Chapter 10 - The Shot
Maeve heard one explosion.
Then another.
Hale collapsed.
Dante staggered.
"Dante!"
Maeve ran toward him.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Marco fled through the rear exit while Luca and Nico pursued him.
Kathleen kicked Hale's fallen gun away.
Maeve pressed both hands against Dante's wound.
"Stay with me."
His face had gone gray.
"Bossy."
"Shut up."
"You make terrible coffee."
"You drink four cups."
"Still terrible."
"Dante."
His eyes closed.
Maeve slapped his cheek.
"Don't you dare."
Paramedics arrived.
The bullet had entered beneath his shoulder and missed his heart by inches.
He survived surgery.
Maeve sat beside his hospital bed through the night.
When he woke, he found her asleep with her head beside his hand.
He moved one finger.
Maeve woke instantly.
"You're alive."
"Apparently."
She started crying.
Dante looked alarmed.
"Please don't."
"Don't what?"
"Cry. I don't know what to do."
Maeve laughed through tears.
"Try not getting shot."
"I'll consider it."
Their eyes held.
Dante touched her cheek.
The moment became quiet.
Dangerously intimate.
Maeve leaned closer.
Then Nico entered carrying six coffees.
"Oh."
Maeve jumped backward.
Nico grinned.
"I can leave."
"Leave," Dante said.
"Absolutely."
He didn't.
Luca arrived moments later.
Marco had escaped.
Hale was alive but in custody.
Under pressure, Hale began cooperating.
He confirmed Marco had orchestrated the killings, laundering operation, and attacks.
But Marco still possessed enough money and loyal men to disappear.
Dante wanted Maeve moved overseas.
Maeve refused.
Again.
Instead she returned to Falcone Manor.
The house felt different.
Not because the danger was gone.
Because it had become home.
She hated realizing that.
Kathleen stayed too.
Their relationship rebuilt slowly.
There were no miraculous apologies.
Some mornings Maeve couldn't look at her.
Other mornings they cooked together.
Healing wasn't a reunion.
It was repetition.
Showing up.
Again.
And again.
Three weeks later, Dante returned from the hospital.
Maeve made breakfast.
He entered the kitchen.
"You burned the bacon."
"You nearly died and somehow became more annoying."
He sat.
"Missed you too."
She placed his plate down.
He caught her wrist gently.
"Maeve."
Her breath changed.
"Yes?"
"I need to tell you something."
Before he could, the manor alarm sounded.
Luca ran into the kitchen holding his phone.
"Marco just sent a video."
Dante played it.
The image showed Salvatore Falcone tied to a chair.
Marco appeared behind him.
May you like
Then he looked directly into the camera.
"Bring Maeve."
