Chapter 4 - The Debt Collector
The silence in Suite 404 transformed from terror into something heavy and reverent.
Claire pulled off her bloody gloves, letting them drop into the biohazard bin with a soft thud. Her knees felt weak. Adrenaline was crashing out of her system, leaving her shaking so violently she had to grip the edge of the steel cart to keep from collapsing.
Dr. Sterling stood frozen, staring at the monitor as if it were a ghost. The fifteen elite doctors looked at each other, their professional reputations hanging by a thread, completely upstaged by a exhausted night nurse making minimum wage.
Dominic Moretti did not look at the monitor at all. He looked at Claire.
He walked around the incubator, closing the distance between them until Claire had to tilt her head back to meet his gaze. Up close, Dominic was imposing—tall, broad-shouldered, with eyes that missed nothing.
“What is your name?” Dominic asked.
“Claire Bennett,” she said, trying to keep her voice from wobbling.
Dominic reached into his jacket pocket. Claire flinched involuntarily, expecting the gun to reappear, but he pulled out a gold-plated fountain pen and a blank business card. He didn’t write a number on it. Instead, he simply pressed the heavy card into her palm, his fingers warm against her cold skin.
“You saved my nephew’s life, Claire,” Dominic said, his voice low and rich, carrying an absolute certainty that terrified her even more than his anger. “Which means, starting tonight, you belong to the Moretti family.”
Claire stared at the card. “Mr. Moretti, I—I was just doing my job. I don’t want any trouble. I just want to finish my shift and go home.”
A ghost of a smile touched the corner of Dominic’s mouth. “You don’t have a home anymore, Claire.”
Claire’s blood ran cold. “What?”
Before Dominic could answer, the door to the suite burst open. A hospital administrator rushed in, breathless and red-faced, trailed by two local police officers.
“Mr. Moretti! We received a report of—of a disturbance—" The administrator stopped dead, his eyes widening as he saw the baby breathing peacefully in the incubator, Sophia waking up on the bed, and fifteen of the world’s most expensive doctors standing around looking like chastised schoolboys.
The lead police officer took one look at Dominic Moretti, then at the armed guards blocking the doorway, and immediately took a step backward. “Everything looks… under control here, Mr. Moretti. Sorry to disturb you.”
“Wait,” Dominic said smoothly. He turned to the administrator. “Dr. Sterling and his team are resigning effective immediately. Their licenses will be revoked by morning. As for Nurse Bennett…” Dominic turned back to Claire, his gaze softening just a fraction. “She is being promoted to Director of Pediatric Special Care for this hospital. Effective immediately. With a salary increase that reflects her actual value.”
The administrator nodded frantically. “Yes! Of course! Whatever you say, Mr. Moretti!”
Claire stared at Dominic, her mind spinning. “I can’t run this department. I’m just a night nurse. I don’t even have my master’s degree.”
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“You have competence,” Dominic said quietly, stepping closer so only she could hear. “And in my experience, competence cannot be bought with a mahogany diploma. It is forged in fire.”
He turned away, walking over to his sister’s bed to whisper reassuringly to her, leaving Claire standing alone by the supply cart with a gold-embossed card in her hand and a completely altered destiny.
