جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 230

RomeoFor seven straight days, I existed purely as Dr. Romeo.The human body is a machine and as an obstetrician and gynecologist, my entire life revolves around managing the most chaotic, and unpredictable process that machine can endure. When I stepped into my clinic, I threw myself entirely into the demanding world of medicine.I didn’t allow myself to breathe without working for a week. On Tuesday, I performed an emergency C-section on a high-risk patient whose blood pressure had dangerously spiked.On Wednesday, I spent three hours calming down an expectant mother who had convinced herself through internet research that her baby was growing backward.On Thursday, I caught a healthy, screaming baby girl, all while physically holding up the fainting father by his shirt collar so he didn't crack his head on the delivery room floor.On Friday, back-to-back consultations, ultrasounds, and checking fetal heart rates until the numbers blurred together.I kept my hands busy and my mind

IreneI stared at the empty doorway where Romeo had just been standing for a long moment before I turned to my best friend."I cannot believe you." I hissed.She was blissfully chewing on a sour plum, looking like the picture of innocence. "What?”“Why would you tell him about Adrian?”She narrowed her gaze. “I am helping! Romeo and you are close. You could ask him for help.”"You didn’t have to tell him." I groaned, burying my face in my hands. "Now he thinks... God knows what he thinks. He is already arrogant enough to fill this entire estate.”"He is a doctor, Ire. He hears people’s problems all day. Besides…" Alessia shrugged. "he seemed genuinely interested. I have never seen him look that... entertained.""Entertained is exactly the word." I muttered.I stayed for another twenty minutes, mostly to let my heart rate return to a survivable level and to make sure the coast was clear. I talked Alessia through a few more pregnancy cravings and promised to come back on Sunday but my

IreneSaturday morning arrived with a glorious, uninterrupted silence.I woke up at eleven o'clock. Not because an alarm blared, not because Adrian was knocking on my door while crying about his feelings and certainly not because a certain billionaire doctor was breaking into my kitchen to interrogate me.I just woke up. Naturally. Peacefully.I rolled over and untangled myself from my cotton sheets and grabbed my phone from the nightstand.I fully expected to see a barrage of texts from Alessia or missed calls from my ex-boyfriend. But my screen was entirely blank.A triumphant grin spread across my face.I won. I thought, tossing the phone back onto the mattress.I had successfully set my boundaries. I had told Adrian to back off and miraculously, he had listened. More importantly, I had looked Romeo Galante dead in his devastating hazel eyes, told him to figure it out and driven away. I had left the ball entirely in his court, fully expecting his ego to prevent him from chasing

RomeoI stood in the exact center of my new living room, my hands shoved deep into the pockets of my slacks, and took a slow, calculated assessment of my environment.As a medical professional, I was trained to remain calm in emergency situations. I had stabilized hemorrhaging patients and operated under extreme, life-or-death pressure. But standing inside Apartment 4B, staring at the tragic mustard-yellow floral wallpaper peeling off the walls, I felt a genuine twitch of anxiety.Irene had not been exaggerating.The floorboards creaked beneath my weight with the alarming groan of a fractured femur. The refrigerator in the tiny kitchenette rattled with the rhythmic, concerning wheeze of a chronic smoker, and the entire space smelled faintly of lavender potpourri attempting to mask something suspiciously damp.My brother Dante’s walk-in humidor was larger than the entire square footage of this apartment.I crossed to the sagging beige fabric sofa and pressed two fingers into the cushio

IreneI stared at him blankly, the cool wind whipping a loose strand of hair across my face.He was standing in the shadows of a crumbling balcony, wearing sweatpants, yet he looked more dangerous and commanding than he ever had in his expensive suits.“You are ridiculous,” I whispered.I meant for it to sound biting and sarcastic, but it came out breathless. Entirely too soft.Romeo didn’t smile.He just kept his eyes anchored to mine.“I am honest. There is a difference.”I looked down at the rusty iron divider separating us. It was barely three feet high and entirely inadequate at protecting me from the sheer magnetic pull of his presence.I wanted to be mad.I wanted to tell him to pack his designer bags, abandon this insane social experiment, and go back to his penthouse.But standing there in the dark, with the chaotic building finally quiet around us, I realized a terrifying truth.A small, treacherous part of me was glad he was there.I swallowed against the thick lump in my t