The Mafia Boss’s Debt

PART 3 — THE DEBT HE COULDN’T REPAY

I refused to enter Dante’s SUV.

Instead, I crossed my arms and stared at him.

“If you want my cooperation, you’ll answer my questions.”

His bodyguard, Vincent, looked ready to drag me away.

Dante raised one hand.

“Leave us.”

“Boss—”

“Now.”

Vincent stepped back.

Dante turned toward me.

“Ask.”

“Why did someone shoot you?”

“Business disagreement.”

“That’s not an answer.”

A faint smile touched his lips.

“You’re a difficult woman.”

“And you’re a difficult patient.”

He almost laughed, but the movement pulled at his stitches.

I pointed at his chest.

“Don’t laugh. You’ll reopen your wounds.”

His expression changed.

For a few seconds, he simply watched me.

Then he said quietly, “My uncle, Lorenzo Moretti, wants control of my organization. He believes killing me will give him everything.”

“And you think he’ll come after me?”

“I know he already has.”

My stomach dropped.

Dante opened the SUV door.

“Come with me. You’ll stay in my guest residence until we find the person responsible. Your salary will continue, and you can return to work once it’s safe.”

“I don’t need your charity.”

“It’s not charity. It’s protection.”

I looked toward the hospital entrance.

I had worked for years to build my career. I had no intention of becoming another helpless woman in a rich man’s mansion.

“Three conditions,” I finally said.

Dante raised an eyebrow.

“Go on.”

“First, I keep my job. Second, nobody touches my belongings without permission. Third, you don’t give me orders about my personal life.”

He considered my demands.

“Agreed.”

I narrowed my eyes.

“Just like that?”

“Don’t make me regret it.”

I climbed into the SUV.

The Moretti estate was unlike anything I had imagined.

A massive stone mansion stood behind iron gates, surrounded by gardens, security cameras, and armed guards.

A woman in her sixties greeted us at the entrance.

“Mr. Moretti, you’re home. And who’s this?”

“Emma Carter. She’ll be staying here.”

The woman’s eyes widened.

“The nurse?”

Dante nodded.

The woman smiled warmly at me.

“I’m Maria. Don’t mind the men around here. They were raised to believe every problem can be solved with a gun.”

“Maria,” Dante warned.

She laughed.

“See? No sense of humor.”

For the first time since the previous night, I almost smiled.

Maria showed me to a beautiful guest suite overlooking the garden.

But before she left, she turned serious.

“Miss Carter, there’s something you should know. Mr. Moretti hasn’t allowed anyone outside his family to stay in this house for years.”

“Why are you telling me?”

She glanced toward the hallway.

“Because I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looked at you.”

I dismissed her words.

Dante Moretti was a dangerous criminal, not a romantic hero.

I was here because someone wanted me dead.

That evening, while I was unpacking, I heard an argument downstairs.

“You’re making a mistake!” a man’s voice shouted.

I stepped into the hallway.

Through the partially open study door, I saw Dante standing behind his desk.

An older man in an expensive gray suit was pointing angrily at him.

“You’ve lost your mind, Dante! You’re risking the entire family for a nurse!”

Dante’s voice was ice-cold.

“Her name is Emma.”

The older man laughed bitterly.

“Your uncle will destroy you. And when he does, that woman will be the first casualty.”

Dante stepped around his desk.

“Then perhaps you should pray I find him first.”

The older man stormed out.

As he passed me, his eyes briefly met mine.

There was something unsettling in his expression.

I returned to my room, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had seen him before.

Then my phone vibrated.

An unknown number had sent me a message.

Emma, you don’t know who you’re living with. Ask Dante what happened to his first wife.

A second message appeared.

It contained a photograph.

Dante stood beside a beautiful blonde woman in a wedding dress.

On the back of the photograph was a handwritten date from five years earlier.

And beneath it, four chilling words:

SHE DIED BECAUSE OF HIM.

I stared at the screen, my heart pounding.

At that exact moment, someone knocked on my door.

It was Dante.

His expression was unusually serious.

“Emma, we need to talk.”

I slowly hid my phone behind my back.

“About your first wife?”

His face went completely still.

For the first time since I had met him, the powerful mafia boss looked afraid.

“Who told you about Isabella?”