Chapter 5 THE DEBT
There’s a commotion that throws me out of my sleep. For a moment I don’t understand where I am until I hear the beeping of the heart monitor and see the doctors crowding into my mother’s room.
I jerk up from my seat and I shoot to my feet with my hand reaching out for my mother who is being wheeled out of the room.
“What’s happening? Where are you taking her?!”
They wheel her past me and the second I step into the hall, I freeze.
Dante Marchetti is standing in the doorway of my mother’s hospital room. The air shifts, it’s heavy and charged.
Dante Marchetti looks like sin wrapped in ice. His expression is as dark as his tailored suit.
My mouth goes dry as reality slams into me. He is here for my mother?
“No, not her. Not her!… can’t you see that she’s innocent! She has nothing to do with this.”
Anger and fear are the only emotions keeping me from collapsing. I can taste bile on my tongue.
“We received a transfer order from one of the best hospitals in the city, these medics are here to move your mother to a better hospital where she would get the care she needs. Mr Marchetti has paid for your outstanding bills for the surgeries.” The doctor says with a small bow and I stare at him, stunned.
I turn to Dante. Speechless and very confused.
Why is he helping me?
“Thank you,” I whisper to him but something in his eyes tells me he isn’t doing this for free. This isn’t charity.
He nods to the staff and they lift my mother and place her on the stretcher.
I follow them to the ambulance and I hold onto my mother’s hand till we reach the hospital.
At the hospital, a surgeon meets me.
“We have to do an emergency surgery. You don’t need to worry about the bill, Mr Marchetti has already taken care of it. I just need you to sign some papers.”
Hours pass.
Torturous, dragging hours.
I count every minute. Waiting in the lobby while my mother is in surgery. The doctor said she was neglected for too long and they found that she had developed a complication in her heart. They found it after they ran tests.
While I wait, I can’t stop thinking about Dante.
Why did he help me?
What does he want in return?
And why do I feel like the real debt starts now?
I run my fingers through my hair and my senses fire up when I see the surgeon in charge of my mother’s surgery. He’s walking to me with a smile on his face.
“Miss Anya,” he says as he draws closer and my stomach tightens. “The surgery was successful. You can see her now if you want to, she’s awake.”
I don’t enter the hospital room immediately, I stand in the door and I look in.
My mother’s eyes are closed and she’s breathing properly, still with the heart assist device, but the surgeon promised that they would take it out soon.
The colour in her face has returned and she doesn’t look like a corpse, not anymore.
She stirs and my world stills.
Her head turns in my direction and when she sights me, she smiles.
“Anya, my darling”
There’s a hum of happiness that I can sense from deep within my chest. I run up the stairs of my apartment and I quickly unlock the door.
I step in and rush towards the tap. I fill my glass with water and I gulp it down quickly.
I’ve never been this happy in years. My phone lights up and pings with a new notification.
I unlock it and tap on the message icon. There’s a new message from Helena, my boss. The glass slips from my hand and shatters.
I would clean it up later.
I tap on the message and I read it.
“Anya, I heard what happened. I’m sending a man to your house. He’s a lawyer and he can help you sort things out.”
I am about to reply to the message when I hear a knock on the door. Would the lawyer have arrived so quickly?
