"She was supposed to be invisible, but after taking a wall of shattered glass meant for Dante Moretti’s son, the most feared man in Chicago looked into her eyes and quietly said, “You’re coming with me.”

Dante carried me into the back of a black, armored SUV. The interior smelled of expensive leather, tobacco, and the subtle scent of sandalwood that clung to Dante's skin. He laid me sideways across his lap, holding me steady so my damaged back wouldn't touch the leather seats.

Matteo sat in the opposite seat, guarded by a hulking man named Lorenzo, who looked like he could snap an oak tree in half with his bare hands. Yet, Lorenzo looked at me with something approaching reverence.

"Call Dr. Russo," Dante commanded the driver as the SUV roared away from Aurelio's, tearing through the rain-slicked streets of downtown Chicago. "Tell him to prepare the surgical suite at the estate. We have deep lacerations and glass removal."

"Dante... please," I managed to say, my breath coming in short, shallow ragged gasps. "I can't afford a private doctor. I don't have insurance. My checking account has sixty dollars in it."

Dante lowered his face until he was inches from mine. "Do you truly believe I would let the woman who saved my son pay for a single bandage?"

"I don't know who you are!" I cried out, my voice cracking under the weight of exhaustion and fear. "I know people fear you. I know you own half the city. But I am just a waitress. I don't belong in your world!"

"You're right. You don't," Dante admitted smoothly. "My world is dirty, violent, and unforgiving. But you brought yourself into it when you threw your body over Matteo. You think I can just let you go back to a roach-infested apartment where you glue your shoes together?"

My eyes widened. "How do you know about my shoes?"

"I notice everything," he said simply. "Including the fact that while every other spineless coward in that restaurant ducked for cover, a girl who makes minimum wage used her own flesh as a shield for a child who wasn't hers."

The SUV swept through massive iron gates guarded by armed men, pulling up to a breathtaking limestone mansion surrounded by towering oak trees on the outskirts of the city. The Moretti estate was a fortress—monumental, beautiful, and utterly isolated from the rest of the world.

Dante carried me straight inside, bypassing the grand foyer with its sweeping staircases, leading me directly into a clinical, fully equipped medical wing housed within the east wing of the mansion.

A silver-haired doctor in surgical scrubs was already waiting, flanked by two nurses.

"Set her down on her stomach, Dante," Dr. Russo instructed calmly.

Dante laid me down gently on the padded examination table. As he began to step back, panic seized me. I was in a strange house, surrounded by armed men, about to undergo a painful medical procedure. I reached out and caught Dante’s wrist.

His skin was warm, his pulse steady beneath my fingertips. He stopped, looking down at my small hand gripping his arm.

"Stay," I whispered, hating how vulnerable my voice sounded. "Please."

Dante didn't hesitate. He pulled up a stool, sat directly beside the table, and took my hand in his, engulfing it in his large, calloused grip.

"I am not going anywhere, Clara," he promised softly.

For the next two hours, Dr. Russo meticulously removed nineteen shards of crystal from my back and shoulders, numbing the area with local anesthetics and closing the deepest gashes with fine surgical stitches. Throughout the agonizing process, Dante did not let go of my hand once. Whenever a sharp pain hit, I squeezed his fingers, and he absorbed the pressure without a flinch, his eyes never leaving mine.

By the time Dr. Russo wrapped my torso in clean white bandages and administered a heavy painkiller, my eyelids were impossibly heavy.

"She will heal well," Dr. Russo noted, pulling off his gloves. "Minimal scarring if she rests properly. But she needs sleep."

Dante leaned down, his lips brushing softly against the crown of my head—a gesture so natural, so tender, it sent a strange shiver straight through my chest.