Chapter Six: The Brother’s Widow
Dominic ordered the room cleared.
Elena refused to leave.
He looked at her.
She looked back.
The nurse left first.
The guard second.
Bianca remained near the door, one hand on her pearl necklace.
Dominic’s voice was quiet.
“Repeat it.”
Bianca lifted her chin.
“You need rest.”
“Repeat it.”
Elena had heard men threaten before.
In alleys.
In emergency rooms.
In court testimony.
Dominic did not threaten.
He emptied the air of alternatives.
Bianca’s confidence cracked.
“I misspoke.”
“No.”
Elena stepped forward.
“You remembered.”
Bianca’s eyes cut to her.
“You think you’re clever.”
“I think you’re afraid.”
“I am a Moretti.”
“You married one.”
Bianca slapped her.
The sound was sharp.
Dominic surged up.
Pain folded him in half.
Elena did not touch her cheek.
She tasted blood.
Then she smiled.
Small.
Cold.
“Thank you.”
Bianca blinked.
Elena turned toward the ceiling camera.
“Security will want that.”
Dominic’s mouth curved despite the pain.
Bianca’s face drained.
“You manipulative little—”
“Careful,” Elena said.
“My cheek is recording too.”
Dominic laughed once.
It became a cough.
Blood touched his lip.
Elena moved immediately.
“Enough.”
Bianca backed toward the door.
Dominic wiped his mouth.
“Matteo gave the order?”
She said nothing.
His eyes sharpened.
“Bianca.”
The name was soft.
Deadly.
She looked at him then.
Not with fear.
With hatred.
“You were supposed to inherit nothing.”
Dominic’s face closed.
“Matteo was the heir. I was the spare. I know.”
“You were worse.”
Her voice broke.
“Everyone followed you. Even wounded. Even young. Even when Matteo had the title, men watched you.”
Elena saw the shape of it now.
Power.
Jealousy.
Inheritance.
Bloodlines.
The old gods of rotten families.
Bianca’s gaze swung to Elena.
“And then he loved her.”
Dominic said nothing.
That silence was confession.
Bianca stepped closer.
“Matteo said love made men stupid. He was right.”
Elena’s cheek burned.
She did not move.
Bianca pointed at Dominic.
“You took a bullet for her. You crawled back begging him to protect her.”
Elena looked at Dominic.
He looked down.
There it was.
The wound beneath the wound.
Bianca continued.
“He made you leave. I watched him do it. I watched him tell you she would be safer thinking you were dead.”
Dominic’s hands curled in the sheet.
“And later?”
Bianca’s lips parted.
Too late.
Elena caught it.
“What happened later?”
Dominic looked up.
Bianca stepped back.
Elena took one step forward.
“You said Matteo should have killed me.”
Bianca’s eyes darted to the door.
“Meaning he tried.”
Dominic whispered one word.
“No.”
Elena looked at him.
“You didn’t know.”
He shook his head.
Once.
A man stripped to bone.
Bianca laughed bitterly.
“Of course he didn’t. Matteo kept his failures private.”
Elena’s stomach turned.
“The car that hit me in Boston.”
Dominic’s eyes snapped to hers.
“What car?”
“My second year of residency.”
Her voice stayed flat.
“I was crossing after a night shift. A black sedan jumped the curb.”
Dominic looked at Bianca.
All color left his face.
Bianca smiled.
“He missed.”
The room became violence waiting for permission.
Elena stepped between them.
Not to protect Bianca.
To stop Dominic from tearing himself open.
“You will not move.”
Dominic’s voice was barely human.
“Elena.”
“You will not move.”
For a moment, she thought he would ignore her.
Then his body failed him.
He sank back.
Shaking.
Bianca used the moment.
She ran.
The guard outside shouted.
Footsteps collided.
A gun discharged.
Elena reached the hallway in time to see Bianca dragged back by security.
Her pearls had snapped.
White beads scattered across the floor like teeth.
At the far end of the corridor, Nico stood in his hospital pajamas.
Barefoot.
Holding Bruno.
His eyes were wide.
“Papa?”
Dominic tried to stand again.
Elena caught him.
Nico looked at Bianca.
Then at Elena’s bleeding cheek.
Then at Dominic’s bandages.
The child understood too much.
And said nothing at all.
