Page 52 of Fierce Protector

“The doctor said that Doctor Jen—” I flinch involuntarily at the mention of his name.“—thatheperformed a sternotomy, I think he called it. They had to close you up.” Stefano swallows, like the words are choking him.

“Were there any complications?” I ask, my voice calm, years of medical training drowning out the terrified woman inside me who just wants to close her eyes and wish that this isn’t true.

“No. It took them a little while to figure out how to anaesthetise you because they didn’t know what he’dgiven you, but they said they were able to close without any problems.” His thumb strokes gently up into my hairline and I lean into his touch.

“What about Doctor…” I try to say his name, but it dies on my lips, and I shake my head, hating myself. Hating that I was so ignorant of the danger I’d been in for so long. “What abouthim?”

“He’s dead, baby girl.” His words are absolute and devoid of all remorse, and I can’t stop the relief that overtakes me or the smile that bursts forth.

Stefano came for me. He kept his promise.

“Thank fuck,” I reply, releasing a long sigh. It’s a ridiculous notion that Stefano would allow him to live for a minute longer than was necessary. “Can you tell me how it happened?”

“I dealt with him, Katerina.” He doesn’t elaborate.

“I’m going to make you tell me one day. You know I won’t let you leave it at that.” I reply, before taking his hand in mine and adding, “But if you need time? I understand.” What else do you say to a man who’s slayed a demon for you?Thank youseems so pathetic a sentiment. Instead, I say the only thing I can. “I love you,vecchietto.”

“Ti amo per sempre, Katerina.”

“Forever,” I whisper back.

“Sleep now, baby girl. You’re safe now.”

CHAPTER THIRTY

STEFANO

“Thank you for your cooperation, Mr Tiero. We’ll be in touch if we have any further questions,” Detective Holloway mumbles, not even having the courtesy of looking up from his notebook as he speaks to me. “Make sure you don’t leave town,” he adds with a nervous squeak.

Based on how he stuttered and stumbled his way through this interview, he obviously knows exactly who I am, which should mean he knows exactly why he shouldn’t piss me off. A task he failed spectacularly at.

He doesn’t even shake my hand before he turns to leave, instilling a lifelong place on my permanent shit-list. Youth and inexperience are no excuse. If he wants to survive for long on this city’s police force, then he’s going to need to learn his place a lot quicker.

In his defence, this was merely a witness statement since, as far as he knows, Vito is the one who shot DoctorJenkins and he’s currently sitting in an interrogation room on the other side of town explaining exactly that. With what we pay our lawyers, he won’t spend a single night in jail and will be compensated handsomely for the inconvenience. Vito knows the drill and volunteered for the task. For that, I’ll be indebted and forever grateful to him.

I haven’t been more than fifty feet from Katerina’s recovery room since she came out of surgery. Given the position this has put the hospital in—an attack on an employee by an employee—they’re bending over backwards for Katerina. It’s a publicity nightmare and neither they nor us want the situation to garner any more attention than is necessary. As such, we’ve all been moved to their VIP secure ward for the duration of her recovery.

It’s an area of the hospital I’m becoming more than familiar with at this point. The Cosa Nostra are frequent flyers here by now.

I let a few minutes pass, making sure Detective Holloway has time to make himself scarce before heading towards the waiting room door. The detective commandeered it for our little chat, but as I step out into the hallway, I find Nico and Marcus in the hallway, making a beeline towards me. I can tell from the sombre looks on their faces they found something on the little excursion I sent them on.

I’m momentarily taken aback when Nico steps into the room and immediately pulls me in for a brief but heartfelt hug, tapping me on the back with more feeling than I’ve come to expect from him. Given what’s happened, I understand. He’s closer to Katerina in manyways than he is to me. She’s responsible for saving the lives of the people he loves.

I lay my hand on his shoulder when he pulls away and grip him firmly. “She’s going to be okay. She’s resting now, but I’m about to head back to sit with her.”

They both nod, relief obvious on their faces.

“What did you find?” I’d sent Marcus to check out Jenkins’ home as soon they’d taken Katerina up for surgery. I needed to know exactly how I’d managed to miss the threat that was right in front of me.

Looking back, Jenkins’ behaviour was off from the start, but I’d underestimated him, pegging him as a narcissist with a god complex and not the monster he was.

“The man is… was, next level looney tunes. When we searched his house, we found diaries, letters, photos of her on every surface of his office. The man was obsessed. I’m amazed he didn’t go after her sooner.” He pauses and pulls out a black leather journal, handing it to me.

I flick through it to find page after page of nonsensical ramblings about her being made for him, about her heart being true, and how one day, he would hold her heart in his hands. The more I read, the more I feel like I’ve failed her. I spend my life dealing with some of the most heinous criminals on this earth, yet I didn’t see the one that walked the halls of this hospital with her every day.

“Please tell me you left enough for the cops for this to be an open and shut case?” I growl, closing the book with a sharp thwack and arching a brow in their direction.

“What is this, my first day?” Marcus retorts. “Weonly took what we thought you’d want to see and left the rest for the cops,” he reassures me.

---