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I ignore his ramblings because I don’t care about the money. You don’t get to steal from me and walk away. That’s not how my world works.

The phone rings again, and Gio silences it once more, his jaw tightening. A muscle twitches in his cheek.

“Please,” the man says. “I’m begging you. Just let me…”

Third ring.

“For fuck’s sake,” Gio swears under his breath. Then he answers it. “Carly? What’s…”

He stops. Something happens to his face that I’ve never seen on Gio before. He’s… scared.

“Where are you?” he asks, voice clipped.

He listens for two seconds. Then he holds the phone out to me without explanation. His eyes meet mine, and whatever’s in them makes me take the phone.

“Domenico.” Carly’s voice comes through the line, breathless, rushing. “Kira’s mom had a seizure. We’re at the hospital. Kira’s with her now. I didn’t—”

“Which hospital?” I ask, interrupting her rushed ramblings. I listen only long enough to hear her confirm it’s the same hospital Kira visits daily. “On my way.” I end the call without waiting for Carly’s reply.

I hand the phone back to Gio and grab my jacket from the table.

“Deal with him however you see fit. Then come to the hospital.”

If Gio answers, I don’t hear it. I’m already through the door and running for my car. I barely get the door shut before I’m pulling into traffic. A horn blares behind me. I don’t care.

The hospital’s fifteen minutes away with traffic. I make it in eight.

I leave the car at the curb outside the entrance and run inside. I don’t stop until the elevator spits me out on the neurology floor.

I find Vinny outside a room three doors down from the nurses’ station. He’s standing with his back to the wall, arms crossed, eyes on the corridor. He’s positioned himself so he has a clear view of the elevator. Practical.

He straightens when he sees me. “Boss—”

“Why the fuck didn’t you call me?” The words come out low, a growl that doesn’t belong in a hospital corridor. A woman pushing an IV stand three doors down slows her pace, glances over, then hurries past.

Before Vinny can reply, Carly appears from around the corner, her heels clicking against the linoleum. She’s moving fast, her face tight, blonde hair falling loose around her shoulders. She gets between us and drops her voice to a whisper.

“This is on me. I told him not to call until we had details. I thought it would be better if we knew what we were dealing with before we pulled you out of whatever you were doing.” Her eyes meet mine, steady. “I’m sorry if it was the wrong call.”

I look at her for a beat. At Vinny. The anger doesn’t disappear—it just reroutes, finding nowhere useful to land.

“It doesn’t matter,” I snap. Because it doesn’t. The minutes I lost, the drive over, the fact that I wasn’t here when it happened—none of it matters right now. What matters is through that door.

Carly nods. “They’re both in there.” She points at the door Vinny’s guarding as though I hadn’t already figured it out.

I push the door open without knocking.

The room is dim. One monitor casts a pale blue glow over the bed, numbers flickering in green. An IV line runs to Paige’s arm, the bag half-empty, dripping slow and steady. Her chest rises and falls in shallow, even pulls.

Kira is in the chair beside the bed. Both hands wrapped around her mom’s, fingers interlaced, her grip so tight her knuckles have gone white. Her shoulders are drawn up tight, hunched forward as if she’s carrying something heavy.

Her jaw is clenched, lips pressed together, eyes dry and fixed on her mom’s face with an intense focus. It sounds like she’s praying. Low, rhythmic murmurs I can’t make out from here, words slipping between her teeth like she’s counting them off one by one.

She stops when the door closes behind me. As she turns her head, her eyes find mine across the room. That’s the exact moment something in her breaks. Just… breaks. Her composure slips and tears fall in a steady stream.

“Domenico…” My name dissolves into a sob.

Fuck, the sound of it hits me like a physical thing. Not too long ago, a grown man pissed himself because I raised my voice. Now my wife looks at me like I’m the one person in the world she doesn’t have to be strong for.