Chapter 2 - The Man Outside the Operating Room
The elevator doors began closing.
"Wait!"
Tomas ran.
Delphine followed before common sense could stop her.
The doors shut.
Tomas hit the call button.
Nothing.
"Who was it?" Delphine asked.
"I couldn't see."
The security officer raised the evidence bag.
"We found this outside OR Three."
Tomas stared at the cuff link.
"Lock the floor."
The officer hesitated.
"You can't order hospital security."
"No," Delphine said. "But I can tell you we have a credible threat against a surgical patient."
That changed everything.
Within minutes, security restricted access to the operating floor.
Delphine should have returned to her shift.
Instead, she stood outside surgery thinking about the message on her phone.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LET HIM DIE.
Somebody knew her number.
Somebody knew she had treated Vincent.
Somebody had known almost immediately.
Tomas sat opposite her.
"Tell me about the crown."
"No."
"Then I'm calling the police."
His eyes lifted.
"You should."
Delphine hadn't expected that.
Tomas rubbed his face.
"The crown belonged to a group Vincent's father used decades ago. Trusted men wore it privately."
"A gang?"
"A loyalty mark."
"And now?"
"Vincent ended it."
"Why?"
"Because loyalty that needs a symbol usually isn't loyalty."
Delphine looked toward the operating-room doors.
"So whoever dropped those cuff links wanted him to recognize the symbol."
"Or wanted us to think that."
The doors opened.
Dr. Mercer appeared.
Delphine stood.
"He's stable."
Tomas exhaled.
"The bullet missed the liver by less than an inch. We controlled the bleeding. He's lucky."
"When can I see him?"
"Family only."
Tomas looked at Delphine.
"She's family."
Delphine stared at him.
"No, I'm not."
Dr. Mercer frowned.
Tomas lowered his voice.
"Someone threatened her because she saved him."
The doctor's expression changed.
"Five minutes."
Vincent was pale when Delphine entered recovery.
His eyes opened slowly.
"Still here."
"You asked."
"Didn't think you'd listen."
"I don't usually."
That faint almost-smile returned.
Then disappeared.
"The cuff link?"
"Two of them now."
Vincent became still.
"Second one?"
"Outside surgery."
His gaze sharpened.
"Who knew the operating room?"
"Hospital staff."
"And my men."
"Probably."
He closed his eyes.
"Marco?"
"Gone."
Vincent opened them again.
"Find Tomas."
Tomas entered moments later.
Vincent didn't waste words.
"Phones."
Tomas understood.
He collected the phones belonging to the men who had arrived with Vincent.
Five were still downstairs.
Marco was missing.
Delphine watched from the doorway.
"This isn't my business."
Vincent looked at her.
"No."
"Then why does somebody have my number?"
He had no answer.
That frightened her more than anything else.
An hour later, Delphine tried to leave.
A black SUV sat across the street.
Engine running.
She stopped behind the glass entrance doors.
The vehicle's headlights came on.
Tomas appeared beside her.
"You're not going home alone."
"I didn't ask for protection."
"You got threatened."
"I'm calling the police."
"Good."
The SUV pulled away.
Delphine memorized part of the plate.
Vincent remained hospitalized for the next four days.
And somehow, Delphine kept becoming part of his recovery.
She told herself it was professional.
He listened to her.
That was useful.
He refused medication from unfamiliar staff but accepted it when she explained what it was.
He wouldn't sleep until she checked his monitors.
He asked questions about her life.
She refused most of them.
"Married?" he asked one night.
"No."
"Boyfriend?"
"That's not medically relevant."
"Could affect my heart rate."
She stared at him.
He actually smiled.
It transformed his face.
For several seconds, he wasn't Vincent Moretti.
He was just Vincent.
Then Delphine remembered the men outside.
The threats.
The cuff links.
"Why were you shot?"
His smile vanished.
"Meeting."
"With?"
"Someone I trusted."
"Marco?"
Vincent looked toward the window.
"No."
That answer surprised her.
"Then why suspect him?"
"I suspect everyone."
"Healthy."
"It's kept me alive."
"Almost."
He looked back at her.
"Fair."
She checked his IV.
"Whoever did this knew your route."
"Yes."
"Your meeting."
"Yes."
"And apparently knew enough about this hospital to follow you upstairs."
"Yes."
Delphine stopped.
"Then why are you still here?"
Vincent studied her.
"Because the person who wants me dead expects me to run."
"So?"
"I want him comfortable."
Delphine stared.
"You are using yourself as bait."
"I'm using his confidence."
"That's the stupidest distinction I've heard all week."
Vincent smiled again.
She hated that she liked it.
On the fourth night, Delphine found an envelope inside her locker.
No postage.
No name.
Only a photograph.
Vincent was standing outside a restaurant.
Beside him was Marco.
On the back someone had written:
ASK HIM ABOUT ELENA.
Delphine brought it upstairs.
Vincent saw the photograph.
His face changed.
"Who is Elena?"
He didn't answer.
"Vincent."
"Where'd you get this?"
"My locker."
He tried to sit up.
Pain stopped him.
Delphine helped him back.
"Tell me."
Vincent stared at the photograph.
"Elena was my sister."
"Was?"
"She died twelve years ago."
Delphine lowered her voice.
"What does Marco have to do with her?"
Vincent's jaw tightened.
"Nothing."
"You don't believe that."
"No."
He looked toward the door.
"I believe somebody wants me to believe it."
That night, hospital security reviewed the locker-room footage.
A figure wearing medical scrubs had entered the staff corridor.
Face covered by a surgical mask.
Badge turned backward.
But one frame showed the person's hand.
A black crown tattoo was visible near the wrist.
Tomas saw it.
His face drained.
"You recognize it."
He didn't answer.
Delphine stepped closer.
"Tomas."
He sat down.
"Only three living men have that tattoo."
"Who?"
"Me."
Delphine froze.
"Marco."
She waited.
"And Vincent's father."
Delphine frowned.
"You said—"
"He died fifteen years ago."
The room went silent.
Then Tomas's phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
His face changed.
"What?"
Vincent's voice came from the doorway behind them.
"What happened?"
Tomas slowly lowered the phone.
"They opened your father's grave."
Vincent stared at him.
May you like
Tomas swallowed.
"The coffin was empty."
