جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 7

“Move—move—excuse me!”A hand grabbed my arm as I tried to push through the crowd.“Miss Russo! Is it true your father was arrested this morning?”“What?” I snapped, trying to pull away. “Let go of me.”Another microphone shoved into my face.“Did you know about the trafficking charges?”Flashes exploded around me.Camera shutters clicked so fast I lost my sight for a second.“What trafficking charges?” I demanded, my voice rising. “What are you talking about?”No one answered and instead, they just kept shouting.“Miss Russo, did Salvatore Moretti turn your father in?”The name hit me like a brick.Salvatore?“That’s ridiculous,” I said automatically. “Salvatore would never do anything like that—” I argued, but the words that died in my throat as two uniformed officers stepped out of the doors of Russo Tower.Between them was my father, his hands were cuffed behind his back.My stomach dropped so hard I felt it in my knees.“Dad?” I called, pushing my way closer to him, he didn’t look a

One month later“N-no, no, this cannot be…” I crashed down on the floor, my hands jittery as I crashed onto the floor.“Pregnant,” I stared at the test results in my hands, tears rolling down my face.“It’s impossible,” I muttered , staring at the three other test strips on the floor, all positive.“I cannot be pregnant, not for Salvatore, n-not him,” My breath caught in my throat, tears dripping down my face uncontrollably.The bathroom felt too small all of a sudden. Too quiet. My chest rose and fell too quickly as the word echoed again and again in my head.Pregnant.“No,” I said again, shaking my head violently as if that alone could change what the tests were telling me. My fingers trembled as I picked up another strip from the floor, staring at the two pink lines until my vision blurred.Four tests.Four.“They’re wrong,” I whispered, though the words sounded weak even to my own ears. “They have to be wrong.”But the truth sat heavy in my chest.One month.Exactly one month sinc

Ms Russo,” the doctor called as he settled down in his office, passing a report to me.“Your daughter had a congenital heart defect,” he said, leaning in closer.“W-what does that mean?” I asked, staring at his face.“It's Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The wall of the heart is thickened — it’s been there since birth, likely dormant until now.” He added again.“N-no, That's impossible, she just had a seizure, low blood sugar or something, s-she cannot, she’s fine, i-it was just, she just passed out at school, it cannot be that serious ” I argued, laying the reports down.“Ms Russo, I understand it’s hard to comprehend, but that was just a warning, without intervention, she will have another ans the next one may not be recoverable.”“What kind of intervention?”“A transplant.” He folded his hands on the desk. “We have a donor heart. A match. It came available yesterday, which is—” he paused, choosing carefully, “—fortunate. Hearts don’t wait, Ms. Russo. If we can’t move forward within e

Celine POVThe penthouse hadn’t changed since the last time I saw it, Same floor-to-ceiling windows. Same dark wood, same cold marble, same view of a city that had taken everything from me and given nothing back.A woman in a gray suit stood waiting by the door with a tablet in her hands.“Miss Russo. I’m Petra, head of staff. I’ll show you to your room.”“Room,” I repeated. “ I hope it is room for me alone,”“Yes, ma’am.” She replied, her face buried on the tablet in her hands like she was too afraid to look at my face.“Not his room.” I added.Petra’s expression didn’t change. “Mr. Moretti instructed separate quarters. This way.”I followed her down a hallway I used to know by heart, past the kitchen where he used to make me coffee at six in the morning, past the study where he used to fall asleep at his desk with his tie loosened and his sleeves rolled up.The room she led me to was at the far end of the penthouse. Beautiful. Sterile. Nothing in it that belonged to me.“Your things