Chapter 2 - The Woman Who Knew His Secret
The door opened before anyone touched it.
A woman stood outside holding a photograph of Massimo Pascale and a missing medical report.
She whispered:
"Massimo, you need to see this."
The bodyguard reached for his weapon.
But Massimo only stared at the photograph.
Because the woman in it was supposed to be dead.
I had been inside the Pascale mansion for less than twenty-four hours when I learned the first rule of working for dangerous people.
Nobody in that house reacted normally.
A normal person would have panicked when a stranger appeared at the door late at night.
A normal person would have asked questions.
A normal person would have wondered who she was.
But the moment Massimo saw her, the entire room changed.
The guards stopped moving.
The woman beside me stepped back.
Even the man on the phone went silent.
Massimo stared at the doorway like he was looking at a ghost.
And I understood something immediately.
This woman mattered.
"Who are you?" I asked.
She ignored me.
Her eyes stayed locked on Massimo.
"You look different."
Massimo's face became unreadable.
"Everyone says that after a man almost dies."
The woman's expression tightened.
"You weren't supposed to survive."
The words hung in the air.
Nobody breathed.
I looked at Massimo.
For the first time since I met him, he didn't look like the most powerful person in the room.
He looked like someone who had just been reminded of something painful.
The security guard moved forward.
"Boss, should I remove her?"
Massimo lifted his hand.
"No."
His voice was quiet.
"Let her speak."
The woman walked inside slowly.
She carried herself like someone who was not afraid of the guards, the mansion, or the man sitting in front of her.
That alone told me she was dangerous.
People who feared Massimo did not walk toward him.
They waited for permission.
She didn't.
She stopped a few feet away and placed the photograph on the table.
"Do you remember this?"
Massimo looked down.
I couldn't see the picture from where I stood.
But I saw his reaction.
His fingers tightened against the wheelchair.
A small movement.
Almost invisible.
But I noticed.
I noticed everything.
It was how I survived in hospitals.
How I handled difficult patients.
How I understood pain before people admitted they had it.
"What is this?" I asked.
The woman finally looked at me.
Her eyes studied me.
Then she smiled slightly.
"So you're the new one."
I didn't like the way she said it.
"The new what?"
"The new person who thinks she can fix him."
Massimo's expression hardened.
"Enough."
She looked back at him.
"Three nurses left."
Silence.
"Three doctors refused."
Another pause.
"And now you hired someone who doesn't know what you really are."
I crossed my arms.
"I know exactly what he is."
She raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
"A patient."
For a moment, she looked surprised.
Then she laughed quietly.
Not because it was funny.
Because she thought I was naive.
"You really don't know anything."
Maybe she was right.
Maybe I didn't.
But I was tired of people using fear as an excuse to avoid honesty.
"So tell me."
She looked at me.
"Tell you what?"
"The truth."
Massimo immediately said my name.
"Elena."
The warning in his voice was clear.
But I ignored it.
Because something about this situation bothered me.
Massimo wasn't angry that she was insulting him.
He was afraid of what she might reveal.
That was different.
The woman picked up the photograph.
"You want the truth?"
She looked at Massimo.
"Ask him why he never told you about the accident."
My eyes moved to him.
The accident.
The one mentioned on the phone.
The one people were asking questions about.
Massimo said nothing.
And that silence told me more than words could.
"You said it was traumatic injury," I said.
"It was."
"But not the whole story."
His jaw tightened.
"You are here to treat me."
"I am here to understand my patient."
"You don't need to understand everything."
I stepped closer.
"Actually, I do."
The woman watched us carefully.
Almost like she was waiting for this exact moment.
Then she said something that changed everything.
"The crash wasn't meant to kill him."
I froze.
Massimo looked at her.
"Stop."
But she continued.
"It was meant to destroy him."
Nobody spoke.
The room felt smaller.
"What does that mean?" I asked.
The woman looked at Massimo.
"It means someone wanted him alive."
A cold feeling moved through me.
"Why?"
Her answer came immediately.
"Because a dead man cannot suffer."
Massimo's face changed.
A flash of anger.
Then pain.
Real pain.
Not physical.
Something deeper.
I had spent years working with injured patients.
I knew the difference.
A broken body was visible.
A broken person was not.
"Everyone leave," Massimo said.
The guards looked confused.
"Boss?"
"Now."
Nobody argued.
Within seconds, the room emptied.
Leaving only me, Massimo, and the woman.
I expected him to tell me to leave too.
Instead, he looked at the woman.
"Why are you here?"
She reached into her bag.
For a moment, I thought she was pulling out a weapon.
Instead, she removed a small envelope.
"I found this before they erased everything."
Massimo stared at it.
"What is it?"
"The reason your accident happened."
She placed it on the table.
I noticed something.
The envelope was old.
The edges were damaged.
Someone had tried to destroy it.
But failed.
Massimo looked at it for several seconds.
Then he looked at me.
"Elena, leave the room."
I didn't move.
"Why?"
"Because this has nothing to do with you."
I looked at the envelope.
Then at him.
"Everything that happens to my patient has something to do with me."
For a second, something almost like respect appeared in his eyes.
Then it disappeared.
The woman smiled faintly.
"She really doesn't scare easily."
"No," Massimo replied.
His voice was quiet.
"That's the problem."
I wanted to ask what he meant.
But before I could, the mansion alarm suddenly turned on.
A sharp sound echoed through the hallway.
Everyone froze.
The woman's face changed.
Massimo immediately knew something was wrong.
The guards rushed back into the room.
One of them looked at Massimo.
"Boss."
"What happened?"
The guard hesitated.
Then looked at me.
That made my stomach tighten.
"What?"
The guard swallowed.
"We found someone inside the security area."
Massimo's eyes narrowed.
"Who?"
The guard looked at the woman.
Then at me.
"We don't know."
A pause.
"But they left something behind."
Massimo's expression changed.
"What?"
The guard slowly reached into his jacket.
He pulled out a small object.
A hospital identification badge.
My blood went cold.
Because I recognized the name printed on it.
It belonged to me.
May you like
And then the guard turned it over, revealing the message scratched into the back...
"Elena, you should have never accepted this job."
