No Nurse Lasted a Week with the Ruthless Mafia Boss — Until the Poor Nurse Broke the Rules
Chapter 2
By breakfast, Mia had already packed her bag.
She expected to be fired.
Instead, Adrian’s head of security, Marcus Vale, found her in the servants’ kitchen.
“You.”
Mia turned.
“Yes?”
“Mr. Bellini wants you upstairs.”
She looked at the clock.
“Now?”
“Now.”
Mia followed him through the mansion.
The Bellini estate was enormous.
Black stone.
Tall windows.
Security cameras hidden behind decorative fixtures.
Men in dark suits stationed at every entrance.
Mia had never worked anywhere like it.
She had grown up in a two-bedroom apartment with her mother and younger brother.
Her nursing degree had come with scholarships, loans, and years of working double shifts.
She had accepted the Bellini job because it paid more than any hospital in the city.
She needed the money.
Her mother’s rent was overdue.
Her brother was about to lose his place at college.
Mia couldn’t afford to quit.
Adrian was standing beside the windows when she entered.
He wore a black shirt with the sleeves rolled to his forearms.
A bandage covered his temple.
He looked completely different from the unconscious man on the bathroom floor.
Controlled.
Cold.
Dangerously calm.
“You entered my private suite.”
“Yes.”
“Without permission.”
“Yes.”
“You touched me.”
“You were unconscious.”
“You ignored my orders.”
“Yes.”
Adrian stared at her.
Mia swallowed.
“Are you going to fire me?”
“No.”
That surprised her.
“Why?”
“Because you kept me alive.”
Mia blinked.
Adrian walked toward her.
“You noticed something the others missed.”
“What?”
“You realized I wasn’t drunk.”
Mia remembered the smell of his breath.
“No alcohol.”
“Exactly.”
“Did you take something?”
“No.”
“Were you poisoned?”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“That is what we’re trying to determine.”
Mia suddenly understood.
“You think someone in this house hurt you.”
“I know someone tried.”
She looked toward the door.
“Why keep me here?”
“Because you saw me unconscious.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“It does.”
Mia stared at him.
Adrian lowered his voice.
“Everyone in this house has worked for me for years.”
“And?”
“And I don’t know who I can trust.”
Mia’s stomach tightened.
He stepped closer.
“You weren’t supposed to be here.”
“I know.”
“You weren’t supposed to see anything.”
“I know.”
“You didn’t know the rules.”
Mia frowned.
“I knew the rules.”
“Then why did you break them?”
She looked directly into his eyes.
“Because you were dying.”
Silence.
Adrian studied her.
Then he said something she didn’t expect.
“Good answer.”
