The Billionaire She Saved

"Help! Somebody, help me!" Anielle stopped walking. The shout came from the alley ahead. Before she could decide whether to investigate, she heard another voice. "Stay down!" She hurried toward the alley and saw three men surrounding someone on the ground. One of them kicked the man in the side while another grabbed him by the collar. "Hey! Stop!" Anielle shouted. The men turned toward her. For a moment, nobody moved. Then one of them cursed, and all three took off in the opposite direction. "Hey! Come back here!" Anielle started after them but stopped when she heard a weak groan behind her. The injured man. She turned and rushed to his side. "Sir? Can you hear me?" He lay on his back, his eyes closed. When she touched his shoulder, he didn't respond. Anielle glanced toward the alley entrance, but the men were already gone. "Oh my goodness." Then she noticed the blood spreading across his shirt. Her stomach tightened. She pulled out her phone and called for an ambulance. While waiting for the call to connect, she knelt beside the man and tried to get a response from him. "Please, you have to stay with me." "911, What's your emergency?" "There's a man who's been attacked. He's badly injured, and he's not responding. Please, you have to send an ambulance." "Is he breathing?" Anielle checked and answered as calmly as she could. "Yes, he is." "What's your location?" She looked around, trying to find a street sign. "Midian Road. There's an alley just off the main road." "An ambulance is on its way. Stay with him and follow the instructions provided by the emergency operator." "Okay. Thank you." After ending the call, Anielle looked at the man again. She had no idea who he was or why those men had attacked him. She only knew that he needed help. She took out her scarf and pressed it against his bleeding side, trying to control the bleeding while waiting for the paramedics. "Please hold on," she murmured. A car passed the alley entrance, its headlights briefly illuminating the walls. Anielle looked up, hoping it was the ambulance, but the vehicle continued down the road. She checked the time on her phone. Why was the ambulance taking so long? She considered calling again, but she didn't want to leave the man alone. Instead, she raised her head and shouted toward the road. "Please! I need some help over here!" A man walking past the entrance slowed down and looked in her direction. "What's going on?" "Someone has been attacked! Please, can you help me?" He approached, then stopped when he saw the blood. "Have you called the police?" "I've called an ambulance. Please, can you call the police?" The man immediately took out his phone. Anielle returned her attention to the injured stranger. She wanted him to open his eyes, to say something, anything that would let her know he was going to be all right. But he remained still. The sound of sirens finally reached the alley. "Thank God!" Anielle stood and hurried toward the entrance, waving both hands. "Over here! He's over here!" The ambulance turned into the alley, and two paramedics jumped out with their equipment. "Where is he?" one of them asked. "Over here. I found him like this. Three men were beating him before they ran away." The paramedics knelt beside the injured man. One checked his condition while the other examined his wound. "Sir, can you hear me?" There was no response. "We need to get him to the hospital immediately," one of the paramedics said. They carefully transferred the man onto a stretcher. Anielle stepped aside to let them work. When she looked down at her hands, she froze. Blood covered her fingers. She wiped them against her clothes, but the sight made her feel sick. She had never been this close to someone who was so badly injured. The paramedics wheeled the stretcher toward the ambulance. "Wait!" Anielle called. One of them turned. "Yes?" "I'm coming with you." "Are you a relative?" "No. I found him in the alley." The paramedic studied her for a moment before opening the ambulance door. "All right. Get in." Anielle climbed inside and sat down as the doors closed. The ambulance pulled away from the alley, its siren blaring as it joined the traffic. She watched the paramedics work. They spoke to each other in short instructions, checking the man's condition as they prepared him for the journey. Anielle sat quietly, her hands clasped together. She had gone out that evening expecting nothing unusual to happen. Now she was in an ambulance with a stranger whose name she didn't even know. She wondered who he was. She wondered why three men had attacked him and whether they would have killed him if she hadn't intervened. But there was one question she couldn't stop thinking about. Would he survive? She looked at his face one last time before turning toward the window. "Please be okay," she whispered. The ambulance continued toward the hospital, carrying a woman who had risked getting involved in a dangerous situation to help someone she had never met. Anielle believed she would never see the stranger again. She was wrong. Five years later, she would stand before him once more. But by then, the injured stranger would be a powerful billionaire, and Anielle would discover that saving his life had brought her into a world she knew nothing about. And this time, walking away from him would not be so easy.