Chapter 2 - The Man Everyone Feared
The ambulance took eleven minutes.
Antonio experienced every one of them like an insult.
Sophie knew because he checked his watch six times.
His guards had cleared space around the table. Marco had moved customers away. Someone closed the restaurant doors.
Maria remained conscious, but barely.
Sophie kept her talking.
“What city were you born in?”
Maria gave her a weak look.
“You’re testing whether I’m confused.”
“Yes.”
“Very rude.”
“Answer anyway.”
Maria managed a faint smile.
“Naples.”
“Year?”
“Do not push your luck.”
Sophie smiled despite the fear crawling through her.
“Good.”
Antonio knelt on the other side.
“What should I do?”
The question stunned her.
Not because she lacked an answer.
Because Antonio Russo had asked it.
“Keep her still.”
He did.
No argument.
No hesitation.
Maria looked at him.
“Stop staring at me like that.”
“I’m not.”
“You have your father’s worried face.”
“I don’t have a worried face.”
“You do.”
Sophie almost laughed.
Then Maria’s pulse weakened again.
She stopped.
The doors opened.
Paramedics rushed in.
Sophie gave them everything she knew.
Two pills.
Possible interaction.
Brief dizziness.
Shallow breathing.
Slow pulse.
One paramedic looked at her.
“You medical?”
“Former nursing student.”
He nodded.
“Good catch.”
Antonio heard him.
Sophie saw that.
At the hospital, nobody asked Antonio to wait in the ordinary emergency room.
Sophie tried to leave.
She really did.
She had no reason to remain.
Maria was receiving medical care.
Antonio had people.
Powerful people.
Important people.
Sophie had a shift she had probably just lost and a subway card with seven dollars left on it.
She reached the hospital elevators.
“Sophie.”
Antonio’s voice stopped her.
She turned.
He stood ten feet away.
His jacket was unbuttoned now.
His tie slightly loosened.
For the first time, he looked human.
“Stay.”
“I don’t think—”
“Please.”
That word was different.
She stayed.
An hour later, a cardiologist came into the private waiting room.
“Mrs. Russo is stable.”
Antonio exhaled.
Sophie had not realized he had been holding his breath.
The doctor continued.
“Her heart rate dropped significantly. We believe medication interaction played a role.”
Sophie looked down.
Antonio looked at her.
“Which medications?”
The doctor named them.
Sophie knew both.
One was for blood pressure.
The other had recently been added for anxiety and sleep.
Together, especially at Maria’s age and dosage, they could cause serious problems.
Antonio’s face hardened.
“Who prescribed the second?”
“I’m reviewing that.”
“Review faster.”
“Mr. Russo.”
The doctor did not flinch.
“That is exactly what I’m doing.”
Antonio stepped back.
Sophie almost respected the doctor immediately.
Maria spent the night.
At two in the morning, Sophie finally stood.
“I should go.”
Antonio looked toward her.
He had been sitting near the window, phone untouched in his hand.
“I’ll have someone take you home.”
“No.”
“Sophie.”
“I take the subway.”
“At two in the morning?”
“I’ve done it before.”
“You won’t tonight.”
She crossed her arms.
“Is everything you say an order?”
“Yes.”
“Must be exhausting.”
One of the guards coughed.
It suspiciously resembled a hidden laugh.
Antonio looked at him.
The man became stone.
Sophie shook her head.
“You don’t need to arrange my life because I helped your mother.”
“I’m arranging transportation.”
“That’s how it starts.”
“How what starts?”
“You deciding you’re responsible for everything around you.”
He looked at her carefully.
“You’ve known me three hours.”
“I’ve observed you for three hours.”
“That qualifies you?”
“Apparently.”
He should have been offended.
Instead, his mouth twitched.
“Carlo.”
One guard stepped forward.
“Drive Sophie home.”
Sophie opened her mouth.
Antonio raised his hand.
She pointed at him.
“Don’t do that.”
His hand stopped.
“Do what?”
“The thing where everyone becomes silent because you lifted one finger.”
Carlo looked down at the floor.
Antonio stared at Sophie.
Then lowered his hand.
“Would you allow Carlo to drive you home?”
She considered.
“You’re learning.”
His eyes darkened with amusement.
Dangerous amusement.
“Good night, Sophie.”
The next morning, Marco fired her.
Not officially.
Officially, he “temporarily removed her from the schedule pending review.”
Same thing.
“You abandoned your section.”
“An elderly woman collapsed.”
“You sat with a guest.”
“She asked me.”
“You became personally involved with customers.”
“She needed medication.”
Marco leaned across his tiny office desk.
“You don’t understand what kind of place this is.”
“I understand perfectly.”
“No, you don’t.”
His voice dropped.
“People pay for discretion here. They pay not to have waitresses insert themselves into private matters.”
