Chapter 4

Marco and Tony had barely left when Angelina stormed into my hospital room. Behind her, several bodyguards carried a pale-looking middle-aged woman.

"Eric! Where the hell are you? Get over here!" Angelina's shrill voice echoed down the corridor.

Eric, who'd been briefing his men in the next room, rushed over. "Darling, what's wrong? What's got you so upset?"

"What's wrong? Maria Rossi, the nanny who raised me from birth, just collapsed from exhaustion!" Angelina jabbed a finger at me, then at the VIP suite with the best monitoring equipment in New York. "I want her in this room! Now. Get this woman out!"

The attending physician and head nurse went pale and rushed to intervene. "Ms. Astalotta, absolutely not! Ms. Moretti just underwent emergency treatment. Her gunshot wound could hemorrhage at any moment, and her brain... Her condition is critical. She needs to remain in this ICU suite under continuous monitoring!"

"Critical? What's so critical about her? She's just some lowlife who takes bullets for a man." Angelina scoffed, her eyes dripping with contempt. "Maria's life is worth ten thousand of hers! Eric, have you gone mute? Are you really going to defy me?!"

A flash of agonized conflict crossed Eric's eyes. And in that instant, his thoughts crashed into my mind with devastating clarity:

[What the hell is wrong with Angelina now? Maria is just a nanny. She fainted from low blood sugar. Put her in a regular room with a glucose drip and she'd be fine. And now she wants to take the Moretti Family's private VIP suite! Everyone's watching. She's deliberately humiliating me in front of my people, forcing me to choose!]

[But... I can't refuse her. If I make her truly angry, my position as Don is finished! Selena, I'm sorry. You've always cared about me more than anyone. You'll understand, won't you? Just take it for me. Once I have the power, I'll find you the best doctors in the country. I'll make up for every bit of this!]

Hearing his calculations, my stomach heaved with nausea.

When weighed against absolute power and profit, my life, my pain, meant less to him than Angelina's nanny with low blood sugar.

"Eric..." The attending physician protested once more. "Ms. Moretti's equipment..."

"Enough. Don't bother."

I had gone white by the time I quietly cut the doctor off. I struggled to sit up, and the sudden movement ripped open the wound in my chest. Bright red blood spread across my hospital gown. I did not so much as flinch. I simply looked at Eric.

"If Ms. Astalotta needs the room, I'll move."

Relief flooded Eric's face, and he seized the opportunity. "Selena, thank you. You're always so considerate. Don't worry, I'll arrange another place for you to recover."

I didn't resist. I let two rough orderlies wheel my bed out of the VIP suite.

They took me to the hospital's lowest level, the basement.

It had originally been a defunct morgue, converted into a makeshift observation room.

The air reeked of mildew, decay, and sewage. Black mold crept across the walls in thick patches.

Even someone living on the street would have refused to stay in a place like this.

"Ms. Moretti, this... this is an outrage!" The nurse followed me down, her eyes red and brimming with tears. "Your gunshot wound hasn't healed. An environment like this will cause serious infection! And with the tumor in your brain..."

"It's fine. Thank you." I managed a weak smile, pulling the thin blanket up to my chin with trembling hands. It was barely thick enough to keep me warm. "I think it's nice here, actually. At least... it's quiet."

The nurse ran out crying, saying she'd go find me an extra blanket.

I lay on the bed alone when my phone buzzed on the pillow beside me.

A text from Eric:

[Selena, I'm sorry about what happened. Angelina was out of line. I've moved you to a quieter room so you can rest. I'll come see you later. Love you.]

How ironic.

He did not even know I'd been dumped in a basement that anyone living on the street would have refused. He'd dismissed me with a single cheap text.

I didn't reply. Instead, I quietly booked a one-way ticket to Helsinki, Finland.

Hawaii was too hot. It was not the right place for a dying woman.

I wanted to go to Finland, a land of northern lights and snow, clean and free of blood and betrayal.