Chapter 3 - The Ghost of Blood Debts
Vittorio Rossi. The name was poison.
Rossi was a disgraced lieutenant exiled from the Five Families five years ago after Alessandro caught him running dirty narcotics through residential docks. Alessandro had spared his life out of respect for Rossi’s aging father, choosing banishment over a shallow grave in the Pine Barrens. It was a mercy Alessandro had sworn never to repeat.
""Rossi knew who she was,"" Luca analyzed, adjusting his spectacles as he stood by the door. ""He couldn't touch you directly behind your fortress on Fifth Avenue, so he spent years hunting your blind spot. He found Isabella living quietly under an assumed name in upstate New York.""
""He didn't just want her dead,"" Alessandro snarled, his eyes narrowing into cold daggers of black obsidian. ""He knew about the child. He knew that destroying them would hollow me out from the inside out.""
Max suddenly rested his heavy snout on Isabella’s forearm. A soft, breathless whimper drifted from the pillows.
Isabella’s eyelashes fluttered. Her lips, dry and cracked, parted weakly. ""...M-Max...?""
The dog let out a joyful, muffled snort, licking the tips of her fingers. Alessandro stepped into her line of sight, his shadow falling over her face.
Isabella turned her head with excruciating slowness. Her dark eyes, cloudy from anesthesia and shock, focused on the sharp contours of his face. A flicker of sheer terror ignited in her gaze, followed instantly by raw, maternal panic.
""Alessandro..."" she gasped, struggling against the monitoring wires. ""Sophia... where is Sophia?! Did they take her?!""
""Calm down,"" Alessandro said softly, placing a firm, stabilizing hand on her shoulder. ""She is in pediatric intensive care. The doctors repaired her artery. She lost a lot of blood, but she is stable. She’s sleeping.""
Tears spilled over Isabella’s temples, soaking into the white pillowcase. ""She was bleeding... so much blood in the car... I tried to stop it, but the doors were wedged...""
""The dog found me, Isabella,"" Alessandro said, his voice trembling with an emotion he hadn't allowed himself to feel in a decade. ""Max walked through four miles of concrete and glass with shredded paws to find me at Il Corvano. He saved your lives.""
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Isabella closed her eyes, weeping silently as she stroked the dog’s head. ""Good boy, Max... good boy.""
""Now tell me,"" Alessandro said, leaning down so his words were for her ears alone. ""The child. Sophia. Whose daughter is she, Isabella?""
