Chapter 16 - The Bullet Meant for a Child
The bullet entered beneath Clara’s ribs.
It missed her spine.
Missed her heart.
But damaged enough tissue that the surgeon refused to make promises.
Dominic sat outside the operating room covered in her blood.
No one asked him to change.
No one dared.
Mia slept against Matteo.
Gabriel sat beside Dominic.
Silent again.
But different.
The wall had broken.
Dominic looked at his son.
“You spoke.”
Gabriel stared at the floor.
Dominic touched his hand.
“She heard you.”
Gabriel nodded.
“You brought her back.”
His eyes filled.
Dominic pulled him close.
For two years he had wanted his son to speak.
Now he would have traded every word in the world for Clara to open her eyes.
Ethan arrived from protective custody despite doctors advising against it.
He saw Dominic.
Stopped.
“Is she alive?”
“Yes.”
“For now?”
Dominic looked away.
Ethan sat.
“She always does this.”
“What?”
“Throws herself into everyone else’s fire.”
He laughed bitterly.
“When Mom got sick, Clara skipped school. When Dad died, Clara worked two jobs. When I got leukemia, she quit nursing.”
Dominic listened.
“She thinks loving people means standing between them and pain.”
Ethan looked at him.
“Don’t let her spend the rest of her life doing that.”
Dominic swallowed.
“If she gets one.”
Ethan’s face tightened.
“She will.”
Hours passed.
Federal agents arrested Vincent.
Salvatore was located at a private airfield after Daniel gave investigators an emergency contact route.
He was arrested before boarding.
The network collapsed rapidly.
Politicians resigned.
Accounts were frozen.
Businesses seized.
Dominic barely cared.
At 4:13 a.m., the surgeon arrived.
Dominic stood.
“She made it through surgery.”
His knees nearly failed.
“But?”
“The next twenty-four hours are critical.”
“Can I see her?”
“One person.”
Ethan looked at Dominic.
“Go.”
Dominic entered the ICU.
Clara looked impossibly small beneath the hospital sheets.
The yellow coat was gone.
Cut open by paramedics.
Ruined.
Dominic sat beside her.
He took her hand.
“I hate that coat.”
No response.
“I hated it the first day.”
He rubbed his thumb across her fingers.
“It was too bright.”
His voice broke.
“Too cheerful for my house.”
He looked down.
“Then you walked in wearing it and my children remembered how to laugh.”
Tears fell.
Dominic Castellano rarely cried.
When Sofia died, he cried alone.
Now there was nobody to impress.
Nobody to fear.
“You were supposed to be temporary.”
He laughed quietly.
“Everyone was temporary.”
He looked at Clara.
“You weren’t.”
Machines beeped steadily.
“I don’t know when it happened.”
His voice became softer.
“Maybe when you told me I couldn’t buy your life.”
A faint smile.
“Maybe when you argued about pancakes.”
He shook his head.
“Maybe the first day.”
He leaned closer.
“I love you.”
The words hurt and healed him simultaneously.
“I should have said it before someone put a bullet through your coat.”
Her fingers moved.
Dominic froze.
“Clara?”
Nothing.
He leaned closer.
Her fingers moved again.
He pressed the nurse button.
Doctors entered.
Dominic stepped back.
Ten minutes later, Clara opened her eyes.
Barely.
Dominic stood beside her.
“Hey.”
She blinked.
Her voice came out rough.
“The twins?”
He laughed through tears.
“Of course that’s your first question.”
“Safe?”
“Yes.”
“Gabriel?”
Dominic smiled.
“He spoke.”
Clara’s eyes filled.
“I heard.”
“He won’t stop asking about you now.”
A tear slipped down her temple.
“Good.”
Dominic took her hand.
“Ethan is safe too.”
She relaxed.
Then remembered.
“Vincent?”
“Arrested.”
“Salvatore?”
“Arrested.”
“Daniel?”
“Arrested.”
“All?”
“Yes.”
She closed her eyes.
“It’s over.”
Dominic hesitated.
“The dangerous part is.”
She opened her eyes.
“What does that mean?”
“It means now I have to figure out what happens to me.”
She understood.
Federal charges.
Cooperation.
Testimony.
Everything he had agreed to before the shooting.
“Are you going away?”
“I don’t know.”
Clara looked frightened for the first time since waking.
Dominic smiled sadly.
“Hey.”
She stared at him.
“You saved my children.”
“They’re mine too.”
The words stopped him.
Clara realized what she had said.
Neither corrected it.
Dominic bent and kissed her forehead.
“Then I’ll do everything possible to come home to our children.”
Her eyes filled.
Our.
Outside the ICU, Gabriel sat with Mia.
He held a notebook.
On the page he had written a sentence.
Mia read it aloud.
“WHEN CLARA COMES HOME, WE NEED A BIGGER FAMILY TABLE.”
Gabriel smiled.
Mia looked at him.
“Do you want Daddy to marry her?”
Gabriel nodded.
“Me too.”
Matteo, overhearing, nearly laughed.
But before any wedding could happen, Dominic had one final battle ahead.
Not against Salvatore.
Against the law.
May you like
Against his own past.
And for the first time, he planned to face it without running, threatening, or buying his way free.
