Rose's breath caught in her throat. The room spun around her as her father's words echoed in her ears.
"Dante Salvadore."
She backed away, her voice trembling with disbelief. "Da…Dad! You're joking right. You can't be serious. Of all the men, why him. You know I despise that man and his guts."
Emilio stood slowly. "I didn't mean to hurt you like that—"
"Then tell me what you meant to do!" Rose snapped, hands shaking. "Because it looks a hell of a lot like you used me as a bargaining chip!"
"I didn't have a choice, Rose," he said quietly. "You don't understand the kind of power he holds. The reach of the Salvadore family."
"I don't understand?!" she barked, tears stinging her eyes. "I just gave blood to save his brother's life. I'm not even allowed to feel my exhaustion because you've sold me off to clean up your mess."
"Rose—"
"No!" she shouted, chest heaving. "You should've told me! You should've trusted me! But you—" her voice cracked, "you let me believe we still had choices. That I did. I'll fix this mess. You didn't even care to ask me if I could sacrifice that much for our family."
Her mother appeared at the hallway's edge, face pale, clutching the wall for support. "Baby, please…"
Rose didn't respond. Her fingers curled into fists at her sides.
She grabbed her bag and stormed toward the door. "Don't follow me. Don't talk to me. I'll figure something out myself."
"Rose!" her father called, but she was already outside, the slamming door silencing everything behind her.
The air outside was frigid despite the late hour. Her shoes slapped the pavement as she walked aimlessly, angry tears slipping down her cheeks. She could feel the pounding sound in her heart even with all the exterior noise.
How could they do this to me?
Her entire life had been about working hard, earning respect, and choosing her own path. And now, all of it—her career, her dignity, her future—had been offered like a lamb to the slaughter. To Dante Salvadore, of all people. To a man she knew she loathes.
She wiped her face with the sleeve of her coat and kept walking, her feet carrying her farther from the only home she'd ever known.
Two hours later, Rose sat alone at a small café that was closing up for the night. Her phone buzzed on the table, but she ignored it at first, watching the blinking screen like it was another person demanding a piece of her.
Then it buzzed again. And again.
Until she finally answered with a hoarse, "What?"
It wasn't her parents.
It was Nora.
"Hello Rose, where are you? You need to come to the hospital now. It's Bella. She had a seizure—we're bringing her in!"
Everything else went silent.
"What? No—how? Why? What did you do?"
"She collapsed at our girls night out party. We have no idea what happened."
"What? Party? Scratch that. I'm on my way." Then she hung up.
Rose only remembered up to the call because in a snap she arrived at the hospital . One moment she was in the café, the next she was bursting through the emergency entrance of the hospital, Nora rushing to her side.
"She's in trauma," Nora said, breathless. "The team's on her already."
Rose was already running before Nora could finish.
She shoved open the doors to the trauma bay and nearly collapsed at the sight.
Bella. Her baby sister.
Wires running from her tiny arms. Oxygen mask strapped to her delicate face. Her eyes fluttered, rolling back every few seconds.
"BP is dropping again," a nurse said.
"Push ten of diazepam," the doctor ordered. "Get neurology down here now."
"Rose," one of the residents said gently, "you can't be in here."
"She's my sister."
"We know. We'll do everything we can."
But Rose couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.
Bella, the little girl who followed her around like a shadow, who dreamed of being a doctor just like her. The only person who looked at Rose like she could do no wrong. The only person who looked at her like a god.
A seizure. And now… this.
She didn't realize her parents had arrived until her mother was sobbing against the wall and her father collapsed into a chair beside her.
"How?" Rose whispered.
"She was quiet and okay all day," her mother wept.
She turned to Nora, "What happened. Tell me the truth! Either way the test reveal will say everything."
"A friend brought some drugs for fun. She didn't know of Bella's condition and Bella ended up drinking a drugged drink. I'm sorry Rosie. I had no idea." Nora replied.
Rose's mother screamed as if going to beat up Nora and Rose's dad rushed to grab her.
Nora burst into years genuinely sad for what happened to her best friend. Blaming herself. "Get out of here. We don't want to see you right now." Rose said
"I'm sorry again." Nora said, crying as she was leaving.
The doctor emerged from the trauma room.
"Dr. Cruz?" he asked. "Family of Bella Cruz?"
"Yes," Rose said, standing.
"She's stable now, but we need to talk."
The small consultation room felt like a trap.
The doctor's face was grave. "We've stabilized her seizure, but her vitals indicate something deeper. We ran a series of scans—her EKG and blood work showed signs of a congenital heart defect. One that's been missed until now."
"What kind of defect?" Rose asked.
"An atrial septal defect. Large enough to affect her oxygen levels and heart rhythm. She needs surgery. Soon."
"Okay," Rose said. "We'll do it. What's the cost?"
The doctor paused.
"Given the urgency, the surgical team, ICU stay, and post-op monitoring… It's going to cost well over three hundred thousand. Possibly more if there are complications."
Her father exhaled heavily.
"We… we can't afford that," her mother whispered.
Rose's mouth opened but no words came out.
Three hundred thousand.
They had nothing left.
She knew it before she asked, but she turned to her father anyway. "What can we afford?"
Her father's silence was the answer.
He looked at her, eyes red and ashamed. "I tried, Rose. I swear to God, I tried."
Her mother was quietly sobbing beside them, whispering prayers.
Rose stood up and walked back to the hallway. Her hands trembled. Her brain screamed.
She felt like she was standing in front of a cliff.
Her baby sister's life.
Her freedom.
Her soul.
Her phone buzzed again..
She stared at it for a long time before answering.
His voice was calm. "Rose. Hey It's Dante."
"Dante?" she said, slowly.
"Did your father tell you everything?"
"Yes."
There was a pause.
"And?"
She stared through the hospital window at her sister's sleeping figure.
"Is the offer still open?"
"Yes. But the wedding is in one week."
"One condition," she said coldly. "You pay for my sister's surgery first. Every cent. No questions. No games. And our usual lives continue like nothing happened."
Silence.
Then: "Okay."
"I want it in writing. Signed."
"You'll have it by morning."
She clenched the phone tighter.
"This changes nothing between us," she warned.
"I never expected it to."
She hung up without another word.
Inside, her heart collapsed.
But outside… she walked back to her parents with a strange new stillness in her spine.
"I've made a decision," she said softly.
Her parents looked up.
"I'll marry Dante."
Her mother gasped. "Rose—baby—"
"There's no other way," she said. "You want to save Bella? This is how."
Her father looked away in shame.
Rose turned to the glass window, her sister's pale face barely visible.
I'm doing this for you, she thought. I'll sign myself away if it means you get another chance to live.
She pressed her palm against the windowpane.
But I will never forgive him for forcing me into this.
And far away, across the city, in a penthouse wrapped in shadows and glass, Dante Salvadore poured himself a drink and stared out at the skyline.
"She said yes," he murmured.
Lorenzo, sitting in an armchair
with a healing wound and an unreadable gaze, raised an eyebrow. "Did you expect anything less?"
Dante didn't answer.
But his eyes—cold, calculating—narrowed.
One week.
One deal.
And Rose Cruz would be his bride.