Chapter 3 - The Doctor's Disbelief
The morning sun had barely crested over the turbulent Atlantic when Dr. Arthur Sterling burst into the nursery.
He had been summoned by Vincenzo's men, dragged from his bed in the middle of a torrential rainstorm.
He stopped dead in his tracks.
Clara was sitting in the center of the sunlit room, softly burping a satiated, sleeping Dante over her shoulder.
Vincenzo stood by the window, a fresh cup of black coffee in his hand, looking more dangerous and alive than he had in months.
"This is impossible," Dr. Sterling gasped, rushing over to check the cardiac monitors.
The baby's vitals had normalized completely.
"She fed him," Vincenzo said simply, his gaze never leaving Clara.
"But the immunological rejections, the formula intolerances—it makes no medical sense," the doctor sputtered.
"Your medical sense was about to put my son in a coffin," Vincenzo replied, his voice dangerously low.
Dr. Sterling swallowed hard, realizing he was a single misstep away from disappearing into the ocean.
"Whatever this young woman is doing, she must continue," the doctor said, backing away slowly.
When the doctor left, a heavy silence settled over the nursery.
Clara gently laid Dante back into the mahogany bassinet, smoothing the soft blankets over him.
"You lost a child," Vincenzo said suddenly, not a question, but a statement of absolute fact.
Clara’s breath hitched, her hands gripping the edge of the crib tightly.
"Yes," she whispered, the tears returning instantly to sting her eyes. "Three weeks ago."
Vincenzo closed the distance between them, his towering presence overwhelming but strangely not frightening.
"My men did a background check on you while you slept," he admitted smoothly.
Clara tensed, wondering what exactly the ruthless syndicate boss had discovered about her broken life.
"I know about Marcus Dean," Vincenzo continued, saying the name like a curse.
May you like
Clara shuddered violently at the mention of the man who had murdered her daughter.
"He will never come near you again," Vincenzo promised, his eyes burning with a dark, violent light.
