Chapter 1 - The Night the Mafia Boss Found Her
Maya Hart had always believed that the worst thing Elias Conti could do was look straight through her as if she didn't exist.
She was wrong.
The moment he found her collapsed in the snow, the most feared man in Manhattan looked as though he was about to tear the entire city apart.
"Maya. Open your eyes."
She tried. His face swam in and out of focus, his black overcoat suddenly wrapped around her trembling body. He lifted her as if she weighed nothing, then turned toward the street.
"Who the hell let her walk out here alone?"
Nobody answered.
Elias's driver, Marco, jumped from the SUV and flung open the rear door. Elias carried Maya inside, climbed in beside her, and barked, "Heat. All the way up. Now!"
"Sir, the roads are—"
"Did I stutter?"
The driver slammed the door.
Elias pressed two fingers against Maya's wrist. Her pulse was frighteningly weak. Snow clung to her eyelashes, and her lips had turned a terrible shade of blue.
"Stay with me, sweetheart."
The endearment slipped out before he could stop it.
Maya's eyelids fluttered.
"Your contracts," she whispered.
For one stunned second, Elias didn't understand.
"What?"
"On your desk. I finished them."
He stared at her as if she'd confessed to a crime.
"You were working while the temperature was dropping below freezing?"
"You said they were urgent."
"They're pieces of paper!"
His voice cracked through the vehicle.
Maya flinched.
That tiny movement silenced him more effectively than a gunshot.
Elias had spent years making grown men tremble. He had never considered that his voice might frighten the quiet woman who organized his entire life.
He pulled her closer, trying to warm her hands between his palms.
"Look at me, Maya. You're not dying in my car. Do you understand?"
She managed the faintest smile.
"Wouldn't want to mess up your leather seats."
Then her head fell against his chest.
"Maya?"
Nothing.
Elias felt the world narrow to the motionless woman in his arms.
"Drive to St. Vincent's," he ordered. "And call Dr. Bennett. Tell him if he isn't waiting at the entrance, I'll buy his hospital and fire everyone inside it."
The SUV tore through the snow.
But as Elias looked down at Maya's pale face, another thought struck him.
He had watched her leave the building through the security cameras. He had seen her cross the lobby alone. He had even noticed that she hadn't taken an umbrella.
He had assumed she could take care of herself.
Now, as he rubbed warmth back into her frozen fingers, he realized something that made his stomach turn.
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Someone had switched off the building's outdoor security cameras exactly eleven minutes before Maya left.
And Elias Conti didn't believe in coincidences.
