Chapter 3: Between Life and Death
Chapter 3: Between Life and Death
Saint Augustine Medical Center was locked down before the ambulance even arrived.
Every entrance filled with armed DeLuca guards.
Every doctor inside suddenly found themselves treating the most important patient in the city.
Not because Lena was powerful.
Because Marco refused to lose her.
"Five gunshot wounds," the trauma surgeon said.
"Massive blood loss."
"We're taking her into surgery now."
Marco grabbed the surgeon's arm.
"Save her."
"We'll do everything we can."
"No."
Marco's eyes burned with something the doctor couldn't name.
"You don't understand."
"If she dies..."
He looked toward the operating room doors.
"...the only decent thing I've ever had in my life dies with her."
The surgeon nodded silently.
The doors closed.
Hours crawled by.
Isabella refused to leave the waiting room.
She still wore Lena's blood on her coat.
"If she hadn't pushed me..."
She couldn't finish.
Marco sat across from her, staring at his trembling hands.
He remembered every cruel word he'd spoken.
You're staff.
Don't mistake being useful for being important.
Now those words echoed through his mind like a punishment.
At dawn, the surgeon finally emerged.
"The surgery was successful."
Everyone exhaled.
"But..."
Marco stood immediately.
"But what?"
"She's alive."
"However, the fifth bullet narrowly missed her heart."
"The next forty-eight hours will determine whether she survives."
Marco closed his eyes.
May you like
For the first time since becoming head of the DeLuca empire...
He prayed.
