"The Mafia Boss Caught the Nurse Before She Hit the Pavement, but the Bruises Under Her Sleeve Made Him Break His Most Dangerous Rule

"We absolutely need to move him right now!" Hannah screamed loudly, her extensive medical training entirely taking over her rising panic.

Marco scooped Damen's massive, bleeding frame completely off the cold ground with a loud grunt of intense physical exertion.

They rushed him frantically into the spacious back seat of the armored sedan, the heavy tires squealing violently against the wet pavement.

"We cannot go to a public city hospital, the Volkovs have deadly eyes literally everywhere," Marco yelled frantically from the front driver's seat.

"Take us straight back to the secure penthouse, I will keep him alive myself," Hannah ordered with absolute, unshakable authority.

She tore completely open Damen's ruined white shirt, applying intense, agonizing pressure directly to the bleeding gunshot wound near his strong shoulder.

The heavy bullet had miraculously missed his heart by mere inches, but the rapid blood loss was absolutely catastrophic.

Damen drifted dangerously in and out of consciousness, softly murmuring a delicate name Hannah did not recognize at all.

"Sophia," he whispered repeatedly into the darkness, his handsome face terribly pale and slick with freezing sweat.

Hannah kept her bloody hands firmly pressed against his torn flesh, praying desperately to a God she had almost forgotten.

They finally reached the highly secure underground garage, carrying him directly up into the penthouse's private, fully equipped medical suite.

Hannah barked strict orders at the terrifying mobsters, instantly transforming the hardened killers into her makeshift surgical assistants.

She rapidly sterilized her surgical equipment, located the deeply buried bullet with precise hands, and extracted it with pure, stubborn determination.

Agonizing hours passed slowly before she finally finished suturing the ugly wound and starting a life-saving intravenous fluid drip.

She collapsed exhaustedly into a chair directly beside his bed, completely drained and entirely covered in his drying blood.

The morning sun began to rise slowly over Chicago, casting a bright, golden glow across Damen's peaceful, sleeping face.

Hannah gently brushed a stray, damp lock of dark hair away from his terribly feverish forehead.

His thick, dark eyelashes fluttered softly, and those incredibly intense gray eyes slowly opened to finally meet hers.

"You brilliantly saved my miserable life," he rasped weakly, his deep voice barely more than a rough, painful whisper.

"You bravely took a lethal bullet for me first," she replied softly, a watery, beautiful smile breaking through her immense exhaustion.

Damen slowly lifted his heavy, uninjured arm, weaving his large, warm fingers gently through hers on the white sheets.

The dangerous mafia boss looked entirely vulnerable for the first time in his life, violently stripping away the terrifying mask he wore for the criminal underworld.

Suddenly, the heavy oak doors of the private medical suite burst open with a violent, shattering crash.

Lorenzo, Damen's highly ambitious and exceptionally cruel underboss, marched into the bloody room with his customized weapon drawn.