Chapter 3 - The Blood on the Ivory SheetLuca froze in the doorway.
A sound tore from his chest.
It was the sound of a wounded predator.
“Sienna!”
He rushed to the bed.
He fell to his knees on the carpet.
His large hands hovered over her, shaking violently.
He was afraid to touch her.
Afraid that she was already gone.
I pushed past him.
There was no time for mafia hierarchy.
There was only life and death.
“Move, sir! Let me see her!”
Luca looked up, his eyes bloodshot, and scrambled back.
I dropped to my knees beside the bed.
The blood was coming from her mouth.
She had bitten her tongue during a seizure.
I pressed two fingers against her neck.
Nothing.
No pulse.
“Is she dead?” Luca choked out.
The mighty Chicago mob boss looked like a terrified child.
“Her heart stopped,” I said quickly. “Help me pull her to the floor. CPR doesn't work on a soft mattress.”
Luca grabbed her shoulders.
I took her legs.
We laid her flat on the hard oak floor.
“Daniel!” Luca roared down the hall. “Call the trauma team! Bring the defibrillator from the gym!”
I knelt over the girl.
I tilted her head back.
I cleared the blood from her airway with my sleeve.
Then I laced my fingers together.
I placed my palms directly over the center of her chest.
One. Two. Three. Four.
I pressed hard.
Two inches deep.
One hundred beats a minute.
Her ribs creaked beneath my hands.
“Come on, Sienna,” I muttered through clenched teeth. “Come on, breathe.”
Five. Six. Seven. Eight.
Sweat dripped from my forehead.
My muscles burned.
Luca watched every compression.
His hands were clenched into white fists.
“Breathe, Sienna,” he whispered. “Please, baby sister. Breathe.”
Ten. Eleven. Twelve.
Daniel rushed into the bedroom holding a red emergency case.
“AED is here, boss!”
“Open it!” I shouted without stopping compressions.
Daniel ripped open the automated external defibrillator.
He tore open the sticky pads.
“Where do they go?” Daniel asked frantically.
“Right upper chest! Left ribcage below the armpit!”
Daniel slapped the pads onto her bare, pale skin.
The machine beeped loudly.
Analyzing heart rhythm. Do not touch the patient.
I pulled my hands back immediately.
My chest heaved.
The room fell dead silent except for the mechanical voice.
Shock advised. Charging.
Luca reached out to touch her arm.
“Don't touch her!” I yelled.
Luca yanked his hand back.
Stand clear.
A loud tone sounded.
Delivering shock in three, two, one.
THUMP.
Sienna's small body jerked upward.
Her chest arched.
Then she collapsed back onto the floor.
The room went silent again.
I leaned over her face.
Nothing.
No breath.
Begin CPR.
I placed my hands back on her sternum immediately.
One. Two. Three. Four.
“Come on!” I sobbed. “Fight it!”
I gave two quick rescue breaths into her cold lips.
Then back to compressions.
Suddenly, Sienna gasped.
A sharp, violent intake of air.
Her chest hitched.
Her eyelids fluttered open.
She began to cough weakly, spitting blood onto the floor.
I turned her quickly onto her left side in the recovery position.
“Clear her mouth,” I instructed Luca. “Don't let her choke.”
Luca used his own linen handkerchief to wipe the blood from her face.
Tears streamed down his cheeks.
“I have you,” he whispered to her. “Luca is here. You're safe.”
Sienna’s weak eyes found mine.
“Hurts...” she whimpered.
“I know, honey,” I whispered back, brushing hair from her damp forehead. “The poison is clearing. Help is coming.”
Downstairs, the front doors slammed open again.
Paramedics and Luca's private medical team poured into the mansion.
They took over within seconds.
They pushed an IV into her arm.
They pumped fluids and antidotes into her veins.
They lifted her onto a transport gurney.
Luca stood up slowly.
His white shirt was smeared with his sister's blood.
His eyes had changed.
The fear was gone.
Now, there was only ice.
He turned toward the open doorway.
Down the hall, standing in the shadows, was Vanessa.
She was holding her cell phone to her ear.
She was whispering frantically into the receiver.
I listened carefully through the chaos.
May you like
Her words chilled me to the bone.
“He knows,” Vanessa whispered into the phone. “The maid saved her. Send the men now, Uncle Bernardo. Burn the house down.”
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