Chapter 10 - A New Horizon
Three weeks later, the cold Chicago winter had settled firmly across the city, blanketing the streets in quiet white snow.
Mercy General had received a anonymous fifty-million-dollar endowment dedicated entirely to nursing staff wages and emergency wing expansions.
Federal agents had raided Julian Vance’s illicit pharmaceutical network from top to bottom, seizing every counterfeit batch and arresting seventy corrupt officials.
My modest apartment had been fully repaired, complete with a handcrafted mahogany door and private high-tech security sensors.
I sat at my kitchen table, sipping hot cinnamon tea while the snow fell gently past the windowpanes.
A quiet knock sounded at the door—not the frantic pounding of armed bodyguards, but three soft, respectful taps.
I opened the door to find Dante Russo standing in the hallway, wearing a charcoal wool overcoat and holding a single bouquet of winter orchids.
There were no two hundred black SUVs idling along the street this time; only a single car waiting discreetly at the corner.
He looked healthy, the paleness completely gone from his cheeks, and his posture was tall, proud, and commanding.
"Are you here for a bandage check, Mr. Russo?" I asked with a knowing smile, crossing my arms over my cardigan.
"The scar healed perfectly, Emma," Dante replied, stepping over the threshold and handing me the flowers.
"I'm here because I promised to pay my bill for hazardous duty."
He reached into his pocket and placed two plane tickets to the Amalfi Coast on the table beside my tea mug.
"My private hospital in Naples is opening a trauma department next month," Dante said softly, his eyes locking onto mine with unmistakable devotion.
"And I refuse to let anyone manage my life—or my heart—except the woman who held it together with needle and thread."
I looked at the tickets, then looked up into the eyes of the man who had brought an army to my doorstep to keep me safe.
May you like
"Pack your bags, Dante," I said with a broad, peaceful smile, taking his hand in mine.
"This time, I'm the one who decides where we go."