Sophie stared at him.
“I stopped a woman from being seriously hurt.”
Marco’s face tightened.
“And now Antonio Russo knows your name.”
There it was.
Not discipline.
Fear.
“You’re scared.”
“You should be.”
“Why?”
Marco looked toward the closed office door.
“Because being noticed by men like him never ends well.”
Sophie picked up her bag.
“You sound like you know from experience.”
Marco’s eyes snapped toward hers.
Too quickly.
For half a second, something passed across his face.
Not fear of Antonio.
Something else.
Sophie noticed.
Then it disappeared.
“Get out.”
She left.
Two days passed.
Maria called on the third.
Sophie was working her second job at a neighborhood bakery.
Her phone buzzed during break.
Unknown number.
“Hello?”
“Sophie?”
She smiled despite herself.
“Maria?”
“You sound surprised.”
“I am.”
“My son believes I should rest.”
“He’s probably right.”
“He is unbearable when he is right.”
Sophie laughed.
Maria lowered her voice.
“Do not tell him I said that.”
“I assume he already knows.”
“Good girl.”
Sophie leaned against the alley wall behind the bakery.
Cold wind lifted loose strands of hair around her face.
“How are you feeling?”
“Better.”
“Any dizziness?”
“A little.”
Sophie stopped smiling.
“How much?”
“Enough that Antonio watches me walk across rooms.”
“When?”
“This morning.”
“Before or after your medication?”
Silence.
Maria answered carefully.
“After.”
Sophie straightened.
“What are you taking now?”
“The hospital changed several things.”
“Do you have the bottles?”
“Yes.”
“Can you read the labels?”
Maria laughed.
“I may be old, Sophie, but I remain literate.”
“I know. Humor me.”
Maria read them.
Three medications.
Sophie frowned.
The dangerous combination was gone.
Good.
But one dosage sounded high.
Too high.
“Maria, who organizes your pills?”
“My nurse.”
“You have a home nurse?”
“Part time.”
“Name?”
“Lena.”
“How long?”
“Six months.”
Sophie thought.
“Do you trust her?”
Maria did not answer immediately.
That was answer enough.
That evening, Antonio appeared outside the bakery.
He did not enter.
He waited beside a black sedan.
Of course he did.
Sophie finished her shift and walked out with flour on one sleeve.
“You have got to be kidding.”
Antonio looked at the bakery sign.
“You work here?”
“Some of us have rent.”
His expression changed.
He had not considered that.
“What happened at Bellarosa?”
“Marco removed me from the schedule.”
“Why?”
“You.”
His jaw tightened.
“Explain.”
“He thinks being noticed by you is dangerous.”
“That’s not an explanation.”
“It is to him.”
Antonio opened the car door.
“Get in.”
“No.”
“Sophie.”
“We already covered this.”
He looked at her.
“Would you please get into the car?”
“Why?”
“My mother wants to see you.”
“That’s different.”
She got in.
Antonio stared at her.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re annoyed because Maria outranks you.”
“No one outranks me.”
Sophie smiled.
“Sure.”
At the Russo residence in Bay Ridge, Maria was waiting in a sitting room overlooking the water.
Sophie expected vulgar wealth.
Gold everywhere.
Marble.
Statues.
Instead, the house felt old.
Dark wood.
Books.
Family photographs.
Real paintings.
Maria held out her hands.
“There she is.”
Sophie hugged her gently.
Antonio noticed that too.
“Show me the medications.”
Maria rolled her eyes.
“I knew this visit had conditions.”
Sophie examined the bottles.
Then the organizer.
Something was wrong.
The dosage printed on one bottle did not match the tablet placed in the evening compartment.
Sophie turned it over.
Different imprint.
Different strength.
Her pulse jumped.
“Who filled this organizer?”
Maria’s expression changed.
“Lena.”
“When?”
“This afternoon.”
Sophie looked at Antonio.
He understood immediately.
“What?”
She held up the tablet.
“This isn’t the dosage on the label.”
Antonio took one step toward her.
“How certain are you?”
“Very.”
Maria went still.
Antonio’s face emptied of expression.
That was worse than anger.
Sophie quickly added, “It could be a mistake.”
Antonio looked toward one of his security men.
“Find Lena.”
Sophie stepped in front of him.
“Wait.”
His eyes sharpened.
“Why?”
“Because if this was deliberate and she realizes you know, whoever else is involved gets warned.”
Antonio stared.
“Who said anyone else is involved?”
Sophie looked at Maria.
Then the pill.
“One medication error sent her to the hospital.”
She held up the wrong tablet.
“Another happened three days later.”
The room became very quiet.
Sophie lowered her voice.
“Once can be an accident.”
Antonio’s gaze darkened.
“Twice?”
May you like
Sophie looked directly at him.
“Twice is a pattern.”
