Chapter 3 - The Man She Carried Through the FlamesMateo Rivas had learned years ago that pain came in layers.
There was the sharp pain that warned.
The dull pain that lingered.
And the quiet pain that meant something inside the body was beginning to fail.
The pain beneath his ribs had become quiet.
That worried him.
Kora seemed to know it too.
“Stay with me.”
“I’m here.”
“You’re fading.”
“I’m thinking.”
“Think louder.”
Gino returned with a black SUV.
Kora helped Mateo into the rear seat.
“Mercer Street Clinic,” Mateo said.
Gino looked back.
“That place closed.”
“Officially.”
Kora’s eyes narrowed.
Mateo almost smiled.
“Everyone has secrets, bride.”
“Don’t call me bride.”
“You were wearing white the last time I checked.”
She looked down at her destroyed gown.
“Technically.”
The clinic sat behind an abandoned pharmacy.
Gino knocked three times.
Paused.
Twice more.
A man opened the door.
He was in his sixties with silver hair and glasses.
His expression changed when he saw Mateo.
“Jesus.”
“Not tonight, Doctor.”
They carried Mateo inside.
Kora followed.
The doctor pointed toward the treatment room.
“Who is she?”
“The woman keeping him alive,” Gino said.
Kora immediately began giving a report.
“Penetrating trauma to the left lower thoracic region. Unknown fragment. Breathing shallow but bilateral. Pulse rapid. Pressure trending down.”
The doctor stared.
“You medical?”
“Was.”
“Then scrub.”
Mateo looked at Kora.
She hesitated.
Only for one second.
Then she moved.
For the next forty minutes, nobody called her a baker’s daughter.
Nobody called her heavy.
Nobody called her ordinary.
Dr. Elias Mercer called her “nurse.”
And Kora became someone else.
She cut away fabric.
Prepared medication.
Monitored Mateo’s blood pressure.
Held instruments.
Anticipated what Mercer needed before he requested it.
Mateo watched whenever consciousness allowed.
There was nothing clumsy about her.
Nothing uncertain.
Her hands were exact.
Her voice was calm.
Her fear had vanished.
When the fragment was finally removed, Mercer dropped it into a steel tray.
“Lucky.”
Mateo closed his eyes.
Kora looked at the fragment.
It was not wood.
It was metal.
Machined.
She picked it up.
Mercer looked at her.
“Leave it.”
“What is it?”
“Part of the explosive casing.”
Kora’s stomach tightened.
Mateo opened his eyes again.
“Bag it.”
Mercer sighed.
“Of course you’d say that.”
Gino placed the fragment into an evidence bag.
Mateo looked at Kora.
“You recognized the accelerant.”
“Yes.”
“You brought medical equipment to your wedding.”
“Yes.”
“You were prepared for something.”
Kora’s expression changed.
“I was prepared for trouble.”
“What kind?”
She removed her gloves.
“The kind that follows your family.”
Gino stiffened.
Mateo remained calm.
“My family?”
“And the Vales.”
“Explain.”
Kora looked toward the hallway.
“My mother died eighteen months ago.”
Mateo waited.
“The police said it was a car accident.”
“But?”
“But she called me forty minutes before she died.”
Kora’s voice softened.
“She told me she had discovered something involving Dominico Vale.”
Gino glanced at Mateo.
Kora continued.
“My mother handled accounting for several neighborhood businesses. One of those companies unknowingly processed invoices connected to Vale shell corporations.”
“What kind of invoices?”
“Medical equipment.”
Mateo frowned.
“Medical?”
“Trauma supplies. Pharmaceuticals. Blood products.”
Mercer stopped writing.
That got his attention.
Kora saw it.
“You know something.”
Mercer shook his head.
“No.”
“You reacted.”
Mateo spoke quietly.
“Elias.”
The doctor looked at him.
Mateo didn’t threaten.
He didn’t have to.
Mercer sighed.
“Four years ago several hospital shipments disappeared. Antibiotics. Surgical materials. Controlled medications.”
Kora stepped closer.
“My hospital?”
“Yes.”
Her face drained.
The termination.
The investigation.
It suddenly felt close again.
“I was accused of signing for missing narcotics.”
Mercer stared.
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
His silence answered before he did.
Mateo pushed himself higher despite the pain.
“Kora.”
She looked at him.
“Someone used you.”
Her eyes hardened.
“I know.”
“But you don’t know why.”
“No.”
Mateo looked at Gino.
“The chapel wasn’t only about killing me.”
Gino understood.
“You think Leo expected Kora to die too.”
Kora felt the room become colder.
Mateo’s eyes stayed on her.
“If you died beside me, every connection you had to the missing medical shipments disappeared.”
Kora shook her head.
“No.”
“It fits.”
“Leo didn’t know I was investigating.”
Mateo looked unconvinced.
“Are you sure?”
Kora thought about the last three months.
Leo’s sudden interest.
His proposal.
His insistence on marriage.
The suspicious speed with which Dominico had accepted her.
Harmless.
The girl is harmless.
Her stomach turned.
Mercer stepped closer.
“You should sit.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re pale.”
“I’m angry.”
“That isn’t medical treatment.”
“It’s working.”
Mateo almost smiled.
Then pain erased it.
Several hours later, when Mateo finally slept, Kora walked outside.
Dawn had begun staining the sky gray.
Her wedding dress was destroyed.
Smoke had settled into her hair.
Blood covered her hands.
She sat on the clinic steps.
For the first time all night, she allowed herself to tremble.
The door opened.
Gino stepped outside.
He handed her coffee.
She took it.
“Thank you.”
He sat beside her.
For a while neither spoke.
Then Gino said, “You saved him.”
Kora stared at the street.
“I did my job.”
“You haven’t worked in trauma for three years.”
“My hands remembered.”
Gino looked at her.
“Mateo won’t forget.”
She almost asked what that meant.
Instead, her phone vibrated.
One message.
Unknown number.
Kora opened it.
There was a photograph.
Her father.
Standing behind the counter at Bell & Daughter Bakery.
The image had clearly been taken moments earlier.
Underneath were six words.
YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN THE CHAPEL.
Kora stood so quickly the coffee fell from her hand.
Gino saw the screen.
His expression changed.
“What?”
“My father.”
Inside the clinic, Mateo opened his eyes.
May you like
And when Gino showed him the message, the wounded mafia boss said only one thing.
“Get the car.”
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