Chapter 6 - The Race against Time
“Clear the emergency wing! NOW!”
Lorenzo’s voice shattered the quiet corridors of St. Jude’s Private Medical Center. He burst through the double doors carrying Emma, with Sophia running closely behind, flanked by six armed Moretti guards.
The top pediatric cardiologists in the state—retained on a million-dollar annual retainer by the Moretti family—were already waiting. The medical team swept Emma into their arms and rushed her into the trauma bay.
Sophia collapsed against the wall, her clothes soaked, her knees bleeding from the fall in the ravine.
Lorenzo stepped toward her. He took off his heavy, warm wool coat and gently wrapped it around her shivering shoulders. For the first time in his life, the ruthless mob boss was trembling.
“Sit down, Sophia,” he said softly, guiding her to a chair.
“If she dies...” Sophia sobbed, burying her face in her hands. “If she dies because I was too weak to stand up to Vivian... I’ll never forgive myself.”
Lorenzo knelt in front of her on the cold hospital floor. He reached out and took her bruised, icy hands into his large, warm ones.
“Look at me, Sophia,” he commanded gently.
Sophia looked up, tears streaming down her pale face.
“You were not weak,” Lorenzo said, his voice filled with an intensity that chilled the room. “You protected your child from monsters while standing in the house of a man who was too blind to see the snakes around him. The fault is entirely mine. I swore to protect everyone under my roof, and I failed you.”
He pressed his forehead gently against her hands. “I promise you on my life, on Elena’s memory, and on my daughter’s soul: Emma will survive this night. I will bring every doctor in this country if I have to.”
Two agony-filled hours passed.
The red light above the trauma bay finally turned green. Dr. Bradley, the chief pediatric surgeon, walked out, pulling off his surgical mask.
Sophia sprang to her feet. Lorenzo stood beside her, his body tense.
“Doctor?” Sophia gasped.
Dr. Bradley smiled exhausted. “She is stable. The hypoxia was severe, but her heart valve responded immediately to the synthetic regulators we administered. She’s sleeping now. She’s going to be just fine, Ms. Carter.”
Sophia let out a ragged sob and collapsed against Lorenzo’s chest.
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Instinctively, Lorenzo wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly against his heart, burying his face in her rain-soaked hair. He held her as if she were the most precious thing in the world, shielding her from all the pain she had endured.
In that quiet hospital hallway, as the storm raged outside, the cold walls around Lorenzo Moretti’s heart crumbled into dust.
