Chapter 5

The smell of hospitals never seemed weird to me, it always smelled welcoming.

It’s a weird feeling I can’t explain.

I paced down the narrow waiting area outside the emergency ward.

My arms were wrapped around myself like I could keep my heart from leaping out of my chest. With every second that stretched too long, every door that opened made my breath hitch.

I barely knew the man, I didn’t even know his name and with everything that’s happened to me today I shouldn’t even be bothered about him.

And yet my hands were still trembling.

“Please be alive…” I whispered a prayer.

I wasn’t religious in any way but I found myself whispering it anyways, over and over.

After a while of me biting my inner cheeks and sipping my sweaty palms over my shirt and jeans, a doctor finally stepped out.

He pulled his mask and stared at me.

I swallowed hard. “ Is he—?”

“He’s stable.” The doctor smiled.

My knees wobbled as I let out a sigh of relief.

My job here is done.

“He’s asking to see you.” The doctor's gaze lifted from his chart.

Those words stopped me from fully turning around.

“Me? Are you sure?”

He nodded. “He was very specific. He said he wanted the woman who stayed.”

I nodded once and followed him down the corridor. My heart was pounding like crazy.

What did he want?

Did I complicate things like I always do?

When we reached the room, the doctor pushed the door open and gestured me inside.

Inside, the old man lay propped against white pillows, tubes and monitors surrounding him.

The moment his eyes fell on me, he smiled.

“There you are,” he said hoarsely.

I moved closer, standing awkwardly at the side of the bed. “How are you feeling?”

A weak chuckle escaped him. “Like a million bucks.”

I didn’t say anything. I was still too shaken to laugh or joke around.

He studied me for a while. “You did something many others couldn’t.”

“Oh, no–” I tried to explain but he didn’t let me speak.

“My name is Alessandro Moretti.” He continued. “I owe you my life.”

His name sounded somewhat familiar but I wasn’t sure.

“And I’d like to repay that,” he concluded.

I frowned. “Oh you honestly don’t have to! Saving you was common human decency–”

“I insist,” he interrupted me calmly. “I’m returning to Italy once I’m cleared for travel. And I want you to come with me.”

My breath caught somewhere between my lungs and my throat. “Come with you?!”

“As my private nurse, someone I can trust.”

“Sir with due respect,” I shook my head. “I haven’t practiced in a while, I can’t possibly be your personal nurse.”

“I don’t need skills.” He clarified. “In the Moretti family we value loyalty and family more than technical expertise.”

“But I can’t possibly—”

“ I know you’ve been running.” His gaze sharpened.

“I know you have a place to call home and no money to your name. So let me be your anchor.”

“I can’t.” I disagreed immediately. “I’m nobody, I have nothing to offer you as collateral.”

He shook his head and lifted his body a little bit from the pillow.

“Saving my life was the biggest debt you put me in. I should be the one measuring up.”

I met this old man’s gaze. Alessandro Moretti. And exhaled slowly.

“I don’t want charity, sir.”

“Then don’t take it as charity,” he stated. “Take it as an opportunity. Use me and my resources however you please. This isn’t me trying to save you, this is me asking for a business partnership.”

Silence stretched between us.

I thought of the woman I was a few hours ago, the woman I was while I was still married to Jordan while I suffered under his roof. I thought of the times I didn’t have any means to get what I needed.

Agreeing to this would mean changing my life forever.

I turned to him and to my reflection on the monitor.

I needed to be stronger, better and more powerful if I wanted to make Karla and Jordan pay.

I needed to make connections in places Jordan only dreamed of seeing.

I already know his future plans. The places he’s had in mind to acquire and the people he has only dreamed of collaborating with.

I know his weak spots in his company that would ruin him forever. And Karla, I know at what point she breaks.

With all these plans already playing in my head, I needed support to bring it all to reality.

So I looked back to Alessandro Moretti and said the words would change my life forever.

“Okay, I’ll go.”

His smile slowly widened. “Good, then this is only the beginning.”

He waved in his body guard.

“Welcome to the higher world.”