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Chapter 4

Author: Sylvie Wells
Sofia's eyes filled instantly.

"Dante, are you questioning me?"

His brows drew together.

"I'm asking one question."

"There was gunfire everywhere. You were bleeding. I wasn't thinking about knots."

A tear slipped down her cheek.

Dante's voice softened by habit.

"All right. Forget I asked."

I was not surprised.

Whenever Sofia cried, the questions ended.

But after the party, Dante went to Dr. Harris's office.

The doctor opened the emergency file from Pier 19.

"You had already been treated before your men brought you in," he said. "Someone packed the wound, wrapped it in red silk, and tied a reverse locking hitch."

"Sofia said she did it."

Dr. Harris shook his head.

"Miss Sofia is right-handed. The knot was tied left-handed. The pressure tail ran inward."

Dante's expression changed.

"You're sure?"

"I spent twenty-two years as a Navy trauma surgeon. I'm sure."

The doctor turned another page.

"Your rescuer also had a deep cut across her right palm. We found a second blood type soaked into the silk."

Dante remembered my hand when I returned his pendant.

A pale scar crossed my right palm.

He left the clinic and drove directly to the Rossi house.

Sofia met him in the foyer.

"Show me your hands," he said.

Her face tightened.

"Why?"

He said nothing.

At last, she held them out.

Both palms were smooth without any scars.

"What did you use to wrap my leg?" he asked.

"Part of my dress."

"What color was it?"

She hesitated.

"It was years ago. I don't remember."

Dante did.

When he woke at the dock, a blood-soaked red thread had been caught around his fingers.

He had always assumed it came from Sofia's dress.

But the yacht party photographs showed her in ivory.

"How did my pendant end up in Eva's room?"

Sofia's tears returned.

"You would rather believe her than me?"

This time, Dante did not comfort her.

As he left the drawing room, he sent a message to his men.

[Find the official photographs from the yacht party at Pier 19 three years ago.]

The Rossi housekeeper was walking him to the front door when his phone vibrated.

His men had sent him an archived society-page photograph taken at the marina shortly before the shooting.

Sofia stood near the center in an ivory dress.

Beside her, I was wearing a red one.

Dante enlarged the photograph.

Then he turned to the housekeeper.

“Do you remember what Eva was wearing when she came home from the yacht party at Pier 19 three years ago?”

The woman glanced toward the drawing room before lowering her voice.

"Miss Eva frightened us when she came home that night," she said. "Her red dress was torn. Her hands and knees were covered in blood. And she kept saying she had saved you."

The housekeeper sighed.

"Mr. Rossi thought she was trying to take credit from her sister. The staff who supported her story were dismissed."

The words struck Dante silent.

I had told him the truth.

He had chosen not to believe me.

He crossed the house toward the rear courtyard.

Then he stopped beneath the archway.

The gardener's young daughter sat on a stone bench with tears on her cheeks.

She had scraped her knee on the gravel.

I knelt in front of her with a first-aid kit open beside me.

"Hold still, Lucy. I'm almost done."

I pressed gauze over the cut, wrapped the bandage, and turned the final loop inward.

My left hand tied the knot.

Reverse lock.

Pressure tail facing in.

The exact knot from Pier 19.

Dante went still.

Three years earlier, a woman's voice had kept him conscious behind the shipping crates.

He had never been able to remember her face.

Now the voice was clear.

I sent Lucy back to her father and closed the first-aid kit.

When I rose, Dante was in front of me.

"Let me see your hand."

"What?"

He caught it before I could move away.

His grip was firm but careful.

He turned my right palm upward.

The old scar lay pale beneath the courtyard lights.

Dante stared at it.

His eyes slowly reddened.

"Pier 19..."

His voice broke.

"You were the one who saved me, weren't you?"

Before I could answer, a man's voice came from the doorway behind him.

"Brother, don't you think holding my fiancée's hand is a little inappropriate?"
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  • His Mistaken Savior   Chapter 8

    Two days after the birthday dinner, St. Catherine’s called me in for a formal review.The hospital’s ethics director sat across from me. Dante represented the Caruso Foundation. Nico had submitted his recusal in writing, but he attended at my request.The director opened a file.“Miss Rossi, we received a report alleging that you asked Mr. Nico Caruso to influence the admissions committee.”“I didn’t.”She glanced at Dante.He did not ask Nico to confirm my answer.He did not ask me for evidence.“You heard her,” he said.“We still have to investigate.”“Then investigate the allegation,” Dante replied. “Don’t treat it as fact simply because it came from a donor.”The director folded her hands.“The Caruso Foundation helps fund this program.”“As of today, the foundation will have no involvement in admissions. Its funding will continue regardless of the committee’s decision.”His gaze met mine.“Eva’s application should stand or fail on its own.”A week later, the review was complete.T

