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“Sit.” He pulled me into his arms. “If anyone deserves to be happy, it’s Enzo. And you know that.”
“Of course, I know that. I’m just feeling aimless lately.”
“You’re feeling lonely.” He hugged me tighter. “You know you’re extremely hot. Any guy would be happy to have you. Just pick one.” He gestured toward the door as if a bunch of eligible bachelors were waiting out in the corridor.
“I’m not interested in a relationship. You know that.” I laughed because this was so Santino. To him, the world was black and white. Do or don’t. Live or die. There was no in between. “I don’t want anyone. I think this past week just took a toll on me. Aurora and Enzo lost so much time. I feel…”
“Aimless.” Santino nodded.
“Yeah.” I pulled back to look at his handsome face. “It’ll pass. Thank you.”
“Anytime. I’m here for you, Donata. We all are.”
“I know.”
Having Rex, Santino, and Enzo in my life was like having three older brothers, all willing and able to kill for me. I supposed that was the point. I wasn’t a normal person. My life would never be normal. I couldn’t fall in love again. The guys had found their soul mates. But for how long? We were born into a mafia world where there was no room for relationships. It was why Santino didn’t care if he was having sex with his wife in a public room. He knew, sooner or later, their time together would be cut short. Loved ones always lost.
Being Dr. Salvatore was the closest I would ever get to being normal. I couldn’t ask for more. I reached inside the crew neck of my T-shirt and pulled the chain out until I had the ring in my hand. Every time I felt like something was missing in my life, I thought of Luca Gallo.
“You kept his ring?” Santino squinted at the diamond in my hand.
“Yeah. Is that weird?”
“Very weird. He’s been gone for a long time.”
“Two years.” I release a breath. Though Luca left me eight years ago, way before his entire family was wiped out by our enemies and an FBI agent gone rogue.
“Oh, is that it? You think he might come back from the dead too? Like Aurora did?”
“Of course not.” Yeah, I really did. Not a day had gone by where I didn’t think about Luca Gallo coming back into my life. But that couldn’t be. He was gone.
“Donata.” Santino put his finger under my chin and made me look at him.
I knew what he was going to say. I didn’t want to hear it. Luckily, before he even opened his mouth to give me the usual lecture, my phone buzzed. I glanced down at the screen and blew out a breath of relief. “ER.” I showed him my phone and rose to my feet. “New patient coming in with a shot to the belly. My specialty.”
“Fine. Go. But let’s meet for drinks later. Rex and I are hanging out at the school for a friendly football game. Want to join us?”
“Yeah, that sounds great. I’ll see you then.”
As soon as the door to the on-call room closed behind me and Santino disappeared down the hallway, I felt more like myself again. I had a life to save. I had a purpose. Smiling, I power-walked to the ER wing and headed straight for the entrance to meet the paramedics. When I reached the receiving area though, the place was empty. The ambulance had shown up, but no one had come out of it. Had they lost the patient already? I rushed to the vehicle and banged on the window three times.
“This is Dr. Salvatore. What’s the hold up?” I stood back to let the doors open.
After another beat, the doors swung open and three men in black ski masks jumped out. I’d trained for this all my life. But seeing them fly out of the back of an ambulance with a dying person in the middle of it threw me off, allowing them to grab me before I realized what was really happening.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I caught myself before my face hit the person lying under the bloody sheet. “You have to know you can’t get away with this.”
The doors slammed shut as the sirens blared again. We were moving. I took a deep breath to calm down. If this was a kidnapping, I had to find out what they wanted. It was the only way out. Panicking was a sure way to get a bullet in the gut. With a deep inhale, I glanced up to the two pairs of eyes glaring at me.
“What do you want?” I asked.
One of them answered in Russian. Fuck me. Why did it have to be Russians? Thanks to Rex, we had an amicable agreement with the Irish and the Mexican Cartels. But Russians were still our mortal enemies. Especially after the stunt they pulled with Aurora. Sure, they were working with one of our own, but they did it to help themselves. The Brotherhood could never be trusted.
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.” I met his gaze. “Speak English if you want my help.”
“We need a doctor.” He said with only a hint of a Russian accent. “We were told you were the best.”
I lifted my chin and did my best to hide my sigh of relief. They were not here for Donata, the mobster. They were here for the healer.
