Chapter 1 - The Fourth Visit
Ruby tightened her grip on Elena’s hand and whispered, “Don’t you dare scare me like that.”
When Sebastian Romano entered, he carried a white-rose bouquet and a pharmacy bag.
A folded note protruded from the bag.
“She hates roses. —E.”
Sebastian stopped.
This visit had never been about medicine.
Ruby Bennett saw the exact instant he realized it.
For a man whose name could empty a restaurant with one quiet phone call, Sebastian Romano looked remarkably similar to a boy who had just been caught sneaking cookies before dinner.
His gaze moved from the note to his mother.
Elena Romano smiled from the enormous adjustable bed positioned near the windows of her private suite.
“You’re late,” she said.
“I’m twelve minutes early.”
“Then you’ve become predictable.”
Sebastian’s jaw tightened.
Ruby lowered her eyes quickly because she was dangerously close to laughing.
That would have been a terrible idea.
She had met Sebastian only four days earlier, and although nothing about him had been openly rude, everything about him warned people to maintain a reasonable distance.
He was tall, controlled, impeccably dressed, and so composed that even silence seemed to follow his instructions.
Ruby had spent fifteen years working with older adults recovering from surgeries, illnesses, and long hospital stays. She had cared for retired judges, difficult surgeons, former athletes, wealthy widows, and one ninety-three-year-old Broadway producer who had once thrown a pudding cup at a cardiologist.
None of them intimidated her.
Sebastian came close.
Not because he raised his voice.
He never did.
It was the opposite.
He spoke softly.
He watched everything.
And everyone around him watched him back.
He crossed the room and placed the flowers on a side table.
“Dr. Ferraro said your blood pressure was good this morning.”
Elena sighed.
“My blood pressure is eighty years old. Let it live.”
“You’re seventy-eight.”
“Then stop aging me with your visits.”
Ruby pressed her lips together.
Sebastian looked at her.
She immediately became fascinated with the blanket.
Elena noticed.
Of course she did.
The older woman noticed everything.
That was why Ruby liked her.
Two weeks earlier, Elena had suffered a cardiac episode during breakfast. It had not been a major heart attack, but it had frightened the family enough that her doctors insisted she receive constant monitoring while she recovered.
Elena had rejected three private nurses in two days.
The first was “too cheerful.”
The second “smelled like antiseptic.”
The third had made the fatal mistake of calling her “sweetie.”
Then Ruby arrived.
Elena had taken one look at Ruby’s floral dress, practical shoes, generous curves, and expression that clearly said she would not tolerate nonsense from anybody and announced, “You’ll do.”
Ruby had stayed.
Sebastian had arrived three days later.
Then again the following day.
And again.
And now this was visit number four.
Each time he brought something.
Medicine.
Food.
A newspaper his mother already received.
A cardigan she had not requested.
Yesterday, he had brought imported tea despite Elena openly stating that she preferred coffee.
Ruby had assumed rich sons simply worried extravagantly.
Elena apparently had another theory.
Sebastian removed his suit jacket and draped it over a chair.
“Did you eat lunch?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“Food.”
“Mother.”
“Ruby made chicken soup.”
Sebastian glanced toward Ruby.
“You cook too?”
“Occasionally.”
Elena spoke before Ruby could add anything.
“She makes excellent soup.”
“I followed a recipe.”
“She says that because she’s humble.”
Ruby gave Elena a warning look.
Elena ignored it.
Sebastian picked up the pharmacy bag.
“The doctor changed one dosage.”
“I know.”
“I brought the new prescription.”
“I already have it.”
He paused.
Ruby knew exactly what was coming.
Elena turned her silver head on the pillow and looked her son squarely in the eye.
“If you’re going to lie about why you keep coming here, at least have the courage to buy Ruby the flowers she actually likes.”
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Ruby felt as if the entire mansion had stopped breathing.
Sebastian did not move.
Ruby wished the mattress would open and swallow her.
“Elena,” she said quietly.
“What?”
“You promised you’d rest.”
“I am resting.”
“You are causing trouble.”
“That relaxes me.”
Sebastian’s gaze moved toward Ruby.
She met it for approximately half a second before looking at the roses.
He looked at them too.
Then back at her.
“What flowers do you like?”
Ruby stared at him.
Elena smiled.
“No,” Ruby said.
His brow furrowed.
“No?”
“You don’t have to answer your mother’s interrogation by buying me flowers.”
“I asked a question.”
“And I’m declining to participate.”
Something almost happened at the corner of his mouth.
Not quite a smile.
But close.
Elena saw it.
Ruby saw Elena see it.
This was becoming intolerable.
“Peonies,” Elena announced.
Ruby turned.
“You traitor.”
“And ranunculus.”
“Elena.”
“And those little white flowers.”
“Baby’s breath,” Sebastian said.
Both women looked at him.
For the first time, he appeared mildly uncomfortable.
Ruby raised an eyebrow.
“A mafia boss knows baby’s breath?”
His expression changed.
Not angry.
Surprised.
Ruby instantly regretted the words.
They had slipped out because Elena had spent three days talking about her son as though his occupation were no more unusual than accounting.
Elena laughed.
Sebastian slowly looked at Ruby.
“You say that very casually.”
“Would you prefer I pretend I don’t know who you are?”
“That’s what most people do.”
“I’m not most people.”
“No,” he said.
His voice had changed.
Barely.
But Ruby noticed.
Elena’s gaze bounced between them with shameless satisfaction.
Ruby stood.
“I should check your medication chart.”
“You checked it twenty minutes ago.”
“I’m checking it again.”
“You’re escaping.”
“Yes.”
Ruby crossed toward the small desk near the window.
