Chapter 11: The New Threat
The next four months passed in a blur of new routines and unexpected joy.
Lily started classes. Throwing herself into anatomy and pharmacology and patient care with an enthusiasm she hadn’t felt since before her mother got sick.
Sal had been right to worry. There were incidents. A car that followed her too closely. A man who asked too many questions. A threat spray-painted on her car.
But each time, Sal’s security detail handled it with ruthless efficiency.
And each time, Sal held her afterward. His hands shaking slightly with the fear he’d never fully voice.
“I can’t lose you,” he’d whisper in the dark. “I survived losing Maria because I had nothing left to lose. But you—you’re everything. If something happened to you, there wouldn’t be enough of me left to rebuild.”
“Then it’s a good thing I’m careful,” she’d tell him. “And well-protected. And stubborn enough to survive anything.”
But the real test came on a Tuesday in October.
She was leaving campus. Her backpack heavy with textbooks. Her mind preoccupied with an upcoming exam. The security detail—three men now, a compromise they’d reached—flanked her at a discreet distance.
A black sedan pulled up beside her.
Different from Sal’s cars. Wrong in ways she couldn’t articulate but felt in her bones. The window rolled down, and a man she didn’t recognize leaned out.
Young, maybe thirty. With cold eyes and a smile that made her skin crawl.
“Lily Morrison?” he asked. “Or should I say Lily Constantino? I hear that’s what the old man calls you now.”
Her guards moved immediately. Positioning themselves between her and the car.
But the man just laughed.
“Relax. I’m not here to hurt her. Just delivering a message.”
He pulled out a phone. Showed her the screen. A photograph of Sal leaving a restaurant downtown.
“Tell your man that the Italians aren’t happy about the Volkov situation. That he made enemies when he butchered Dmitri. That there’s a price on both your heads now.”
Terror lanced through her.
But she forced her voice steady.
“Tell them to come try. See what happens.”
“Oh, we will.”
His smile widened.
“But first, we wanted you to know. Wanted you to live with the fear. Wanted the old man to watch you looking over your shoulder, waiting for the bullet that could come any day. That’s the real punishment. Not death. The anticipation of it.”
The window rolled up.
The sedan pulled away.
Her lead guard—Marco, a former Navy SEAL who’d been with Sal for fifteen years—immediately had his phone out.
“Boss. We have a situation.”
Sal arrived at the campus within ten minutes.
His convoy of vehicles screeching to a halt in front of the library. He was out of the car before it fully stopped. His eyes wild. His face pale beneath his tan.
“Are you hurt?”
His hands ran over her. Checking for injuries. His breath coming fast.
“I’m fine, Sal. I’m fine. Just scared.”
“Who was it? What did they say?”
His voice had gone lethal. Cold in a way she rarely heard. Marco filled him in while Sal listened, his jaw clenching tighter with each word.
When Marco finished, Sal pulled her against him so hard it almost hurt.
“You’re done with school,” he said into her hair. “It’s not safe. I’ll hire private tutors. You can finish your degree from home. But you’re not coming back here where I can’t protect you.”
“No.”
She pushed back enough to look at him.
“No, Sal. That’s exactly what they want. They want me scared. Hiding. Controlled. I won’t give them that satisfaction.”
“Lily—”
“I mean it.”
She gripped his shirt. Forcing him to see the determination in her eyes.
“You can add more security. You can sweep the campus daily. You can do whatever you need to do to feel like I’m protected. But I’m not quitting school. I’m not letting them win.”
“You’re asking me to watch you walk into danger every day.”
His voice cracked.
“To send you out there, knowing there are men who want to hurt you because of me. Because loving me painted a target on your back.”
“Yes.”
She touched his face. Feeling him trembling beneath her hands.
“I’m asking you to trust me. To trust your men. To trust that we’re stronger together than they are apart.”
“I can’t lose you.”
It came out broken. Desperate.
“Lily, I can’t.”
“You won’t.”
She kissed him. Pouring every ounce of certainty she felt into it.
“But you have to let me live, Sal. Really live. Not just exist in a golden cage. That’s what love is. Not possession. Not protection at all costs. But trusting the person you love to make their own choices. Even when it terrifies you.”
He was silent for a long moment.
His forehead pressed against hers. His breathing ragged.
When he finally spoke, his voice was barely audible.
“You’re braver than I’ll ever be.”
“No. I just have something worth being brave for.”
