Chapter 2: Heart of the Matter

Vittorio POV

I hate hospitals. I hate the inefficiency. With all the patient’s information at their disposal, the nurses and doctors always ask the same questions.

“What other medications is she taking?” this new nurse asks, in a voice that says she already wants to end her shift. She’s the worst nurse I’ve dealt with at Evergreen Memorial Hospital. All the others have been great, but for some reason, this nurse keeps getting assigned to us. I get that it’s her section, but still.

I try to stay calm as I hand her a printed list, even though the medication list should be on the computer. Scanning it, the nurse huffs. “She’s no longer taking the high-end ACE inhibitor. I switched her to another onel.”

My blood boils. “WHAT? I wasn’t informed of this.”

“I don’t have to tell you,” she sneers.

“Yes, you do! I have her durable power of attorney. I’m her son! No wonder she’s been complaining she doesn’t feel right.”

As if on cue, my mother Renata Angeli, formerly Toscanini before Dad walked out on us, moans from her hospital bed. “Can someone get me up so I can walk around?”

“You haven’t been able to walk,” the nurse says flatly. “And I have to get someone to help you.”

“Then get someone, please,” Mom says in a voice that sounds strong despite the shortness of breath from CHF–congestive heart failure.

I march out of the room to do just that, and demand to see the charge nurse, who is on break.

“Give me a list of everything my mother has been taking,” I command the nurse at the desk.

Once I have the printout in my hot little hand, and I’m going to lose my mind. “MORPHINE? You gave her morphine without telling me? I am supposed to be informed of every change in her medication! She can’t take morphine. It’s too much for her.”

Ashlee, the nurse, has the grace to look embarrassed. “They said she was in pain …”

“She is, but she cannot take morphine. Another thing. Her nurse switched her meds without telling me.”

“Yes, that’s because of your insurance,” Ashlee replies, again looking embarrassed.

“Well, I can pay for her treatment, and I want a private room. Her roommate has the TV on all night. My mother needs to rest easy. I just settled everything with the business office.”

Ashlee grins, a ray of sunshine in a bland sterile cardiac floor. “Wow, what did you do, rob a bank? Win the lottery? Create a killer app?”

“Feels like all three,” I say, tongue-in-cheek. “So, get her back on the expensive drug, and no more morphine. And we can go ahead with the surgery.”

“Yes, Doctor Perry should be making the rounds soon,” Ashlee informs me. “Within the next hour.”

I head to Mom’s room to give her the good news, and to watch the nurse’s face fall. Now she has no excuse to take her crappy attitude out on my mom.

“I can’t believe you did this,” Mom gushes, brushing back her hair. “Did you finally invent something like TikTok?”

I grin. “Very close.”

“Good, now maybe you can start to live, you and your sister.”

“MOM. We just want you to be around, be healthy, and come home.”

Her eyes search mine. “And I want you to find someone to share your life with. Not just hide out here in the hospital or behind a computer screen.”

If she only knew.

* * * * *

SIX WEEKS AGO

Busted by two goons right out of The Sopranos.

I can’t believe it. My only consolation is that my best friend and partner in crime, Elissa Kim, booked it before these guys caught us.

Goon 1 and Goon 2 throw me into a wooden chair in the office of this nightclub, Purgatorio, that might look like just a watering spot for bougie Upper West Side types, but is in reality a Mafia front. Elissa and I didn’t know that when we signed up for this gig on a hackers’ job site, like a LinkedIn for hacker nerds.

And wouldn’t you know, we actually had to be in the nightclub to hack into their computer system. No sitting in Elissa’s studio apartment or the hospital lounge wreaking digital havoc.

Goon 1 turns to the Final Boss, a man right out of my wildest fantasies, at least physically. Rugged-faced, with a faint jagged scar on his cheek, dark-eyed, dark-haired, and built. Oh my God, is he built. Most guys I meet have to spend their waking hours at the gym to even try to achieve a physique that God apparently gave this man naturally.

