Chapter 1
Blood had soaked through the Egyptian cotton sheets.
That was the first thing they told Nora Hayes.
6 nurses had quit in 5 days. 1 had left crying. Another had left with a broken wrist.
Dominic Rossi did not want to heal.
He seemed determined to bleed out through sheer spite.
Anyone passing through the wrought-iron gates of the Rossi estate knew they were entering a meat grinder.
Nora knew it too.
But starvation made people brave, and an eviction notice had a way of making warnings sound distant.
Rain hammered the windshield of her rusted sedan, turning the world beyond the glass into gray distortion.
Nora wiped condensation from the inside of the windshield with the frayed sleeve of her jacket.
The heater had stopped working 3 months earlier.
Her bank account had failed soon after.
Ahead of her, the Rossi estate rose like a fortress cut into the mountainside.
10-ft iron gates stood across the driveway, flanked by stone gargoyles.
Nora turned off the engine.
The car sputtered, coughed, and died with a final weak shudder.
She gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles whitened.
Then she closed her eyes.
It was a job.
A very well-paying, highly illegal, extremely dangerous job.
A man in a tailored black suit tapped on the driver’s-side window.
Rain streamed from the umbrella above him.
Nora rolled the window down using the manual crank.
It squeaked in protest.
“Nora Hayes?”
His voice was flat.
He glanced at the car with thinly concealed distaste.
“Yes.”
“I’m Leo. I manage the household.”
He looked toward the estate.
“Leave the car. Someone will move it somewhere less visible.”
Nora took her canvas duffel from the passenger seat and stepped into the rain.
Her inexpensive sneakers soaked through almost immediately.
She followed Leo up the long driveway.
The landscaping was immaculate.
There were no flowers.
Only clipped hedges, stone, and severe symmetry.
The property felt less like a home than a mausoleum.
Leo stopped beneath the massive portico.
“Before we go inside, understand the rules.”
He did not look at her.
“Rule 1: you do not ask how he was injured.”
Nora adjusted the duffel strap digging into her collarbone.
“Rule 2: you do not speak unless he speaks to you. If he does, keep your answers short.”
Leo continued.
“Rule 3: whatever he tells you to do, you do it.”
His expression remained blank.
“If he tells you to throw your medical supplies out a window, you ask him which window.”
Nora looked at him.
“I was told he has a gunshot wound to the right shoulder and a secondary infection.”
“He does.”
Leo finally met her eyes.
“He also has a temper.”
He paused.
“The last nurse tried to change the dressing while he was asleep. He woke up and threw a glass lamp at her head.”
Nora said nothing.
“She needed 12 stitches.”
Leo studied her.
“Do you have a weak stomach, Ms. Hayes?”
“I have rent due Monday, Leo.”
Nora’s voice was even.
“My stomach can handle anything.”
He watched her for a moment.
Then gave 1 short nod and opened the heavy oak doors.
The mansion was unnaturally quiet.
The air smelled of lemon polish and something faintly metallic.
Copper.
Blood.
Nora recognized it immediately.
She had spent 3 years working night shifts in a downtown emergency room before the hospital downsized and let her go.
She knew what death smelled like when it lingered too long inside a room.
They climbed a broad curving staircase.
A thick runner muffled their footsteps.
Water from Nora’s shoes left faint marks near the edge of the marble steps.
She hoped Leo would not notice.
“He’s in the master suite at the end of the hall.”
Leo stopped.
“I’ll be downstairs.”
He indicated a button beside the bedroom door.
“If you need me, press that.”
His gaze sharpened.
“Do not press it unless there is an emergency.”
A pause.
“A bad mood is not an emergency.”
“Understood.”
Nora continued alone.
Her heart beat far harder than her expression suggested.
She stopped before the double doors.
Dark wood.
Heavy brass hardware.
Leo had never told her to knock.
So she did not.
Nora opened the door and stepped inside.
The bedroom was almost entirely dark.
Only a thin strip of gray daylight entered through a gap in the velvet curtains.
The temperature was oppressive.
It felt like entering an oven.
“Get out.”
The voice came from somewhere in the darkness.
It was not loud.
It was a rough, low rasp scraping through the room.
Nora stayed where she was.
Her eyes slowly adjusted.
At the center of the room stood a massive 4-poster bed.
A man was propped against the headboard.
Shadow concealed most of his face.
“I said get out.”
Dominic Rossi’s breathing was shallow and irregular.
Nora could hear a faint wheeze suggesting fluid near the lungs.
“I can’t do that.”
She kept her voice steady.
Panic was something predators noticed.
Even half-dead, Dominic Rossi was clearly still dangerous.
“Are you deaf or stupid?”
Something heavy flew from the bed.
A book struck the wall inches from Nora’s head and dropped onto the floor.
She looked at it.
Then at him.
Without responding, she crossed the room and grabbed the edge of the curtains.
“Leave the damn curtains alone.”
Nora pulled them open.
Gray rainlight filled the bedroom.
Dominic hissed and threw his left arm over his face.
For the first time, Nora saw him clearly.
Sweat covered him.
Dark hair clung to his forehead.
His skin had gone pale, stretched tightly over angular cheekbones.
Bandages covered his right shoulder and part of his chest.
May you like
They were soaked with dark rust-colored blood and yellow infection.
Dominic lowered his arm.
