Chapter 1

I gathered myself and gently pushed Sylvia's hand away.

"Hospital policy says family members can't interfere with medical staff. Please wait outside for updates."

Years of training made my hands steady like machines. Even though everything inside me was chaos, every move I made on the table was exact.

For years, my life had been nothing but midnight operations and silent exhaustion.

Whenever I reached my breaking point, I told myself to hold on just a little longer, because Luca Colleone promised that once the debts were paid, we could finally live peacefully.

As it turned out, every word of it was a lie.

When I reached the final stitching stage, a sharp voice screeched outside the door.

"Is that doctor even competent? If my son ends up with complications, she's going to regret it! Sylvia is carrying the Colleones' only child, our future heir. If anything happens to her, you'll all pay for it!"

The word "child" slammed into my chest like a bullet. My surgical instrument shook in my hand and nearly slipped.

In our years together, we had a child, too; one Luca casually dismissed with the excuse of wrong timing.

Now, I had understood.

He just never wanted one with me.

The heart monitor started screaming. I took a deep breath, crushed down the storm inside me, and continued.

I was precise, calm, and ruthless.

Under my hands was no longer the man who had deceived me for a decade. He was just another patient I was pulling back from death.

When I walked out of the operating room, Gabriella Colleone, the Donna, looked at me and froze.

"You?"

She pulled out a check from her purse and slapped it against my bloodstained scrubs.

"That's your payment. Take the money and forget you ever saw my son! Sylvia might not have a clean background, but at least she's likable. She's much more useful than an orphan surgeon with no status like you."

I looked at the amount written on the check.

One million dollars.

Ten years of devotion, bought off for pocket change.

I tore the check in half and dropped it into the trash can.

"Payment is handled at the front desk, Mrs. Colleone."

Gabriella's face darkened. "Ungrateful little thing!"

"Gabriella, it's okay," Sylvia said, then smiled sweetly at me. "Dr. Rossi, thank you for saving him. I'll take care of him from now on."

She cradled her barely visible belly, pride and triumph flickering in her eyes.

I organized the chart and said calmly, "I wish you happiness. One more thing. The patient needs three months of rest. Any physical strain could reopen the wound and be life-threatening."

Sylvia's face flushed as she asked shyly, "Including…bedroom activity?"

She looked at me on purpose.

My chest tightened as my nails dug into my palm.

Just then, the medical director rushed over. "Dr. Rossi, the family has already hired a specialist team from overseas to take over the heir's recovery. Your services aren't needed anymore."

"Understood."

I exhaled in relief and went straight home.

I had practically lived at the hospital for two weeks straight to make more money.

As soon as I opened the door, a wave of perfume hit me in the face.

I recognized the scent. A nurse once mentioned that a single bottle cost six months of my building's maintenance fees.

The closet was overflowing with designer clothes, all in Sylvia's loud, glittering style. Any one of them cost more than my yearly expenses.

On the floor lay a shopping receipt. The payment account made my stomach twist.

It was our joint account, the one I used every month to quietly pay off his supposed debt.

The timestamp was from last week.

My birthday.

That night, Luca had handed me a tiny cupcake and held me gently.

"I'm sorry, babe. Once this deal goes through, I'll buy you the biggest diamond ring in the world."

So that was it.

While blinking out candles with me, he was also spending a fortune on another woman.