Chapter 6 - A Dangerous Invitation
"How did you get into my car?" Mia demanded, trying to keep her voice steady as she sat behind the steering wheel, locking the doors from the inside.
"I own the security company that contracts this hospital's parking garage, Doctor," Nick’s voice came through the speaker, calm and unbothered. "It wasn't difficult to ensure my roses reached their destination safely."
"You're trespassing on personal boundaries," Mia retorted, though her pulse was hammering a frantic, intoxicating rhythm against her wrists. "I don't even know your last name."
"You know my face," Nick replied smoothly. "And you know I'm the only thing standing between you and whatever was about to happen to you in that club. Are you free for dinner, Mia?"
"Dinner?" Mia let out a harsh, disbelieving laugh. "Mr.— whoever you are—I am a married woman going through a messy divorce, and you are... well, whatever it is you do in the underworld. I don't date mob bosses."
"Who said anything about dating?" Nick’s voice dropped an octave, turning dark and serious. "I'm offering you a distraction from the cage you've built for yourself. Meet me at The Obsidian Grill at eight o'clock. Wear something that doesn't smell like antiseptic."
The line clicked dead before she could refuse.
Mia sat in the dark car for five full minutes, staring at the black rose. Every logical instinct in her brain—every fiber of her medical training and her compulsive need for order and safety—screamed at her to put the car in reverse, drive home, lock every deadbolt, and throw the card into the incinerator.
Instead, at 7:55 PM, Mia walked past the valet of The Obsidian Grill—a private, ultra-exclusive dining club located in a converted nineteenth-century bank vault downtown.
May you like
The maitre d' didn't even ask for a reservation. He simply bowed his head and murmured, "Mr. Salvatore is expecting you in the private mezzanine, Dr. Vance."
---
