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He gives a soft laugh and gently sinks the needle back into Alina’s skin. The sight of it makes me queasy in a way that torturing men never has.
“No, I’ve just learned a lot in my unique profession.”
“Sewing up bad guys?”
He surprises me by gently squeezing Alina’s hand as he holds it steady. “You know as well as I do that things are rarely black and white, and I’m not sewing up a bad guy now. I’m helping a woman who’s seen more pain than any one person should ever have to face.”
“If I have anything to say about it, she won’t ever experience pain again.”
He’s quiet when he gets to the more difficult cut on her inner wrist, and after several tense minutes where I hardly breathe, he sighs and says, “She’s very lucky she didn’t cut any deeper.”
Eyeing his work, he checks everything until he’s satisfied and then starts covering it all in an antibiotic ointment. Alina’s wrist is swollen,red, and covered in lines of black stitches. The viper tattoo that was once there has been so badly disfigured that it’s unrecognizable, which I guess was her goal all along. I brush a strand of her dark hair off her face and kiss her cheek while the doctor bandages her wrist.
“I love you, baby,” I whisper in her ear, hoping she can hear me.
When her wrist is wrapped, he walks to a cabinet and comes back with a bottle of pills. He hands them to me. “For the pain, and she needs to baby that wrist while it heals. Keep it wrapped up, check for infection daily, and don’t get it wet for a few days.”
“I’ll take care of everything.”
“How’s her eating? She’s still too thin.”
“She’s doing better.” I run my thumb over the back of her uninjured hand before resting it on the smooth skin of her inner wrist, needing to feel her pulse beneath my fingers. “Eating is hard for her, but we’ve found a way that works.”
He doesn’t press for details, and when he starts to gather up his supplies, I can’t help but ask, “How did you start working for the Alessi family?”
Tossing the bloody bandages in the garbage, he says, “I lived in an area of Italy that was run by the Milano family. I was very young at the time, but I’d already earned a reputation as a good doctor and been given a position at the best hospital in the city. My wife—” he cuts himself off and the pained look that comes to his eyes has me holding up a hand.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.” I hate questions about myself, and I usually never ask them of others, but it’s unusual to meet someone in this line of work who seems like a genuinely kind person, and I can’t help but be curious as to how Dr. Bianchi came to work for a family whose hands are constantly covered in the blood of others.
“It’s okay,” he says, scrubbing a hand over his jaw. “My wife was walking home from the market when she was hit by a car. The driver didn’t even stop to see if she was okay, but everyone knew who it was. Dante Milano, the son of Don Milano, drove a very unique car, and there were several witnesses who saw the vintage Ferrari hit my wife.No one would say anything, of course, and I knew that the man would never pay for his crime.” His brown eyes meet mine. “He took everything from me, and I knew he’d never suffer for it. I doubt he even gave my wife a second thought after he ran her over.
“The police tried to tell me she died quickly.” He gives a harsh laugh. “I saw the report, though, and I know exactly how much she suffered as she lay on the hard street, choking on her own blood. I wanted to kill Dante, but it was impossible. He was too protected. Hell, his family owned the entire police force. There was nothing I could do, and it was driving me crazy. I’m guessing you know what that feels like.”
“I do.”
“And you know what it feels like to want revenge so badly you’d sell your fucking soul for it?”
I meet his dark eyes and feel Alina’s steady pulse beneath my fingers. “I do.”
“Then you’ll understand when I say I went to Antonio Alessi, the rival mafia family, and begged him for his help. I promised to work for him for the rest of my life if he could get me the revenge I needed.”
He gives a small shrug. “He agreed, and I’ve been with them ever since.”
“Do you regret it?”
The smile he gives me is as cold as any I’ve seen on hardened criminals. “Never. Antonio didn’t kill him for me. He tied him up and gave him to me, and I made sure his death was slow and painful.” Pulling himself from the memory, he adds, “After that Antonio and his men ended the Milano family and took over. I’m not blind to what the Alessi family does, but Antonio is a fair man, and when Dominic takes over, I’ll be proud to call that man my boss. Even as a child, he was whip-smart and fearless.”
“He’s a good man,” I agree.
“I don’t suppose I can convince you to step away long enough for a shower.”
“I’m not leaving her.”
He sighs, but I can tell he’s not surprised at my answer. He motions towards the sink in the corner and grabs a towel before handing it to me. “At least use the sink to scrub off her dried blood. She doesn’t need to see that when she wakes up.”
I look down at my chest, knowing he’s right, but I still hesitate to release my hand from hers.
“She’s going to be asleep for a few hours,” he reminds me. “And the sink is five feet away.”
