Page 25 of Taken By the Underboss

A few more patients went by in a similar fashion. I was even able to lend my skills with a simple suturing case where a young boy had cut his arm climbing a fence and while it wasn’t the high-risk surgeries that I was used to, it felt good to get back into the rhythm of helping people.

I was just washing up after giving the boy stitches and sending him on his way, when a nurse hurried over to Arman.

“Arman, Signora Bianchi called. They are heading in with Max.”

“Shit. Okay.” Hearing Arman’s professionalism crack was startling.

“Max?” I asked curiously.

“Six-year-old boy with CF. He was adopted by his parents six months ago. The adoption agency never picked up on any issue, or they chose not to. He’s got a pretty severe case and these poor parents are in over their heads. I told them to bring him here if there’s any problem because we are a lot closer to them then the hospital.”

“Signora Bianchi sounded panicked. She said that he was feeling really tired, having trouble breathing, and some discomfort in his chest.”

“Get the albuterol treatment prepped and a hypertonic saline treatment as well,” he ordered the nurse before looking at me. “Do you have experience with CF?”

“Not since medical school.”

“Okay, just follow my lead.” I nodded, and Arman glanced at the clock. “She should be here any minute. Let’s get a room—”

He was interrupted by another nurse wheeling a young boy down the hall toward us. His skin was pale with a slight blue tint that made me go cold to see on such a young child. He was clearly struggling to breathe and scared, unsure of what was happening to him. It made my heart ache.

“Here. let’s get him into exam room three.” Arman turned from the nurses to Max as they laid him on the exam table. “Okay, Max. Everything is going to be just fine. I’m going to get some medications set up for you while my friend here listens to your chest. Is that okay?”

Max’s wide, brown eyes looked to me. I forced a confident smile before he nodded his agreement. Arman handed me a stethoscope and hurried over to make sure the nurses had everything prepped.

“Okay, Max. I’m just going to take a little listen.” I leaned in, placing the stethoscope on his chest and listened carefully. Something definitely didn’t sound right. I moved around, listening to each side of his chest and noticing a definite difference on his right side. “Okay, all done.” I smiled, forcing myself to stay calm. “I’ll be right back.”

I turned to the nearest nurse and lowered my voice. “Get him on oxygen. I’ll be right back.”

I hurried over to Arman and grabbed his arm to get his attention. “This isn’t just a CF flair. He’s got an increased transmission with a metallic tone.”

“Pneumothorax?” Arman stopped what he was doing and rushed over to the boy, gently moving his head to the side to examine his neck. “Distended neck veins.”

I nodded. “He’s got a collapsed lung.”

The boy grabbed onto Arman's hand with a vice-like grip, terror in his eyes as he struggled for air. "Okay, Max. It's okay. I'm not going anywhere. We're going to take care of this." He turned to me and lowered his voice. "He needs me here. You're a surgeon. Can you do this?"

"I've never treated a patient so young."

"It's the same thing just on a smaller scale."

I nodded, nerves forming a ball in my throat that made it hard to speak as I looked down at the little boy clinging to Arman like a lifeline.

"I can do this."

Chapter 11

Alessandro

Watching Sienna work at the clinic was incredible.Shewas incredible. I'd already witnessed her skill in patching up Luca, but to watch as she saved that little boy… the way he'd gone from a pale blue with scared, desperate eyes to breathing easily in a matter of moments was like nothing I'd ever seen. His color came back almost instantly and my whole body sagged with relief.

The rest of the day at the clinic was pretty dull in comparison but I still enjoyed watching Sienna in her natural habitat, or at least as close to it as she could come. She was like one of those wild cats at the zoo, flourishing as long as I kept her cage familiar to the home she had been torn from.

It pained me that I'd been the cause of that. That I'd been the one to seal her fate, first by choosing to take her and again by carelessly talking about things she had no business overhearing.

I hoped that at the end of the month, she'dchooseto stay but Sienna was strong willed and if I was honest with myself, I couldn't see her accepting a job from the mafia even if it was mostly above board.

I needed to find a way to convince her because I wasn't sure that I could live with the alternative.

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