Chapter Two: After The Crash
1189 Words
Serena's POV
The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was the ceiling, and I immediately knew I w as at the hospital. A steady beeping machine was beside me and then everything came rushing back that I sat up so fast the room tilted sideways.
Luca was the first thing that came to my mind.
There was an IV line in the back of my hand and I pulled it out without thinking. A nurse came rushing in almost immediately, eyes wide.
"Ma'am, you need to stay still, you were brought in unconscious, and although you weren't hit hard but the car still..."
"I'm fine," I said and swung my legs off the bed, already looking around for my jacket.
"You can't just leave, you need to be observed, there could be..." The nurse was saying but I cut her short.
"I said I'm fine." I spotted the jacket on the chair beside the bed and grabbed it. She called for someone and another nurse appeared at the door and the two of them stood there trying to reason with me, talking about head injuries, paperwork and medical advice but I just kept moving.
"You're leaving against medical advice," one of them said,
"I know," I said and walked past them both.
When I got to the corridor, the television mounted outside one of the waiting rooms stopped me. The news was playing and there was footage of police cars and the aftermath of something violent in midtown. The headline running across the bottom read:
"VALE SYNDICATE POWER STRUGGLES. CASPIAN VALE LINKED TO RISING UNDERGROUND TENSIONS ACROSS NEW YORK."
A photograph of a man flashed briefly on screen. He had dark hair, grey eyes, and his face was hard. The reporter was talking about mafia-connected power shifts and Vale Holdings. More like a string of violent incidents being linked quietly back to his family.
Luca's voice came back immediately. "Stay away from Caspian Vale."
I stood there until the segment moved on, then I turned and kept walking. I didn't know what to do with that name yet. But I wasn't forgetting it.
*********
The apartment was dark when I got back. I pushed the door open and called out for Mom even though the quiet house already told me she wasn't there. Her bedroom door was open and one of her slippers lying sideways near the bathroom like it had fallen in a hurry.
I knocked on Mrs. Caruso, my neighbor's door across the hall. She opened it in her housecoat and the moment she saw my face her hand went to her mouth.
"Serena," she breathed.
"Where is my mother?" I asked.
"Oh sweetheart," she said, stepping forward,
"she collapsed last night. I heard the sound from my apartment and came out to find her on the kitchen floor. I called the paramedics myself, they came quickly." Her eyes were already filling up,
"And Luca... Serena, I can't even believe it, I'm so sorry, I'm so deeply..." She added.
"Which hospital did they take her to?" I cut in.
She told me the name and I was already turning away before she finished the sentence.
"Serena, you shouldn't be alone right now..." she called after me.
"I'm fine Mrs. Caruso, thank you," I said without looking back.
At the hospital, they told me Mom had been admitted through emergency. The doctor who came out to speak with me.
He said she needed surgery and that it couldn't wait long. Then he told me the cost which was way too much than I had ever even earned in a full year.
"What happens if we wait?" I asked, keeping my voice level.
"Her condition becomes life-threatening," he said, "We would prefer not to reach that point."
"And if I can't arrange it immediately?" I said trying not to cry already.
He looked at me for a moment before he answered. "Then we do what we can and hope it's enough. But Miss Moretti, my strong advice is that you move quickly." He excused himself and walked back down the corridor and I stood outside his office staring at the wall across from me, confused as to what to do.
I went to the police station because they had earlier called me regarding my brother's case, the officer i met on seat started talking immediately I got there.
"The case has been reviewed," he said before I could even finish explaining, "Official finding is drunk driving and gambling-related incident."
"That is not what happened," I said,
"My brother didn't drink. He wasn't in any gambling debt when he died. Someone killed him and made it look like an accident." I said to them as calm as I could but I knew my voice was already getting loud
He looked at me flatly. "Miss Moretti, the report is already filed."
"Then reopen it," I said, "He called me that night and was terrified. Does that sound like someone who was drunk and reckless?"
"Ma'am, I need you to lower your voice." The officer saud
"I will not lower my voice," I said, louder now, "My brother is dead and you're sitting here telling me it was an accident when I'm telling you it wasn't, so someone needs to actually listen to me...."
Two officers appeared from somewhere and walked me firmly toward the exit. The door closed behind me and I was standing on the pavement outside.
I went to the bank next because there was nowhere else left to try. I sat across from a loan officer and explained everything about my Mom's surgery, the cost and the urgency.
She typed into her computer for a while before looking back up to me.
"I'm sorry," she said, folding her hands on the desk,
"Your current profile doesn't meet our requirements for approval. No stable employment, no collateral and no qualifying financial history."
"This is for surgery," I said quietly, "She will die without it."
She looked genuinely uncomfortable but she didn't change her answer.
"I truly am sorry. There's nothing I can do."
I walked out and sat on the low wall just outside the entrance and stayed there. I pressed my hands over my face and cried properly for a few minutes because my body needed it and I had been running since last night without stopping. Then I wiped my face and straightened up.
My phone rang and it was the hospital so I answered immediately.
"Miss Moretti," the woman on the line said,
"I'm calling to inform you that your mother has been transferred to another facility due to payment concerns."
I stood up. "Transferred where?"
"We aren't able to provide those details at this..."
"That is my mother," I said, my voice cracking, "You cannot just move her and not tell me where she is, please, just tell me where she is."
"Further arrangements will be communicated when..." She was saying again but I cut her short.
"Please," I said again, and
I hated how broken I sounded, "Please just tell me where she is, I'm begging you."
The line went dead.
- Writer
