Page 76 of The Broker

I pat him clean and tie his hands behind his back. Valentina waits until he’s immobilized, and then she rushes down the stairs. I’m at her heels.

Bianca Di Palma is sitting on a narrow cot, cradling a still-unconscious Angelica in her lap. A sob erupts from her throat when she realizes we aren’t Revenant. “Romano?”

“He’s alive.” I’m more concerned about Angelica. “Is she. . .?”

“She never woke up.”

Valentina’s fingers are clamped around Angelica’s wrist, her face white with fear. “Her breathing is labored,” she says. “And her pulse feels very irregular. Dante, I think she needs a hospital.”

40

VALENTINA

We fly Angelica back to Venice and race her into the ER. The doctors whisk her away immediately to run a battery of tests. “What did she ingest?” one of them asks me urgently. “Do you know?”

I don’t, but Leo does. It seems he found the aerosol can when he went back to deal with Andreas’s body, and instead of heading to a hospital, he rushed it to a lab so they could analyze what was in it.

That decision saves Angelica’s life. The doctors give her a drug to counter the toxin’s effects and place her under observation. I refuse to leave her hospital room, and so does Dante.

It’s three in the morning when Angelica stirs and opens her eyes. “Mama?”

I swallow the sob in my throat. She’s awake. She recognizes me. “Hey, kiddo. What’s four plus five?”

“Nine.” She gives me a puzzled look, and her gaze pivots to Dante. “Uncle Dante? Where am I? What’s happening?”

Dante doesn’t get a chance to answer. A nurse comes rushing into the room, followed by a doctor. After a long examination, they pronounce her okay. “We’re going to keep her in the hospital for at least another night,” the lead doctor tells us while the nurse gives Angelica something to drink. “And then she can go home.”

I bury my head in my hands and let the tears fall freely. Dante places a comforting hand on my shoulder, and then he’s gone.

At five in the morning, Leo comes to relieve me. “Go home and get some sleep,” he says bluntly. “You look dead on your feet.” He looks at Angelica’s sleeping face and then at me. “I’m sorry. My failure led to this. I understand if you can never forgive me—”

I cut him off. “Thank you for getting that aerosol. If you hadn’t. . .” I don’t even want to think about what would have happened if Leo hadn’t done that. “You saved her life.”

“No, I didn’t,” he corrects. “That was Dante.”

“I know,” I whisper. For all his assurances, I have no faith that Revenant would have returned my daughter unharmed. If Dante hadn’t taken charge, if he hadn’t held it together, we would have never found Angelica in time. “Where is he now?”

He didn’t stay with me. He waited until he knew Angelica would be okay and then made himself scarce.

Because he thought I wouldn’t want him around.

But if there’s one thing I’ve learned tonight, it’s that Dante is as essential to me as air and water. As essential as Angelica is. I can’t live without him.

Leo makes a face. “The office, where else? I tried suggesting he go to bed, and I got my head bitten off.”

“And Revenant? Is he still alive?”

“For the moment. He’s also at headquarters. I don’t know if Dante’s questioning him or—”

“I want to go there.”

Leo starts to protest and then stops himself. “I’ll give Tomas a call. He’ll escort you there. He’s handy with a weapon.”

“Tomas?” I ask doubtfully. “Our mild-mannered accountant?”

“He has hidden depths.”

Tomas escorts me to headquarters. “I hear they’re going to discharge Angelica tomorrow,” he says quietly as we take a speedboat across the lagoon. “I’m glad she’s going to be okay. How are you doing?”