Chapter 3 - The Dawn of the Unbroken
By 4:00 a.m., the mansion had finally fallen into a tense, drunken silence. The captains had temporarily resolved their dispute, agreeing to split the city into territories until a formal vote could be held after the funeral. Most of them had left to secure their respective turfs, leaving only a skeleton crew of guards loyal to Carmine to watch the estate.
Matilda had not stopped.
For over four hours, she had remained by Gabriel’s side, monitoring his shallow breathing. Whenever his pulse began to falter, she would gently compress his chest or breathe life back into him, keeping the delicate flame of his existence from blowing out.
But she was reaching the limit of her endurance. Her body was trembling from sheer exhaustion, and she knew she couldn't keep him alive on CPR alone. He needed medical intervention. He needed Dr. Vale.
She slipped out of the master bedroom, her eyes scanning the dimly lit corridor. The mansion felt different now—hostile, empty, like a castle occupied by invading soldiers.
She crept down the back staircase, avoiding the squeaky steps she had memorized over her years of cleaning. She knew where Dr. Vale was. He had been ordered by Carmine to stay in the guest house overnight in case any "emergencies" arose during the leadership transition.
Matilda crossed the frozen lawn, the biting wind cutting through her thin uniform. She reached the guest house and knocked softly on the door.
It opened a crack, revealing the pale, bloodshot eyes of Dr. Harrison Vale. He looked like a man who had already started drinking away his sins.
"What do you want?" he muttered, recognizing her. "The boss is dead, girl. Go back to your quarters."
Matilda didn't speak. She simply placed her large hand on the door and pushed. Despite his efforts to resist, her sheer physical strength forced the door open. She stepped inside and closed it behind her, locking it.
"He's alive," she said, her voice a low, steady whisper.
Vale stared at her as if she had lost her mind. "Are you insane? I pronounced him myself. The heart stopped. The monitors flatlined."
"He is breathing," Matilda repeated, stepping closer, her shadow engulfing the slender doctor. "His heart is beating. I've been keeping him alive for four hours. If you don't come with me right now and help him, I will go downstairs and tell Carmine Russo that you faked the boss’s death to help his enemies."
Vale’s face went entirely white. "You wouldn't."
"I have nothing to lose, Doctor," Matilda said, her brown eyes burning with a fierce, quiet intensity he had never seen in her before. "But you do. If Carmine thinks you lied to him, you won't survive the sunrise."
The threat was simple, direct, and entirely effective. Vale swallowed hard, grabbed his medical bag, and followed her out into the freezing night.
When they returned to the master bedroom, Vale rushed to the bedside. He pulled out his stethoscope and pressed it to Gabriel's chest. His eyes widened in absolute disbelief.
"My God," Vale whispered. "It's... it's a miracle. The hypothermia from the room's temperature... it must have slowed his metabolic rate, protecting his brain from oxygen deprivation while you... while you did compressions." He looked up at Matilda, a newfound respect in his eyes. "You kept him from brain death."
"Can you save him?" she asked.
"He needs a ventilator, pressors, anti-arrhythmics," Vale said frantically. "But we can't move him to a hospital. If Carmine finds out—"
"We keep him here," Matilda said. "Under the sheet. Carmine and his men are drunk. They won't check the body again until the undertaker arrives at noon. We have eight hours."
May you like
"And then what?" Vale asked, his hands trembling as he drew a syringe of epinephrine from his bag. "When the undertaker comes, they'll see he's breathing."
"We won't let the undertaker take him," Matilda said, a plan starting to form in her mind. "We're going to steal him."
