Chapter 4 - THE DEBT ADRIAN COULD NEVER REPAY
Table of Contents 6
Lucy’s condition worsened faster than anyone expected.
By noon, she was in intensive care.
I sat beside her bed holding her hand while doctors discussed numbers I barely understood and costs I understood far too well.
Even if a surgical team accepted her case, the treatment, rehabilitation, medication, and specialized follow-up care would consume more money than I could earn in years.
I had saved almost everything I could.
It still wasn’t enough.
That afternoon, a hospital administrator entered with several documents.
“Ms. Reed, there’s been a change concerning your sister’s treatment.”
My stomach tightened.
“What change?”
“The financial authorization has been approved.”
I stared at her.
“That’s impossible.”
“Everything has been covered.”
“By who?”
She hesitated.
“You’ll have to ask Mr. Valente.”
Anger pushed me out of the chair.
I found Adrian downstairs beside Emma’s room.
His daughter had recovered enough to sit up. A stuffed rabbit rested beside her, and when she saw me through the doorway, she lifted both arms.
Something inside me softened.
I entered.
Emma immediately reached for me.
I carefully picked her up.
She pressed her warm cheek against mine.
The last time I had held her, her skin had felt like ice.
Adrian watched silently.
“You paid for Lucy’s surgery.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t ask you to.”
“No.”
“You can’t buy forgiveness.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
His answer came without hesitation.
“Because your sister shouldn’t die because I made the worst mistake of my life.”
I looked at him.
“You barely know her.”
“I barely knew you when you saved my daughter.”
That silenced me.
He stepped closer but kept enough distance not to frighten me.
“The money isn’t a bargain, Anna. You don’t owe me forgiveness. You don’t owe me friendship. You don’t even owe me another conversation after today.”
“Then what do you want?”
“For Lucy to live.”
For the first time since the dumpster, I saw no calculation in his face.
Only guilt.
And gratitude.
I looked down at Emma.
Her tiny fingers had wrapped themselves around one of mine.
“What about Karen?”
“She confessed.”
“To everything?”
“Almost.”
That word caught my attention.
“Almost?”
Adrian looked toward the hallway.
“There’s one thing she insists she didn’t do.”
“What?”
“Your father’s supposed death.”
I frowned.
“We already know Vincenzo arranged that.”
“He arranged the attack. But someone else falsified the dental records afterward.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who?”
Adrian handed me a copy of Karen’s statement.
A familiar name appeared halfway down the page.
Dr. Stephen Cole.
Lucy’s cardiologist.
The same doctor who had treated her for nearly six years.
The same doctor who had told us repeatedly that experimental surgery was too risky.
The same doctor who had just told me she had almost no time left.
I looked toward the elevator.
“Where is he?”
Adrian immediately understood.
We reached Lucy’s floor just as an alarm began sounding.
Nurses rushed past us.
My heart stopped.
“Lucy!”
I ran.
Her room was empty.
The IV line lay disconnected on the floor.
A nurse stood beside the bed staring at an empty wheelchair.
“What happened?”
“She was taken for imaging.”
“By who?”
The nurse frowned.
“Dr. Cole.”
Every part of me went cold.
Adrian was already on his phone.
“Seal the building.”
We ran toward the service elevators.
One camera showed Dr. Cole pushing Lucy through the basement corridor.
Another showed him entering the underground parking garage.
Then the feed disappeared.
I could barely breathe.
“He took her.”
Adrian’s men spread through the hospital.
Police arrived minutes later.
Then my phone rang.
Lucy.
I answered.
No one spoke.
I could hear an engine.
Then my sister’s weak voice whispered through the speaker.
“Anna?”
“Lucy! Where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
A man shouted in the background.
Lucy began crying.
Then she whispered something that made my blood freeze.
“Dr. Cole says Dad has something he needs.”
The call ended.
Adrian looked at me.
I finally understood.
This had never been only about revenge against the Valentes.
Vincenzo had spent eleven years searching for whatever evidence my father had hidden.
And now that kidnapping Emma had failed to force Thomas into the open, they had taken the one person he could never abandon.
His youngest daughter.
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