Nanny to the Possessive Mafia Boss

"Miss Rossi?" The nurse asked in a tremulous voice," It's about your brother, Luca." Maria's heart skipped a beat. Time seemed to linger as her breath caught in her throat because of the blood rushing through her ears. She could hardly hear the remainder of the sentence. "Your brother was involved in a hit-and-run incident," Miss Rossi said. He is in critical condition, so you must come right away. He was taken to the hospital ". A hit-and-run? She hardly heard the words, but they struck her in the chest like a hammer. Her mind was racing, her younger brother, Luca was in a critical condition. She needed to see him and check on him. She gasped for air. "What—what do you mean by critical? Is he—is he alive?" After a brief silence, the nurse continued." He is alive, but he needs medical help right away. Come as soon as you can". Maria didn't wait for the nurse to finish speaking. She dropped the phone and got up before she could even think. Her hands were shaking as she hurried to the door, and her heart thumped in her chest as she fumbled for her jacket. She didn't want to waste time. Every second seemed to be slipping like sand between her fingers. Giovanni, her father, wasn't at home because he was out driving as usual for Carlo Gagliano, his boss. Like every other day, he had been gone since the break of day. Their poverty weighed heavily on her, but at that precise moment, only Luca was important. She barely had time to lock the door behind her as she hurried down the narrow stairs, causing the old apartment building to groan. The dampness of the cobblestones seeped into Maria's shoes as she ran through the darkening streets of New York, her legs leaden with terror. Her chest tightened with fear, making the city she had always known seem so strange. As she ran, her breath came in ragged gasps, and she thought,"Please, let him be okay". The idea that Luca would be lost was intolerable. He was her only sibling. The only person who understood her pain and hardships. Her heart ached at the idea of him lying there in that hospital bed alone and wounded. It seemed like forever before she arrived at the hospital. Her senses were overpowered by the sterile antiseptic odor when she eventually burst through the front doors. She was unable to concentrate on anything but finding Luca because her mind was racing. "Where is he?!" Maria cried out in a gasping voice, racing to the front desk nurse. Unfazed by Maria's desperate tone, the nurse hardly raised her head from her paperwork. With an ambiguous gesture toward a hallway, the nurse said, "Room 215." Maria acted without waiting for more directions. With hardly any awareness of the other patients in the sterile white hallways, she turned and ran down the corridor. She could only make out Luca's room door. She couldn't bear the idea of seeing him lying there by himself. She grabbed the doorknob fingers and threw the door open without knocking. Inside the hospital room, Luca lay unconscious on the bed, bruised and pale, connected to lines of machines that clicked and beeped in a steady and continuous rhythm, his face a dark mask of pain and unconsciousness and his breathing was painful and shallow. Maria's breath caught in her throat when she saw him in that state. This wasn't her younger brother. The lively bright-eyed boy who had always supported her wasn't this one. She collapsed to her knees next to the bed as her legs failed her. As she reached for him, her hands shook. Her eyes filled with tears that threatened to spill. Her fingers were cold against his as she firmly grasped his hand. "Luca, please," she muttered, her voice cracking." Don't leave me, don't do this to us, please. " Her chest grew constricted, she needed to have strength for him. It broke her to see him like this—her little brother who was once so vibrant, was now reduced to this frail form in front of her. Her mind protested by screaming. She was unable to let him go. The doctor entered with a tight, business-like expression as the door creaked open. The doctor asked bluntly but sympathetically, "Are you his sister?" Maria nodded her voice, hardly audible." Yes, what's going on with him? Will he be alright?" The doctor gave Luca a quick glance and continued, "Your brother was seriously hurt in the accident. He is critically ill and in a coma. He is having trouble breathing on his own due to severe internal injuries. The machines are assisting, but in order to stabilize him we must operate on him right away." Maria's pulse quickened, she could barely understand what the doctor was saying as she glanced down at her brother's pallid face. She stammered, her voice trembling." What… What kind of surgery? What do you mean immediately?" With a sigh, the doctor wiped his face and went on "the procedure is required to fix the damage and guarantee that his lungs are operating as intended. His oxygen levels are dangerously low, which is even more urgent. Continued oxygen treatment is required. His odds of surviving without it are greatly reduced." Maria's world appeared to be tilting. What did surgery and oxygen therapy mean? She had to ask even though her voice cracked," And… how much will it cost?" The doctor paused, his eyes darting towards Lucas' surrounding machinery. "The expense is high, about fifty thousand dollars will be needed for the surgery, oxygen, and continued care." Fifty thousand! Maria felt like she had been slapped across the face by the number” Fifty thousand dollars”. That amount of money was beyond her wildest dreams. They were living in a dilapidated apartment, barely making ends meet and had accumulated debts that they had no way to pay. Where could she possibly get that? In that world, Giovanni, her father, was merely a driver and a pawn of Carlo Gagliano, the mafia boss her father worked for. And Maria? She was an outsider, a girl and she had neither money nor resources. Maria muttered, her chest constricted." I...I don't know how I can get that kind of money... I don't know how to raise it" The doctor's expression softened. “I totally understand. But I fear we won't be able to continue the treatment without it. We can't assist your brother unless you figure out a way to pay." All around, Maria and her world fell apart. She was unable to control her sobs and buried her face in her hands as the tears she had been suppressing finally came out. She had nothing and her brother's life depended on it. No resources, no means of aiding him. Maria was left on the chilly floor next to her brother, her heart in pieces as the doctor left without saying anything more. There was no way she could sit here. Something had to be done. Where would she find that much money though? As she held Luca, the question kept repeating in her head. She sat there unable to come up with a solution, not knowing what to do next. This was a new level of desperation for her even though her world had always been one of struggle and survival. Fifty thousand dollars. That seemed like an impossible number. "How am I going to proceed? Maria gave Luca's hand a tighter squeeze. Now was not the time to give up. But what could she do to keep him safe? As she sat by her brother's side, feeling more hopeless than ever, the question raged in her head unrelentingly. “What do I do?”