Chapter 4 - A Truce Sealed in Blood and Rain
"Get back inside!" Matteo roared as Nia knelt in the mud opposite him. The rain soaked through her clothes in seconds, plastering her hair to her face.
"Shut up and let me help!" Nia snapped back, her voice cutting through the howl of the wind. She immediately evaluated the dog. "He’s hit in the shoulder. It's a graze, but he's bleeding heavily and he's going into shock. Do you have a first aid kit?"
Matteo stared at her, his dark eyes wide with shock, before his expression hardened into sharp efficiency. "Inside. Now."
He scooped up the massive dog with surprising strength, carrying Thor through the open basement doors of the mansion. Nia followed closely behind, stepping into a world she had never imagined.
The basement was not a dark, dusty cellar. It was a high-tech command center lined with flickering security monitors, medical equipment, and reinforced steel walls. The woman in black—whom Matteo addressed as Elena—was frantically tapping on a keyboard, tracking the intruders' fleeing vehicle.
"Boss, they were Valenti's men," Elena reported without looking up, her voice tight. "They were looking for the drive."
"We'll handle Valenti tomorrow," Matteo said coldly, laying Thor gently onto a stainless-steel medical table. "Get the surgical kit."
For the next forty-five minutes, Nia and Matteo worked in complete, silent synchronization. Nia used her basic paramedic training from her college years to apply pressure, clean the wound, and help Matteo stitch the tear in Thor's hide. Despite the pain, Thor remained remarkably still, his intelligent eyes fixed on Nia, his tail giving a faint wag whenever she smoothed his wet forehead.
As Matteo tied off the final suture, he slumped back against a steel counter, wiping sweat and rain from his forehead with the back of his sleeve. His dark hair was plastered to his forehead, making him look younger, vulnerable, and dangerously striking.
"You're full of surprises, Miss Santos," he said quietly, his low voice echoing in the metallic room.
"I'm a mother," Nia replied, washing her bloody hands at the sink. "I handle chaos for a living. Now, are you going to tell me why men with silenced weapons are shooting up my neighborhood, or should I call the FBI?"
Matteo let out a short, humorless laugh. "The FBI wouldn't protect you from the men who were just here. In fact, calling them would put a target on your head."
He walked over to a small safe set into the wall, punched in a six-digit code, and pulled out a small, velvet-lined box. Inside lay a duplicate of the silver rattle Thor had delivered to Nia's porch days earlier.
"Those men weren't looking for money," Matteo said, staring down at the trinket. "They were looking for proof. Proof that my late brother’s family didn't die in an accident four years ago. Proof that his son... my nephew... is still alive."
Nia frowned. "What does that have to do with my son's toys?"
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Matteo looked up, his eyes dark with a mixture of grief and fierce determination. "Thor belonged to my nephew, Lorenzo. When the Valenti family attacked my brother's home, Thor buried Lorenzo's toys in the garden to protect them. He was trained to hide valuable things. When I brought him here, he began digging them up."
Matteo stepped closer to Nia, his presence overwhelming, warm, and smelling faintly of rain and cedarwood. "Thor didn't steal your son's rabbit, Nia. He thought your son was Lorenzo. He was bringing him his treasures."