  • His Mistaken Savior   Chapter 7

    I held Sofia’s gaze.“Then say it here.”Her smile tightened.“You’ve always enjoyed making a scene. I’m trying to spare you one.”She turned toward the terrace doors.I followed her outside.The terrace overlooked the gardens behind the Rossi estate. Music drifted through the glass doors, softened by the cold night air.Sofia stopped beside the stone steps.“Tell Dante I didn’t know what you had done for him at Pier 19.”“He already knows what happened.”“He thinks I deceived him.”“You knew he was wrong, and you let him stay wrong.”“I brought the doctor.”“And I kept him alive until you did.”Her mouth tightened.“Then tell him it was a misunderstanding. Tell St. Catherine’s I called because I was concerned about you.”“You tried to make them question my integrity.”“I warned them how your engagement to Nico might look.”“You made sure it looked suspicious.”“I was protecting this family.”“No. You were protecting yourself.”For a moment, neither of us spoke.Then Sofia stepped clos

  • His Mistaken Savior   Chapter 6

    Dante did not leave me alone.Flowers arrived at my apartment the next morning.I sent them to the hospital across the street.The following day, he called.I let it ring.On the third day, he came himself, carrying a hazelnut latte.I did not let him past the lobby.He held it out to me.“I thought you might like this.”I glanced at the label but did not take it.After a moment, he set it on the lobby table."You said you wanted nothing from me," he said."I meant it.""You used to want everything."It was true in my first life.I had wanted him to come home and have dinner with me. I had wanted him to love me, even a little. And when the whole world believed the worst of me, I had wanted my husband to be the one person who believed me.Yet I had spent seven years teaching myself to want less from him.Now I knew better than to want anything at all.“Not anymore,” I said.The elevator doors opened behind me.Nico stepped out carrying a folder and two coffees.“Black. No sugar.” He han

  • His Mistaken Savior   Chapter 5

    Dante's fingers loosened around my hand.I pulled free.Nico crossed the courtyard and stopped beside me. He was pale from the cold, but nothing about the way he faced his brother seemed fragile."I asked you a question," he said.Dante ignored him.His eyes stayed on the scar across my palm."You tied that knot."It was no longer a question."So what if it was me?" I asked. "And what if it wasn't?"His jaw tightened."It changes everything.""Not for me."The words landed harder than I expected.In my first life, I had spent years waiting for this moment. I had imagined his apology, his regret, the look on Sofia's face when he finally believed me.Now that it had come, I felt nothing but tired."Why didn't you tell me?" Dante asked.I almost laughed."I did."I had told him until my parents called me obsessed. I had shown him the pendant. I had asked him to remember the red dress and the woman who kept pressure on his wound while bullets struck the shipping containers.He had remember

  • His Mistaken Savior   Chapter 4

    Sofia's eyes filled instantly."Dante, are you questioning me?"His brows drew together."I'm asking one question.""There was gunfire everywhere. You were bleeding. I wasn't thinking about knots."A tear slipped down her cheek.Dante's voice softened by habit."All right. Forget I asked."I was not surprised.Whenever Sofia cried, the questions ended.But after the party, Dante went to Dr. Harris's office.The doctor opened the emergency file from Pier 19."You had already been treated before your men brought you in," he said. "Someone packed the wound, wrapped it in red silk, and tied a reverse locking hitch.""Sofia said she did it."Dr. Harris shook his head."Miss Sofia is right-handed. The knot was tied left-handed. The pressure tail ran inward."Dante's expression changed."You're sure?""I spent twenty-two years as a Navy trauma surgeon. I'm sure."The doctor turned another page."Your rescuer also had a deep cut across her right palm. We found a second blood type soaked into t

  • His Mistaken Savior   Chapter 3

    Donna Caruso's birthday dinner was held at the family's private club in Manhattan.That night, the family council considered both engagements.Sofia sat beside Dante.I was seated near the far end of the table.My mother leaned close before dinner began."Sofia and Dante are officially engaged. Please don't make trouble tonight."When Donna Caruso asked about their wedding date, Sofia blushed.The table filled with teasing and congratulations.Then Donna Caruso looked toward me."And what of Eva and Nico?"My father answered too quickly."There is no need to rush. Eva can be impulsive. She should have time to reconsider."Don Caruso set down his glass."When Sofia chooses Dante, you call it devotion. When Eva chooses Nico, you call it impulse?"My father's face stiffened.Before he could reply, Sofia's attendant gave a startled cry.A wineglass tipped over.Dark red wine spread across the front of Sofia's cream dress.Dante stood at once and handed her his napkin.Then he looked at me.

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