Chapter 38: Cold Room.
The room was the definition of understated luxury—warm lighting, modern furniture, and minimalist decor that contrasted with the sprawling estate’s old-world grandeur. The air carried the faint scent of fresh linen and medicine, though the AC kept the room chilly.
Salvatore sat in bed, propped up against a pile of pillows, the duvet pulled up to his waist. A bandage wrapped around his head, another stretched across his chest and shoulder, hidden partially beneath the oversized black T-shirt he wore. His usually neat hair had lost its disciplined shape, now falling in messy, sad waves around his face. A movie—a classic murder mystery—played on the flat-screen TV mounted on the opposite wall.
A soft knock at the door pulled him from his thoughts.
“Come in,” he cal
