Vincent slept for almost sixteen hours.
When he woke, he wanted three things.
Water.
His phone.
And everyone out of his bedroom except Leo Rossi and Olivia Hayes.
Dr. Brent objected to all three.
Vincent got the water.
He did not get the phone.
And after a fifteen-minute argument, he got the room.
Olivia stood near the fireplace.
"Why am I here?"
Vincent's voice was rough.
"Because apparently you're smarter than my doctors."
"One medication interaction doesn't make me smarter than twelve specialists."
"No. Knowing when to speak does."
Olivia almost laughed.
"They threw me out."
"I heard."
Her smile disappeared.
"You heard?"
"Not much. Pieces."
"While unconscious?"
"Sedated isn't always unconscious."
Leo moved closer.
"What do you remember?"
Vincent stared at the ceiling.
"Someone talking."
"Who?"
"Couldn't tell."
"Male? Female?"
"Female."
Olivia and Leo exchanged a glance.
"Nurse Carter?"
"Maybe."
Vincent swallowed.
"I remember cold in the IV."
Leo's jaw tightened.
"Anything else?"
"Perfume."
"What kind?"
Vincent closed his eyes.
"Orange blossom."
Olivia remembered something.
The night Vincent coded, she'd noticed a faint citrus scent around the medication cart.
At the time she'd assumed it belonged to one of the nurses.
Leo saw her expression.
"What?"
"Carter."
"You remember perfume?"
"She walked past me several times. It was sweet. Citrus."
Vincent looked at her.
"Find her."
Leo nodded.
"We're trying."
"No police."
Olivia rolled her eyes.
Vincent noticed.
"Problem?"
"You're trying to solve attempted murder without involving the people whose job is solving attempted murder."
"I am the reason half those people have jobs."
"That isn't reassuring."
Leo covered a smile.
Vincent studied Olivia.
"How much do you still owe?"
She stiffened.
"Why?"
"Answer."
"Seventeen thousand eight hundred."
"Not anymore."
Olivia stared.
"What?"
"Debt's gone."
"No."
Now Vincent looked confused.
"No?"
"You don't get to erase it because I saved you."
"That's generally how gratitude works."
"I don't want gratitude."
"What do you want?"
Olivia had dreamed about this question for two years.
She had imagined screaming.
Demanding money.
Demanding apologies.
Instead, the answer came quietly.
"My life back."
Vincent watched her.
"I want to finish school."
"Then finish."
"I want to leave this house without wondering whether someone is following me."
"Done."
"I want my father's debt to end because I paid it, not because you decided I earned my freedom by keeping you alive."
Something changed in Vincent's expression.
"Why does that matter?"
"Because I don't want another thing from you that I have to call mercy."
Silence filled the bedroom.
Leo looked away.
Vincent stared at Olivia for a long time.
"Fine."
She hadn't expected that.
"Fine?"
"Your wages increase."
"What?"
"Triple."
"Vincent—"
"You finish the debt."
She narrowed her eyes.
"At triple wages?"
"Do you want to negotiate downward?"
"No."
"Then we're done."
A reluctant smile touched her mouth.
"You're impossible."
"So I've been told."
The conversation might have ended there.
But Olivia had another question.
"The bomb."
Vincent's face hardened.
"What about it?"
"You said it wasn't supposed to kill you."
Leo crossed his arms.
"I'd also like that explained."
Vincent stared toward the windows.
"The SUV wasn't supposed to be occupied."
"What?"
"I received a warning twenty minutes before departure."
Leo stepped forward.
"You never told me."
"I didn't know who I could trust."
"Me?"
"Especially you."
Pain flashed across Leo's face.
Vincent continued.
"The message said the vehicle would be hit as a warning. I changed cars."
Leo stared.
"Then why were you in the SUV?"
"My replacement car wouldn't start."
"Sabotaged?"
"Probably."
"So someone warned you about the bomb and then made sure you were inside the vehicle anyway."
"Yes."
Olivia understood.
"Two people."
Vincent looked at her.
"Maybe."
"One person wanted the bombing to look dramatic but not kill you. Another person hijacked the plan and made it lethal."
Leo paced toward the window.
"And when the bomb failed, somebody sent Carter."
"Or Carter was already planted," Olivia said.
Vincent's gaze sharpened.
"How long had she been here?"
"Five days before the explosion."
Vincent nodded slowly.
"Then the attack was planned in layers."
Leo's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
"We found Carter."
"Alive?" Vincent asked.
"Yes."
"Where?"
"Providence."
Olivia exhaled.
Leo continued listening.
Then cursed.
"What?"
"She's in a hospital."
Vincent frowned.
"Why?"
"Car accident."
Olivia felt a chill.
"Accident?"
Leo hung up.
"Hit-and-run. Somebody ran her off the road."
Vincent gave a humorless smile.
"People around me are having terrible luck with cars."
Leo left for Providence.
Vincent's recovery continued slowly.
Olivia returned to work, but things had changed.
Guards greeted her by name.
Doctors asked her questions.
The same nurse who had called her "honey" now brought her coffee.
Olivia hated how quickly respect appeared after powerful men decided she deserved it.
Three days later, Vincent took his first assisted steps.
Olivia happened to be changing flowers when he tried.
His knees buckled.
A physical therapist caught him.
Vincent cursed.
"Again."
"You need rest."
"Again."
Olivia watched.
He noticed.
"Enjoying this?"
"A little."
"Sadist."
"Occupational hazard."
The therapist hid a smile.
Vincent managed four steps.
Then six.
By the end of the week, he could sit near the windows.
His body was still weak, but the man inside it was returning.
So was his temper.
One evening Olivia brought medication from the nurse.
Vincent eyed the pills suspiciously.
"You checked those?"
She stared.
"You're asking your maid to verify your doctors?"
"I'm asking my pharmacology student."
"Former."
"Temporary."
Olivia checked.
"Fine."
Vincent swallowed them.
"Happy?"
"Thrilled."
She turned to leave.
"Olivia."
She stopped.
"Thank you."
No sarcasm.
No command.
Just two words.
She looked back.
"You're welcome."
For a moment, Vincent Costa wasn't a crime boss.
Olivia wasn't his indebted maid.
They were simply two people who had unexpectedly become important to each other.
Then Leo returned.
His expression destroyed the moment.
"Carter woke up."
Vincent straightened.
"Did she talk?"
"One sentence."
"What?"
Leo looked toward Olivia.
"She said the maid is next."
Olivia's blood went cold.
Vincent's face became terrifyingly calm.
"Where is Carter now?"
"Dead."
"What happened?"
"Cardiac arrest."
Olivia whispered, "Poison?"
Leo nodded.
"Looks that way."
Vincent's hand tightened around the arm of his chair.
Whoever had tried to kill him was cleaning up witnesses.
And now Olivia's name had been spoken by a dying woman.
Vincent looked toward the guard.
"Double security."
Olivia shook her head.
"No."
Vincent turned.
"No?"
"I'm not hiding."
"You're not being brave. You're being stupid."
"I'm being practical. If someone wants me dead, locking me in a bedroom doesn't tell us who."
Leo understood first.
"You want to use yourself as bait."
Vincent's expression hardened.
"Absolutely not."
Olivia looked at him.
"You don't own me anymore, remember?"
Something almost like fear appeared behind Vincent's anger.
"No," he said. "I don't."
Then he looked toward the darkening ocean.
"But somebody wants you dead because you saved me."
His gaze returned to hers.
"And that makes you my responsibility."