Chapter 3

Marco snatched away the freshly signed agreement and flicked the paper with his fingertips, as if brushing off dust.

"This dump is yours now. It's a wreck, but at least the land's worth something."

He pulled Isabella close and didn't even spare me another glance before turning toward the silver Rolls-Royce. "Let's go to the best hospital. Isabella needs the finest prenatal care. I can't let the filth from these commoners harm our precious baby."

Watching the taillights disappear, I took one last look at my destroyed home, drew a deep breath, and flagged down a cab. "Sacred Heart Hospital, please."

My mind was a mess, but I couldn't let myself fall apart yet. The man who took a bullet for me when we were captured, Luca Santoro, was still lying in the hospital waiting for me.

My eyelid kept twitching. The Benedetti family owned that hospital. I could only hope I wouldn't run into those two.

But of course, fate had other plans.

The moment I stepped out of the VIP floor elevator, I heard something shatter at the nurses' station.

"Rules?" Marco's voice dripped with casual cruelty. "In this city, I am the rules."

Isabella clung to his arm, pointing at the trembling head nurse. "Are you deaf? Clear out the best private room. Now!

"I don't care who's in there. Kick them out!"

"But... that gentleman just had surgery..."

Mid-argument, a door at the end of the hallway opened. A man in a striped hospital gown came out, leaning against the wall for support.

He didn't want trouble. He stepped forward to offer the room to Marco, but the moment his hand touched Marco's shoulder, Marco's face twisted as if a cockroach had crawled across his foot.

He lifted his leg in disgust.

The kick was fast, brutal, and precise. The man tried to dodge, his body tilting slightly, but his injury slowed him. Marco's foot slammed directly into his chest, right where the wound was.

The man flew backward and crashed into the wall before sliding down. Blood soaked through the front of his hospital gown as he coughed it up, but he didn't make a sound.

A nurse screamed and rushed over to help.

"Luca!"

My mind went blank. I pushed through the crowd and dropped to my knees in the pool of blood.

Marco pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the tip of his shoe, glancing down from above before letting out a mocking laugh.

"Well, well. If it isn't Giulia. What are you doing here?

"What, heard I got my identity back and came to the hospital to stage an accident?"

Luca clutched his chest in agony, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth as he fixed his sharp gaze on Marco. "I know you. You're Marco, Giulia's fiance..."

"Shut up! Don't talk to me about Giulia!"

Marco glared at Luca's handsome face with pure hatred. "You call her by her first name so casually. Look at you two, all cozy together.

"You must've been sneaking around behind my back! Breaking up with her was the smartest thing I ever did!"

My voice shook. "Marco, this has nothing to do with him. Luca is the man who saved my life! While you were cozying up with Isabella, he's the one who saved me when I was being hunted!"

Marco looked like I'd struck a nerve. He spat back, "You think I'd believe that? What stranger risks their life for trash like you? If he's so eager to die, let him. Just don't block my way."

In that moment, whatever I'd felt for him died completely.