“Marco, make sure there’s no one else with him,” the Final Boss orders in a voice that reminds me of rich dark chocolate and champagne. Most of the guys I meet are more like milk chocolate and cheap wine.

Goon 1, aka Marco, bows his head. “Don Santelli, there was someone with him, a Korean female in a hoodie that had a K-Pop band on it. But we can’t find her.”

Good. Elissa made it out of this den of iniquity safely.

Santelli…Santelli…why does that name sound so familiar?

An old memory floats to the surface. Hearing Dad rage at Mom. “No female in this family should ever have anything to do with a Santelli!”

“But Raoul…Gina was just being nice.”

“NICE? Suggesting our son should associate with theirs? It’s bad enough that that boy is gay…”

I shake off the memory as the Big Boss stares at me with those brooding eyes. No evasion. No BS. I won’t be able to sweet-talk my way out of this.

“It was my idea,” I say. “I talked her into it. We wanted the money. And the thrill. We wanted the good life, you know?”

If this man is someone my dad knew from the old days, I thank God that I’m using Mom’s name.

“Funny way to get it, stealing from the Mob,” he drawls, running a fingertip along my arm, and I suddenly feel a hot flash.

Whether he knows it or not, he is exactly my type. Powerful and confident.

“Could you turn down the heat in here?” I cross my arms. “What are you, seventy?”

He throws back his head and laughs like I’ve just told the funniest joke in the world. “I’ve been around, brat. But I’m not that old. Although some days, I wonder. I’ve seen a lot in this business. Your sense of loyalty and your sass put you in another league. You want to protect this Korean woman, eh?”

“She needed the money worse than I did,” I say truthfully. “She wants independence, and her parents are right out of a K-drama where they want her to marry some rich guy they picked out.”

“Well, Asians and Italians have a few similarities, you know,” he drawls. “Noodles…respect for the elderly…tradition…doing what’s right for the family. What’s your name, kid?”

“Vittorio. Vittorio Angeli.”

He’s going to find out my name anyway, somehow, so I better be straight with him.

His fingers cradle my chin, and I feel like he’s just wrapped a nice hot towel around my head. “Fitting. You have the face of an angel. Who hired you?”

“I don’t know who. They only use screen names on BlackHatz, and all our dealings have been online and by phone. They call me. It’s always an unknown number. I was supposed to get a hundred thousand for this deal.”

His eyebrows arch. “That’s an insult considering the job. I’ll pay you ten times that.”

My head spins. “But I got caught.”

“Oh, it’s not for that. I want you as my sugar baby.” His smoldering gaze hypnotizes me. “You want the good life, plus an occasional hacking job when I require it? Just say the word.”

“Uh…word?”

“That you’ll belong to me,” he murmurs. “As long as I want you. I’ll spoil you rotten. You won’t be working for peanuts anymore.”

No, but I can pay my mom’s medical bills and support my sister. Juilliard isn’t cheap, and that’s her dream. My nightmares about financing her music lessons and training for her audition could be a thing of the past. All I have to do is say yes.

“I want a contract,” I say in a husky voice. “You’re lucky you’re handsome.”

“I was about to say the same thing to you.”

* * * * *

The nurses arrive to transfer Mom to a private room, interrupting my reverie. We get her settled in a quiet, peaceful room that looks a little newer than the old faded one she’s been sharing with Mr. Late Night TV.

While the nurses are busy with Mom, I go out to stretch my legs. The cigar from Leo presses against my chest as I walk, and I head toward one of the outdoor smoking areas. If this isn’t a time for a cigar, I don’t know what is.

Without warning, Leo blocks my way, and my mind screams Red Alert. His face is a thunderstorm. “Vittorio Toscanini.”

My mind suddenly crashes. I can’t think straight. How did he find out who I am?

“What is this? Are you stalking me now?”

He holds up my signet ring and scowls at me just like that first encounter. “I should have realized. I should never have let you charm me when you tried to hack my club.”

Oh sh*t. I feel my ring finger. Bare. I didn’t even notice I lost the ring in Leo's office. And from the look on his face, I might need this hospital soon…or worse yet, the morgue!