The Don's Doctor

A Powerful Woman

Vincent's POV

Pacing in my office, I have to get far away from her. What have I done? Ordering her to be our on-call doctor, insisting that she joins a world she had no idea about before tonight. Her reaction told me she didn’t take orders well, and with one look I felt like a demanding fool. The way she directed me to put her gloves on and play the song she wanted simply intrigued me, it wasn’t just from how she asked, but the way I complied without a thought. Toned and strong, I can’t deny that I had been admiring her physique. I never considered the amount of power a person needed to be a surgeon. The length of time she stood there without moving anything but her fingers. Despite her admirable power, it was the soft roundness of her hips, ass and thighs that I was struggling to dispel from my mind. It had taken everything in me, to check for wires without lingering. When Renzo had reached out to touch her, an insane jealousy that consumed me verged on the edge of violence. Drinking the whiskey, repels the saliva that has collected in my mouth from the thought of tracing the circumference of her suppleness with my tongue. How long had it been since I had thought of a woman? I hadn’t been with a woman for eighteen months. Moreover, I hadn’t desired one, until now. Pushing my urges to one side, I try to focus on how tired her eyes looked. Red and bloodshot from exhaustion, and maybe tears. When she looked at me as I held her shaking hands, I noticed that her eyes were a forest green, a contrast to the gray city she lived in. When she asked for her face mask to be tied, her hair brushed over my knuckles and the pleasure that came from the softness shook me to my core. The thought of anyone touching her, even my dearest friend Renzo, was beyond what I could endure, it was sending me feral as a picture it in my mind. I never got involved in the operations, but tonight was an exception. I had been in the office when she had arrived at the gate. I only went downstairs to assess if she was a risk-she was the biggest risk to me that I had ever encountered. Each time I was close to her, the subtle smell of oranges wafted from her hair. She smelt like the home my mother would describe to me from her childhood, and I knew there was nothing I wasn’t prepared to do to try and make her mine. That was when I demanded she work for us. A moment of insanity.

When she had started to operate on Michael, whose name I didn’t know until she had told me, I felt ashamed. A man, no a boy, had taken a bullet for my family and I hadn’t bothered to learn his name. I had no idea that his mother had already lost a son this year, while being loyal to me. I felt like an intruder in her world, I made commands that ruined families. I was so disconnected from it that I couldn’t put a name to the bloodshed, while she was stitching the skin back together to keep the families as whole as she could. Knowing she was seeing everything from a perspective that I had been blind to before meeting her captivated my fascination with her. She was unashamed of her vulnerability as she let me hold her while she trembled, allowed me to care for her when I wrapped my jacket around her, she wasn’t afraid of me, and I could only count her on that list. To her, I was a monstrous brute, an animal of mindless horrors, but to me, she was a saviour. The only problem was I didn’t need to be healed yet, I had to hold on to my aggression for as long as I could. Her safety was my priority, her heart was my ambition, and her healing nature was my future plan, for a time when the war had ended. Dauntingly, I realise I am consumed by her, and that’s the only explanation for giving her my black shirt.

“Boss, Michael is stable. The doctor has been with him all through the early morning. Should I send her away now?” Renzo asked.

“No. Fix her a breakfast tray, offer her one of the spare rooms for her to shower in. Afterwards, you can send her away, but I want two of our most trusted soldiers…no…I want you to personally, yet discretely, to follow her. Make sure she is…I mean…make sure she doesn’t snitch.” I order, while ignoring Renzo's speculative eyebrows. “I also want a rundown of all our soldiers and associates. I’ve been remiss in not learning their names.”

Renzo nods, and dare I say I see his mouth almost twitch into a smile? A brief encounter with only a few words exchanged, and she’s already made me want to be a better leader.

Despite the judgement on Renzo’s face, it wasn’t impractical to order some guards for Chiara, especially if she was seen leaving our house. I’m not entirely convinced that she won’t go to the cops, hopefully the ones we paid for, but how can she say she used her medical skills for the service of the mafia, and still be able to work tomorrow? That was the only reason I could think of that would prevent her from telling the authorities everything that she knew. Besides, when Viviana had gone to university I sent her with guards. It wasn’t unusual for me to protect the women we had in our lives, especially after what happened to mum.

“The new doctor seems to have done an excellent job.” Luca states, before sitting down in the chair and disguising his groan.

I only nod in agreement. There is no need to expand on the obvious.

“Shall I tell Marco to escort Michael to the safe house, until he recovers? His mother might not be too happy about not taking him to the hospital,” Luca suggests.

It was the best idea for now. I would have Marco attend to him, but this time I would tell his mother what had happened, if she would even open her door to me. I nod again to indicate my satisfaction with the solution. Realising that I had nothing else to ask him, Luca makes his way out of my office, the burner phone already in his hand.

Caution would have to be a priority for a while. Attacking Don Barone, as insignificant as the act was to me, would lead to retaliation. I have declared war, and now I have to see what side the other families would gravitate towards. Hopefully, when the other Dons saw Barone’s face, it would make the decision to keep me as an ally easier. Wherever Barone was now, I hoped he was in agony. It was only fair after the way he had allowed my family to crack under the loss of our leaders: our parents.

Valentino is screaming from the nursery on the floor above mine. He takes after his mother in the way that he is determined to be heard. I pick up my own burner phone from my top draw, and dial a number that I should have dialed long before now.

“Mrs Di Angelo, I’m afraid that Michael has been hurt in my service tonight, but he has been given medical treatment and is recovering well. Given what happened to Joey, and how I had failed to express my deepest sympathies as I should have done, I wanted to suggest some alternative prospects for your son, and younger children.” I didn’t tell her my name, it wasn’t required. The voice of a man who you hold responsible for the death of your child needs no introduction.

“I’m listening.” She answers, and I disclose my plans to keep her remaining children out of this life of danger.