Chapter 2 - Eleven Days to Save Noah
By sunrise, the Valenti estate no longer felt like a mansion.
It felt like a fortress under siege.
Elena had slept exactly forty-three minutes on a sofa outside Nico’s room.
She woke to Gabriel placing coffee on the table beside her.
“Drink.”
She sat up.
“Is that an order?”
“A survival recommendation.”
She took it.
“Any word on the technician?”
“Alive.”
“Good.”
“But he won’t come back.”
“I don’t blame him.”
Gabriel sat opposite her.
“You should leave.”
Elena looked at him.
“Interesting recruitment strategy.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
“Whoever targeted that technician may know about you now.”
Elena took a sip.
“Then find whoever it is.”
“That could take time.”
“I don’t have time.”
Gabriel studied her.
“Your brother.”
She said nothing.
“You really won’t take Nico’s money?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because money from dangerous men usually comes with invisible strings.”
Gabriel gave a humorless smile.
“You’re smarter than most people who enter this house.”
“No. I’m poorer.”
He frowned.
“When you don’t have much, you learn exactly what everything costs.”
Before Gabriel could answer, the bedroom door opened.
Nico stood there.
Elena nearly dropped her coffee.
He was supposed to remain in bed.
Instead, he was standing with crutches, pale with effort.
“What are you doing?”
“Walking.”
“You have a fractured femur.”
“I noticed.”
“Back to bed.”
Gabriel looked away.
Possibly to hide amusement.
Nico’s stare could have frozen fire.
“You’re giving me orders in my house?”
“Yes.”
“Stop.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“Nico.”
Gabriel coughed.
Both turned toward him.
“I’ll leave.”
“Coward,” Elena muttered.
Gabriel actually smiled this time.
Then left.
Nico took another step.
His injured leg buckled.
Elena moved instantly.
She caught him around the torso.
For one second, they were pressed together.
His breath caught.
So did hers.
Not romance.
Not yet.
Something stranger.
Recognition.
Both were exhausted.
Both were stubborn.
Both hated needing anyone.
Elena helped him sit.
“You could have reopened the wound.”
“I need to move.”
“You need to heal.”
“I have responsibilities.”
“So do I.”
Nico looked at her.
“Noah?”
She stiffened.
“Yes.”
“What happens if you don’t get the money?”
Elena looked away.
“They give the place to another child.”
Nico’s voice softened unexpectedly.
“How old is he?”
“Thirteen.”
“Parents?”
“Gone.”
He waited.
Elena offered nothing else.
Eventually he asked, “How long have you been raising him?”
“Since he was six.”
Something in Nico’s expression shifted.
“Seven years.”
“Yes.”
“You were what? Twenty-four?”
“Twenty-three.”
“And you became his guardian?”
“There wasn’t anyone else.”
Nico looked at her taped shoe again.
Suddenly the cheap scrubs, exhausted eyes and battered canvas bag told a different story.
She hadn’t failed at life.
She had spent hers keeping someone else alive.
Nico understood sacrifice.
Perhaps too well.
Before he could respond, Gabriel entered.
“We found something.”
He held a medication vial inside an evidence bag.
Elena immediately stood.
“What?”
“From the cabinet.”
She examined the label.
Correct antibiotic.
Correct concentration.
Then she turned it.
A tiny puncture marked the rubber seal.
“This has been tampered with.”
Nico became very still.
Elena looked at Gabriel.
“Get every medication out of this room.”
“Already happening.”
“And nobody touches replacements except me.”
Nico watched her.
“You’re assuming you’ll still be here.”
Elena looked back.
“You planning to fire me?”
A beat.
“No.”
It was the first time Nico Valenti had ever answered that question so quickly.
But none of them understood what that answer meant yet.
Because downstairs, one of Nico’s oldest employees was deleting security footage.
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And across Bellhaven, a stranger had just entered the children’s hospital and asked a receptionist a simple question:
“What room is Noah Hart in?”
