Dr. Salvatori’s lips twitched with amusement as he applied antibiotic ointment and wrapped her palm in clean, crisp white gauze with practiced efficiency.
“He’s very… protective,” he murmured to her, a hint of sympathy in his tone.
“Understatement of the year,” she muttered.
I ignored them both, my eyes never leaving the bandage as it slowly covered the offending cut.
When he finished, Dr. Salvatori gave Aurora a polite, reassuring smile. “Keep it dry for the next twenty-four hours. You’ll be good as new.”
“Thank you,” she said sweetly.
I nodded at the doctor. “Send the bill to Marco.”
Once Salvatori left, I lifted Aurora’s bandaged hand and pressed a lingering kiss just above the gauze. “No more knives.”
“You’re impossible,” she muttered, but her fingers curled gently around mine anyway.
I didn’t let go for the rest of breakfast.
Laterthatafternoon,Itook Aurora to the outskirts of the city.
The neighborhood was modest. Rows of small, worn houses with faded paint and tired roofs. I parked the black SUV myself and killed the engine. Aurora glanced at me curiously as we stepped out, but she didn’t ask questions. Not yet.
I led her to a pale blue house at the end of the block. Before I could knock, the door flew open.
Nonna Rosa stood there, small and fierce in her black widow’s dress, silver hair pulled into a tight bun. The moment she saw me, her wrinkled face split into a bright smile.
“Santino Moretti!” she exclaimed, reaching up with both hands to pinch my cheeks hard, just like she always did. “You get more handsome every time I see you. Come in, come in!”
Two small children, Gemma and Leone, came barreling out from behind her, launching themselves at my legs with loud squeals.
“Zio Santino! Zio Santino!” Leone yelled, trying to climb me like a tree. Gemma hugged my knee, refusing to let go.
I crouched down, ruffling Leone's hair and scooping Gemma up with one arm. “Hey, little warriors. You been behaving for Nonna?”
They both nodded eagerly. Behind them, the young woman I’d hired as their live-in nanny and the part-time nurse I’d brought in for Nonna Rosa greeted me warmly.
“Signore Moretti,” the nurse said with a respectful nod. “The new medication is helping her arthritis a lot.”
“Good,” I replied quietly. “Anything she needs, you call Marco.”
Aurora stood a few steps behind me, watching everything in silence.
I guided her inside the modest living room. Nonna Rosa insisted on making us coffee, shuffling around despite the nurse’s protests. While she was in the kitchen, I slipped a thick envelope into the old woman’s worn handbag on the table. Enough to cover the mortgage for the next two years and then some.
No cameras. No announcements. No one outside this house would ever know.
Aurora’s eyes followed my every move.
I asked Leone about the new soccer ball I’d sent last month. I asked Gemma about her drawings. When Nonna Rosa mentioned her latest doctor’s visit, I pulled out my phone and quietly arranged for a specialist to come see her at home next week. All of it done without fanfare.
Because this family was mine to carry.
Years ago, my brother Angelo had killed their parents in one of his reckless, bloodthirsty operations.
A deal gone wrong, the kind of collateral damage he never lost sleep over. I found out six months after he died. The guilt had eaten at me ever since. These kids had no one left except their frail grandmother. So I became their shadow protector. The monster who made sure the family his twin destroyed would never want for anything again.
We stayed for nearly an hour. Nonna Rosa pinched my cheeks again before we left and made Aurora promise to come back soon. The children hugged my legs and begged me to visit next week.
