Chapter 2 - The Bride Who Couldn't Say Yes
At 2:17 a.m., Dr. Mercer entered the waiting room.
Dominic stood immediately.
“She made it through surgery.”
Isabella covered her mouth.
“But?”
The doctor looked exhausted.
“Seven bullets. We removed four. Three are too dangerous to remove tonight.”
“Will she live?”
“The next twelve hours decide that.”
Dominic nodded.
“Put guards outside her room.”
Dr. Mercer frowned.
“This is a hospital.”
“And somebody tried killing her.”
“I can't allow armed—”
“You can allow security.”
Dominic looked at Enzo.
“Private security. Nobody enters without clearance.”
Enzo nodded.
Dr. Mercer walked away.
Isabella approached her son.
“Now tell me.”
“No.”
“Dominic.”
“This isn't the place.”
“You watched that girl nearly die protecting me.”
Her voice dropped.
“I deserve to know why you recognized her name.”
Dominic glanced toward Enzo.
“Bring the file.”
Enzo disappeared.
Twenty minutes later, he returned carrying a thin brown folder.
Dominic opened it.
Inside was an old photograph.
A younger Ellen Bennett stood beside a man Isabella immediately recognized.
Her rosary slipped from her fingers.
“Thomas Bennett.”
Dominic nodded.
Isabella stared at him.
“He’s dead.”
“Twenty years.”
“And Claire is his daughter?”
“Yes.”
Isabella lowered her voice.
“Does she know?”
“No.”
“Know what?”
Dominic closed the folder.
“That Thomas Bennett didn't die in a car accident.”
Silence.
Isabella's face hardened.
“Who killed him?”
Dominic looked toward the ICU.
“My father.”
---
At 4:03 a.m., Enzo returned with worse news.
“Costa's people accessed the hospital system.”
“How?”
“We don't know.”
“They found her room?”
“Not yet.”
Dominic walked toward the window.
“Move her.”
“Doctors say she's unstable.”
“Then lock down the floor.”
Enzo hesitated.
“There’s another option.”
Dominic looked at him.
“Say it.”
“If Costa believes she's under Rossi protection because she saved Isabella, he'll keep coming.”
“I know.”
“But if she's family…”
Dominic stared at him.
Enzo continued.
“Costa understands old rules.”
Isabella's eyes narrowed.
“You’re suggesting marriage.”
“On paper.”
Dominic laughed once without humor.
“She’s unconscious.”
“Emergency civil arrangements can be challenged later,” Enzo said. “But right now Costa only needs to believe one thing.”
“What?”
“That touching Claire means declaring war on you personally.”
Dominic looked through the glass.
My face was almost colorless.
Isabella spoke quietly.
“Don't do this unless you're prepared to explain it when she wakes up.”
“If she wakes up angry, I'll accept it.”
“And if she hates you?”
Dominic's eyes remained on me.
“She can hate me alive.”
---
The ceremony happened beside my ICU bed.
No ballroom.
No flowers.
No white dress.
Only fluorescent lights, medical equipment, Isabella, Enzo, a hospital chaplain, and Dominic wearing the same bloodstained tuxedo.
The chaplain looked uncomfortable.
“This is highly irregular.”
“So is tonight.”
Dominic removed a gold ring from his pocket.
His grandmother's ring.
Isabella recognized it.
“Dominic…”
He gently took my swollen hand.
For the first time that night, his hands trembled.
He slid the ring onto my finger.
Then leaned close.
“Claire Bennett, you're going to be furious about this.”
The ventilator hissed.
Dominic's voice softened.
“But you can yell at me when you wake up.”
He closed his hand around mine.
“Now anybody who comes for you comes through me.”
---
I woke thirty-six hours later.
Everything hurt.
My throat burned.
A nurse leaned over me.
“Claire?”
I blinked.
“Where…”
“St. Catherine.”
Memories returned.
Gunshots.
Isabella.
Blood.
“Is she alive?”
A familiar voice answered.
“Yes.”
I turned.
Dominic Rossi sat beside my bed.
Black shirt.
No tie.
Exhaustion beneath his eyes.
“Your mother?”
“Alive because of you.”
I tried moving my hand.
Something caught the light.
Gold.
I stared.
“What…”
Dominic became very still.
I lifted my finger.
“Why am I wearing a wedding ring?”
The nurse quietly left.
Dominic stood.
“Claire—”
“Why am I wearing a wedding ring?”
He didn't answer quickly enough.
My eyes widened.
“No.”
“Listen.”
“No.”
“You were targeted.”
“So?”
“I needed Costa to understand—”
“Who is Costa?”
“The man responsible for the attack.”
My pulse monitor accelerated.
Dominic stepped closer.
“Claire.”
“Did you marry me?”
Silence.
“Dominic.”
“Yes.”
I stared at him.
“You married an unconscious woman?”
“To keep you alive.”
“You're insane.”
“Possibly.”
“Undo it.”
“When you're safe.”
“Now.”
“No.”
I reached for the call button.
Dominic caught himself before touching me.
“Claire, Victor Costa knows your name.”
“So does half the hospital!”
“He knew it before the shooting.”
That stopped me.
“What?”
Dominic's face changed.
I saw it.
Fear.
Not for himself.
Of something else.
“You’re hiding something.”
“No.”
“You're terrible at lying.”
“I've been told otherwise.”
“Then I'm special.”
For one second, his mouth almost moved into a smile.
Then I looked directly into his eyes.
“Who am I, Dominic?”
He said nothing.
May you like
And that silence frightened me more than the wedding ring.
---
