Selena gets sick
636 Words
*Chapter 24: Selena Gets Sick*
Fear has a new name when you’re a parent.
It’s called a fever.
It started on a Tuesday.
Selena was hot. Too hot. 103 degrees.
“Mama,” she whispered. “Head hurts.”
My blood went cold.
“Alessandro!” I screamed.
He was home in 4 minutes. He never moves that fast.
“Call the doctor. Now,” he said. Voice calm. Hands shaking.
Dr. Reyes came. Best in Karachi. Alessandro paid her a fortune to be on call.
“It’s a virus,” she said. “Bad one. We need to admit her.”
“No hospital,” Alessandro said. “Too many people. Too risky.”
“Boss,” Luca said. “She needs IV. Machines.”
Alessandro looked at me. “Your call.”
I held Selena. She was limp. “Home. But full medical team here. Now.”
In 30 minutes, our living room became an ICU.
Machines. Monitors. Nurses. All cleared by Luca.
Alessandro didn’t leave her side. Not once.
He held her hand. “Principessa, open your eyes. For Papa.”
She didn’t.
Hour 1. 2. 3.
The fever wouldn’t break.
Dr. Reyes looked worried. “We might need to transfer—”
“No,” Alessandro said. “Fix her here.”
“Alessandro,” I said. “Let them—”
“If she dies in a hospital, I burn the city,” he said. Flat.
I slapped him. Hard.
“Stop,” I said. “This isn’t about you. This is about her. Do what’s best for her.”
He stared at me. Then nodded. “Fine. Transfer.”
The ambulance was ready. Armored. His men all around.
We got to the hospital in 8 minutes.
ICU. Machines. Pipes. My baby looked so small.
Alessandro broke down in the hallway. No one saw except me.
“If I lose her,” he said. “I’m done. I’m nothing.”
“You won’t,” I said. “She’s a Moretti.”
48 hours.
No sleep. No food. Just us and monitors beeping.
On hour 49, Selena’s eyes opened.
“Mama?” she said. Weak.
I sobbed. “I’m here, baby.”
“Papa?” she said.
“I’m here too, principessa,” Alessandro said. He kissed her forehead. “Never leave me again.”
She smiled. Small. “Papa no cry.”
He laughed through tears. “No. Papa won’t.”
Dr. Reyes said it was a miracle. “She’s strong. Like her parents.”
We stayed 3 more days. Alessandro slept on the chair beside her bed.
I slept on the other side.
When we brought her home, he carried her like she was made of glass.
“New rule,” he said to everyone. “No one sick near her. Ever. Or you’re gone.”
Luca just nodded. “Yes, Boss.”
That night, after she slept, Alessandro came to me.
“I was so scared,” he said. “More scared than any gunfight.”
“Me too,” I said.
He held me. Tight. “I can’t lose you. Either of you.”
“You won’t,” I said. “We’re a family now. Families stay.”
He made a call the next day.
“Buy the hospital,” he told Luca. “The whole children’s wing. In Selena’s name.”
“Boss, that’s 20 million—”
“Do it,” Alessandro said. “So no other parent waits like we did.”
`Selena Moretti Children’s Wing` opened 6 months later.
She was 3 now. Running around. Healthy.
Alessandro watched her from his office window.
“Scariest week of my life,” he said.
“Best week too,” I said. “Because we didn’t break.”
Sickness came.
We fought it. Together.
And we won.
- Writer
