vincent’s smile remained.
Only his eyes changed.
That was enough.
Nora knew.
Not everything.
May you like
But enough.
Luca knew too.