Behind her, Elena said, “She likes pink peonies.”
Ruby closed her eyes.
“Please stop helping.”
“I’m seventy-eight. Helping badly is one of my remaining pleasures.”
This time Sebastian actually smiled.
It was brief.
Barely there.
But it transformed his face.
Ruby forgot what she was doing.
That irritated her.
She had spent most of her adult life learning not to mistake male attention for meaningful interest.
She had been the funny friend.
The dependable friend.
The woman men described as beautiful after first describing someone else as hot.
Her last serious boyfriend had spent three years telling her he loved her exactly as she was before leaving her for a woman he introduced as “more compatible with my lifestyle.”
Ruby had later discovered “lifestyle” apparently meant forty pounds lighter and fifteen years younger.
She no longer built fantasies out of glances.
Especially not glances from dangerous men in three-piece suits.
Sebastian’s phone vibrated.
His expression hardened immediately.
He answered.
“Yes.”
He listened.
“No. Keep him there.”
A longer pause.
“I’ll handle it tonight.”
He disconnected.
The warmth disappeared from the room.
Ruby watched Elena.
The older woman’s fingers tightened slightly around the blanket.
Sebastian noticed.
He crossed back to the bed.
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
“That phrase has never once made a mother worry less.”
“It’s business.”
“Your business is exactly why I worry.”
His face remained composed.
Ruby recognized the pattern.
She had seen it in families countless times.
Fear disguised as control.
Love disguised as irritation.
She quietly stepped toward the door.
“I’ll give you two a minute.”
Elena caught her hand.
“No.”
Ruby stopped.
The old woman’s grip was surprisingly strong.
“Stay.”
“Elena—”
“You stay.”
Sebastian looked at his mother.
Something passed between them.
Finally he nodded.
Elena released Ruby.
“My son believes protecting people means deciding what they’re allowed to know.”
Sebastian’s voice went colder.
“Mother.”
“He learned that from his father.”
“That’s enough.”
“No, it isn’t.”
Ruby looked toward the door again.
This had become family territory.
She did not belong here.
Yet Elena reached for her once more.
“His father taught him that love creates weaknesses.”
“Elena.”
“And I spent thirty years trying to teach him otherwise.”
Sebastian’s expression changed.
There it was.
Pain.
Quickly buried.
But Ruby had seen it.
Elena turned toward Ruby.
“Do you know why he keeps bringing things?”
Ruby swallowed.
“He worries about you.”
“Yes.”
Elena looked toward Sebastian.
“But he has staff who can bring medicine.”
Sebastian said nothing.
“Drivers who can bring groceries.”
Nothing.
“Assistants who can bring flowers.”
Still nothing.
Elena smiled.
“And yet here he is.”
Ruby’s face warmed again.
She forced herself to remain steady.
“You’re recovering from a serious health scare. Of course he’s here.”
“Every afternoon at exactly four?”
Sebastian checked his watch.
“It’s three forty-eight.”
Elena pointed triumphantly.
“He knows exactly when your shift ends.”
Ruby’s head snapped toward him.
Sebastian gave his mother a look that would probably have terrified hardened criminals.
Elena adjusted her pillow.
Completely unimpressed.
Ruby stared at him.
“You know when my shift ends?”
Sebastian took two seconds too long to answer.
“I know who is in my mother’s house.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It is the answer I’m giving.”
Ruby crossed her arms.
Elena whispered loudly, “Make him suffer.”
“Mother.”
Ruby should have let it go.
Instead she said, “For someone who supposedly scares everyone, you’re not especially good at admitting when you’re embarrassed.”
Sebastian stared at her.
Then, unexpectedly, he laughed.
Not loudly.
Just one short breath of genuine amusement.
Ruby felt something shift inside her chest.
Dangerous.
Very dangerous.
His phone buzzed again.
This time he read the screen.
And everything changed.
Sebastian’s face went completely still.
Elena noticed immediately.
“What happened?”
He locked the phone.
“Nothing.”
Ruby knew that expression.
Nothing never looked like that.
Sebastian put on his jacket.
“I have to leave.”
Elena’s voice sharpened.
“Sebastian.”
“I’ll call tonight.”
He kissed his mother’s forehead.
Then he turned toward Ruby.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Finally he said, “Don’t leave the property alone tonight.”
Ruby frowned.
“What?”
“I’ll have someone drive you.”
“I have my own car.”
“Not tonight.”
Her spine stiffened.
“You don’t get to order me around.”
His eyes held hers.
“This once, let me.”
The seriousness in his voice erased her irritation.
“Why?”
Sebastian glanced toward his mother.
Then back at Ruby.
“I’ll explain tomorrow.”
“No. Explain now.”
But he was already moving toward the door.
Ruby followed him into the hallway.
“Sebastian.”
He stopped.
She lowered her voice.
“Is Elena in danger?”
His pause answered before his words did.
“No.”
“That wasn’t convincing.”
“She’s safe here.”
“What about me?”
His gaze sharpened.
For the first time, Ruby saw something unmistakable beneath the control.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For her.
Before she could ask another question, footsteps echoed from the marble staircase.
One of Sebastian’s men appeared.
He carried a sealed cream envelope.
“Boss.”
Sebastian took it.
A single red mark crossed the front.
Ruby watched him open it.
Inside was a photograph.
His face changed.
Ruby stepped closer.
Sebastian immediately turned the picture over.
Too late.
She had already seen enough.
It was a photograph of her.
Taken that morning.
Outside the mansion.
Sebastian looked toward the front doors.
One of them was slowly opening.
Someone had just arrived.
May you like
And Sebastian whispered a name Ruby had never heard before.
“Dante.”
