Quit the Mafia Crown, Took the Healer Scalpel Chapter 14

Quit the Mafia Crown, Took the Healer Scalpel Chapter 14

Dante really didn’t leave.

The next morning, Lina opened the door. He was standing there holding breakfast.

“Bacon sandwich, hot coffee,” he said. “From your old place. The kitchen trained three months for it.”

Lina looked at him, took the breakfast, and dropped it in the trash in front of him.

“Don’t bring any more.”

Dante nodded and said nothing.

When she finished work, he waited ten steps away, followed her car, and arrived at her building behind her.

Matteo was crouching by the apartment door. Seeing this, he jumped up. “Old man, are you a stalker?”

Dante ignored him, pulled a bag of groceries from the trunk, and went straight upstairs.

She opened the door; he followed, set the groceries down, and began washing vegetables and slicing meat.

“What are you doing?”

“Cooking,” he said without turning. “No servant. I’m your lover, and lovers cook.”

Lina watched his back as he tied an apron, at a loss for words.

The ruler of a New York underground empire, honored and exalted, was humbling himself in front of her.

Matteo pushed in. “Let me throw him out!”

Liam appeared in the doorway at some point too, watching Dante busy in the kitchen with a slight frown.

Half an hour later, a full home-cooked spread was on the table.

Beef stewed in red wine, sautéed greens, roasted lamb chops, tomato soup. All the things Lina used to love.

Dante untied the apron and stood by the table. “Try it. It might not be as good as before.”

Matteo grabbed a bite first, chewed, and his expression changed.

“How is it?” Dante asked.

Matteo swallowed, refusing to admit it. “Average.”

Lina picked up her fork and took a piece of beef.

The taste was familiar.

She remembered Dante’s first clumsy meal in that Brooklyn apartment: too salty, overdone, and she smiled

and said it was delicious.

Back then, he had eyes only for her.

Lina set down her fork and stood. “I’ve eaten. Help yourselves.”

She went into the bedroom and closed the door.

Outside, the three men looked at one another.

In the days that followed, Dante truly acted like a lover.

He drove her, cooked, cleaned. Matteo provoked him; he didn’t argue. Liam warned him; he ignored it.

Matteo circled her sweetly. “I’m younger, better looking, funnier. Consider me?”

Liam was steady, never fighting or grabbing, but every time Lina needed help, he was always the first to

appear.

“St. Andis has a fellowship slot. I can recommend you.”

“The Russo family’s medical fund can sponsor your research.”

“Whatever resources you need, just say the word.”

Dante cut in coldly. “I’m Lina’s first love and her husband. Seven years of history. What do you two have?”

Matteo sneered. “You blew the advantage of being her first love. Ex-husband, what did you do right in seven

years?”

Dante’s face went pale. He said nothing.

Lina was exhausted by the three men bickering, so she hid in the lab.

Her mentor praised her paper and recommended her for an elite fellowship, only three slots in Europe.

Lina spent every day in the lab, enjoying a few days of peace.

Until the Russo family’s banquet.

Liam invited her, saying a few investors in the medical field would be there, which would help her fellowship application.

He knew very well that only these things could move her.

The first time, the invitation worked for this reason. The second time, the same.

Lina went.

Midway through the banquet, Dante suddenly appeared.

He wore a tailored suit, hair neatly combed, looking once again like the most refined man on the East Coast.

He walked to the center of the hall and clapped his hands.

Everyone looked over.

Dante cleared his throat and spoke. “Lina is the only person I have ever loved.”

The hall fell silent.

“I was a bastard: I cheated, kept mistresses, broke her heart, and pushed her into hell.” He paused. “I deserve

to die.”

People began to whisper.

“I’ll repay her with my life. She can make me anything: servant, driver, bodyguard, dog.”

Matteo jumped up. “Your life? What is your life worth?”

Liam said quietly, “Don Conti, this is the Russo home. Not a place for your theatrics.”

Lina stood at the back of the crowd, watching Dante.

His eyes were red, searching through the crowd until they landed on her.

Everyone was looking at Lina.

She thought the men’s jealousy was badly timed, and she said nothing, turning to leave.