The Billionaire's Sixty-Day Wife

Chapter 12

Camila's POV

"Your mother just collapsed."

For a second, the words don't make sense, and then everything happens at once as panic crashes into me so hard I can barely breathe.

"What?" The word tears out of me as I stumble forward. "What happened?"

The nurse is already running back down the hallway, and I don't wait for an answer because my feet are moving before my brain can catch up. My heart pounds so hard it hurts as I race after her, silently begging for this not to be happening, and although I never look back, I know Alejandro is right behind me because his footsteps never leave my side.

The moment we reach my mother's room, I freeze.

Doctors surround her bed.

Nurses rush around the room.

Monitors scream.

Orders are shouted.

The entire scene is medical chaos, the kind I usually understand better than most people, but today I'm not a nurse standing on the outside looking in.

Today I'm just a daughter watching her mother fight to breathe.

"Camila!"

I barely hear Lena's voice before she steps in front of me, and the concern in her eyes immediately tells me things are worse than anyone wants to admit.

"Lena, what's happening?" My voice shakes despite my efforts to control it.

"They're stabilizing her."

The answer doesn't help at all, and I find myself looking past her shoulder toward my mother.

"Why did she collapse?"

"We don't know yet."

Fear crashes through me because not knowing is sometimes worse than knowing.

Lena immediately grabs my hand. "Hey, look at me." I force my eyes toward hers. "She's got a good team in there."

A bitter laugh escapes me. "I know. I used to be part of that team."

The words hurt more than I expect because standing outside this room feels a thousand times worse than being inside it, and Lena clearly understands because her expression softens immediately.

"I know."

The waiting feels endless as doctors move in and out of the room while nurses rush through the hallway, and every minute that passes seems longer than the last. Eventually the door opens, and the cardiologist steps outside, causing me to jump to my feet before he even reaches us.

"So?" The doctor removes his glasses and exhales slowly. "We stabilized her."

Relief hits so hard my knees nearly give out because stabilized means she's alive, but the feeling barely lasts a second before I notice his expression hasn't improved.

There's more, There is always more.

"The treatment is helping, but her condition has progressed faster than we expected."

My stomach immediately tightens. "How much faster?"

The doctor explains the complications, and every sentence sounds worse than the one before it as he talks about additional procedures, additional monitoring, additional specialists, and additional expenses.

Then he says the number.

"$487,000."

For a moment, I genuinely think I heard him wrong.

Almost half a million dollars.

The silence stretches between us as I stare at him, waiting for him to correct himself and tell me there's been some kind of mistake.

He doesn't.

The number is real.

The doctor quietly excuses himself a few minutes later, but nobody tries to stop him because nobody knows what to say after something like that.

I slowly lower myself into a nearby chair as the number keeps repeating inside my head.

Four hundred and eighty-seven thousand dollars.

Across the waiting area, Lena sits beside me and gently bumps her shoulder against mine.

"Cam....." I shake my head immediately. "No."

"Camila...."

"No."

Because if I let her continue, I might cry, and if I start crying, I'm not sure I'll be able to stop.

Lena sighs softly. "You're allowed to be scared."

The words almost break me.

Before I can answer, another voice interrupts.

"The procedures will be approved."

I look up and find Alejandro standing near the reception desk with one hand in his pocket and his phone in the other while the hospital administrator beside him nods quickly.

"Everything will be arranged immediately."

I blink several times. "What?" Alejandro walks toward us. "The procedures."

"What about them?"

His expression never changes.

"They'll be approved."

The realization slowly settles in as I piece everything together and realize that while I've been sitting here trying not to fall apart, Alejandro has been handling the paperwork, insurance issues, specialist approvals, and payment arrangements behind the scenes quietly.

Without mentioning it, without asking for credit.

Without making me feel indebted.

I don't know what to do with that.

Honestly, I don't know what to do with him anymore.

Lena looks between us before narrowing her eyes at Alejandro so dramatically that I almost laugh despite everything.

"You're paying for it?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

I close my eyes.

Here we go.

Alejandro remains completely calm.

"Because the treatment is part of our agreement."

Lena looks thoroughly unconvinced. "People don't usually spend half a million dollars because of an agreement."

"I do."

The answer comes so smoothly that even Lena looks caught off guard for a second before pointing a finger at him.

"I'm still watching you."

Alejandro raises an eyebrow.

"That's reassuring."

Lena glares.

Alejandro almost smiles.

Somehow that tiny almost-smile makes my chest feel strange.

A few hours later, after my mother is transferred back to a private room, I finally sit beside her bed and watch her sleepily flip through a television channel guide as though none of this happened.

"Sweetheart." Her voice is weak but warm. "You look exhausted."

I let out a tired laugh.

"Funny. I was about to say the same thing."

Maria reaches for my hand. "You worry too much."

I laugh again because she's lying in a hospital bed and somehow still thinks I'm the one who needs looking after.

Her gaze eventually drifts toward the doorway where Alejandro is speaking quietly with a hospital administrator.

Then she looks back at me, then back at Alejandro.

The smile that slowly appears on her face immediately makes me nervous.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Mom."

"He seems nice."

I nearly choke. "Nice?" She nods. "Very nice."

"He's not nice."

The smile only grows.

"He stayed."

The simple observation catches me off guard because she's right.

Hours ago, he could have left instead, he's still here.

Still helping, still handling problems that aren't technically his.

Still staying.

The realization settles heavily inside my chest.

Eventually Maria falls asleep, and I quietly leave the room before she can catch me staring at Alejandro again.

The hallway is mostly empty now, and I stop near the nurses' station because exhaustion finally catches up with me all at once. Fear, stress, uncertainty, and helplessness crash together until I have to close my eyes for a second just to stay upright.

When I open them again, Alejandro is standing there.

Watching and not pushing, not questioning.

Just there.

For some reason, that makes everything harder.

My vision blurs, and I immediately look away.

Too late.

He notices.

Without saying a word, he slowly extends his hand toward me, and the simple gesture somehow means more than any speech could.

No promises, no empty reassurance.

Just his hand.

I stare at it for several seconds before placing mine in it.

His fingers close around mine, warm, steady, and strangely reassuring in a way I wasn't expecting, and for the first time all day, I don't feel like I'm carrying everything alone.

Neither of us says anything.

Then rapid footsteps suddenly echo through the hallway.

My stomach drops before I even turn around because nurses don't run unless something is very wrong.

The closer she gets, the paler she looks.

Fear hits me immediately.

"Camila-"

The panic in her voice turns my blood cold.

My grip tightens around Alejandro's hand as the nurse struggles to catch her breath.

Then she blurts out the words.

"Your mother's crashing again."

Everything inside me stops.