Chapter 5
After a long pause, Giovanna understood what Maddalena meant, but she still spoke with a hint of hope, “It’s all right, think about it some more, okay? Grandma will wait for your answer.”
As the call ended and the busy tone rang in her car, Maddalena looked up at the faces of the “family” standing in front
of her.
“I never called Grandma. Believe it or not.”
After saying that, she walked past them and left.
She had worked several night shifts in a row, and the director finally gave her half a day off to rest. Instead of going back home, Maddalena checked into a nearby hotel to get some proper sleep. By the time she woke up, it was already past 8 p.m.
Still groggy, she had not fully shaken off her exhaustion when the hospital’s emergency line rang suddenly, tightening every nerve in her body. She quickly picked up.
“Dr. Albergo, we have a five-year-old patient with chest trauma. Dr. Haraldsson is already in surgery with another case. Can you come in right away?”
Maddalena sat up immediately, her tone sharp and composed. “I’ll be there in ten minutes. Start the pre-op tests on the patient now.”
She threw on her clothes and rushed out.
When she rushed to the ER, she ran right into Vittoria.
Vittoria was still in the same clothes as earlier, but the hem of her dress was soaked in blood. Her face was pale, and her eyes were full of fear and panic.
The moment she saw Maddalena, her eyes widened instinctively.
Tears welled up as she staggered forward, voice hoarse and pleading, “Please, save Celene… Please…”
Silvano stood behind her, his expression cold and harsh. “This happened because of me. You have to make sure Ce- lene makes it. If something happens to her…”
Maddalena did not bother with his threat. “Does the patient have any allergies?”
Vittoria’s lips parted, and she looked stunned. For a second, she hesitated. After that, she quickly lowered her head, hiding the flicker in her eyes.
“No. Celene isn’t allergic to anything.” Maddalena nodded without a word.
The prep work was already done when she stepped into the OR. Nurses and assistants waited in position.
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Maddalena took the scalpel and was about to begin when, all of a sudden, the unconscious Celene began to twitch un- controllably.
She opened her eyes slightly and started gasping for air. The monitors went wild, alarms blaring all at once.
Maddalena’s eyes narrowed, and she jumped into action without a second’s delay. Her mind raced through every pos- sible symptom and vital sign until she caught it.
“She’s allergic to penicillin! Get the epinephrine, now!”
What should have been a routine operation turned into a crisis. Despite Maddalena doing everything she could to fix it, Celene still slipped into a coma. ·
No one could say when-or even if-she would wake up.
Maddalena stared at the child who had been throwing tantrums at her just days ago. Now she lay motionless, and Maddalena felt like something had slammed into her chest-numb and aching.
A few minutes later, she stepped out of the ER, only to have Vittoria storm toward her. Before she could react, Vitto- ria slapped her hard across the face.
As pain burned across her cheek, Maddalena heard the woman scream like she had lost her mind, “You did it on pur- pose! You wanted to hurt Celene! Why don’t you just die?
“Give her back to me! Give me back my Celene!”
Nurses rushed in to hold Vittoria back, stopping her from hitting Maddalena again.
Then Silvano appeared. He grabbed Maddalena’s wrist, his expression full of disappointment and contempt.
“Maddalena, how could you be so cruel?
“She’s just a kid!”
To make things worse, the accident happened because Celene had taken his car. Ever since he got back, Silvano had been cleaning up the company, and some people decided to take revenge.
But, even so, no matter how much Maddalena resented Vittoria, she should not have used this as a chance to hurt a
child.
“You don’t deserve to be a doctor,” Silvano said through clenched teeth.
