But Nico simply stepped aside.
Dr. Reeves turned to him. “Mr. Vitali, the hospital board wants—”
“I don’t care what the board wants,” he said. “Whatever she needs, she gets.”
“She is already getting whatever she needs.”
He nodded once. “Good.”
Then he sat back down in a chair across from the ICU doors and remained there until dawn.
That, more than anything, unsettled the city.
Not the shooting.
Not the rumors of retaliation.
The waiting.
By morning, every criminal, cop, politician, and prosecutor in Chicago knew that Nico Vitali had not struck back yet. It was like watching thunderheads build over Lake Michigan and hearing no storm.
People started making mistakes because they were afraid of the silence.
