I bite hard on the inside of my cheek, fighting the instinctual urge to recoil. “No.”
“Would you tell me if there was?”
“No.”
The doctor huffs out a soft, humorless laugh. “As expected. Though I fail to see how anyone here thinks they can do their job effectively by lying to me. I tend to keep those people off duty for much longer.”
“I don’t work around here.”
“Oh?” The doctor’s hand slides closer to the healing bullet wound on my back. “I wouldn’t be tending to you if you didn’t.”
I don’t reply. No need to give out unnecessary information.
Technically, I don’t work around here because my work for the Paramatti takes place outside the estate.
I’m just an enforcer working for a lieutenant who works for a general who works for Don Guido Paramatti. The trail is long and thus it’s nothing.
I do my work. I go home. That’s it.
“It’s a debt, that’s all.”
After pressing around my healing wounds, the doctor steps back and scribbles something down on the notepad near him. “A hefty debt, some might say. Taking a bullet for the Don’s only daughter is a significant act.”
“Anyone would have done the same. It’s what they’re paid for.” I’ve told myself that every night in the week since the shoot-out at the restaurant, when sleep escapes me and all I can think about is the panic on her tear-streaked face and the way her red hair cascaded down around her shoulders in sweeping waves.
It’s all I see.
Her terror-filled, wide green eyes. Her plump, red lips open in shock. Tears streaking her mascara down her face.
Every time I close my eyes, it’s all I see. The pain of being shot is an afterthought when compared to what I saw from her in that moment.
“Would they?” The doctor sucks on his teeth. “You’re healing well. Something you’re used to hearing, I’m sure. Continue taking the antibiotics and exercise with caution. If you’re experiencing any tightness, then one wrong move could rip your stitches. You’re lucky the bullet didn’t hit anything important.”
“They never do.”
The doctor chuckles. “Well, for a man who seems completely bored of this whole situation, you’re free to go, but you need to make a stop upstairs before you leave.”
I slide off the gurney and grab my black t-shirt from the chair. “Upstairs?”
“Mhm.” The doctor pulls off his gloves with a sharp snap. “The Don wants to see you.”
I’m in trouble.
I have to be.
Don Guido wouldn’t ever spare a thought for an enforcer like me unless I’d done something really terrible.
I saw him once after the shooting where he thanked me, in not so many words, for saving his daughter.
He told me I would receive the best care and that was it.
Situation resolved.
So why does he want to see me?
After leaving the medical wing inside the east wing of the Paramatti Estate, I take the giant central staircase up three floors to the Don’s office.
Not a single guard stops me, but they all watch me like a hawk while I ascend, and two follow me from the top of the staircase and down the corridor toward the gigantic double mahogany doors at the end.
