Isabella's POV
"You're insane."
The words left my mouth before I could stop them. Alexander didn't even blink.
"I'm offering you a solution," he said calmly. "Your daughter needs surgery. I can pay for it. All I'm asking for in return is—"
"Marriage?" I stepped back, putting more distance between us. "You want me to marry you? You're engaged to someone else!"
"That can be handled."
"Handled?" My voice rose. "Alexander, you can't just—"
Sofia stirred in the bed. Her eyes fluttered open.
"Mama?" Her voice was so small, so weak. "Why are you yelling?"
I rushed to her side, forcing a smile onto my face. "I'm sorry, baby. I didn't mean to wake you. How are you feeling?"
"Tired." She looked past me at Alexander. Her eyes went wide. "Who's that?"
My heart stopped. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. Not like this. Not now.
"He's... he's just a visitor." I smoothed her hair back from her forehead. "Close your eyes and rest, okay?"
But Sofia kept staring at Alexander. He moved closer to the bed, and I saw his hands were shaking.
"Hi," he said softly. "My name is Alexander."
"That's my daddy's name," Sofia whispered.
The room went completely silent. Even the machines seemed to stop beeping.
Alexander looked at me. His eyes were wet. "Isabella..."
"Sofia, sweetheart, you need to sleep." I tried to turn her attention back to me, but she wouldn't stop looking at Alexander.
"Are you my daddy?" she asked.
I watched Alexander's face crumble. Watched six years of missing her life hit him all at once.
"Yes," he said, his voice breaking. "Yes, I am."
"Alexander, don't—" I started, but it was too late.
Sofia's whole face lit up like Christmas morning. "Really? You're really my daddy?"
"I'm so sorry I wasn't here before." He knelt beside the bed. "But I'm here now. And I'm going to make sure you get better. I promise."
"You promise?" Sofia reached out her small hand.
Alexander took it, and I watched him fall completely in love with his daughter in that single moment.
"I promise," he said firmly. "Nothing in this world is going to happen to you."
A nurse came in then, checking Sofia's monitors and adjusting her IV. "Visiting hours are over. She needs rest."
"Five more minutes," Alexander said without looking at her. "Please."
The nurse looked at me. I wanted to say no. Wanted to make him leave. But seeing Sofia smile like that—really smile for the first time in weeks—I couldn't do it.
"Five minutes," I agreed.
Alexander told Sofia about a big house with a garden and a dog. About how she could have her own room with whatever color walls she wanted. About how he'd take her to the park and push her on the swings when she got better.
Each promise felt like a knife in my chest. Because I knew what it would cost.
Finally, the nurse came back. "Time's up. I'm sorry."
Sofia's eyes were already closing again. The medication was pulling her under.
"Will you come back?" she asked Alexander sleepily.
"Every day," he promised. "Every single day until you come home with me."
"With us," I corrected sharply. "With us."
He just looked at me and didn't say anything.
We walked out of the room together. The hallway was empty now. Most of the lights were dimmed for the night.
"You had no right to tell her that," I said as soon as we were far enough away from Sofia's door.
"Tell her what? The truth?"
"You can't promise her things when you're about to marry someone else! When you have a whole different life!"
Alexander grabbed my arm and pulled me into an empty waiting room. He closed the door behind us.
"Listen to me very carefully, Isabella. That little girl in there is my daughter. My flesh and blood. And she's dying." His voice was hard. Cold. "I will do whatever it takes to save her. Whatever. It. Takes."
"By forcing me to marry you?"
"I'm not forcing you to do anything. I'm giving you a choice." He pulled out his phone and showed me his bank account. The number had so many zeros I lost count. "I can transfer the money for Sofia's surgery tonight. Within an hour, the hospital can start preparing. She could be in surgery by tomorrow."
I stared at the screen. All that money. Money that could save my baby's life.
"Why?" I asked. "Why do you want to marry me? You barely know me anymore. You're in love with Victoria—"
"This isn't about love." Alexander put his phone away. "This is about family. About duty. My father is dying, Isabella. He has maybe six months left. And before he dies, he wants to see me married and settled. He wants to know the Romano name will continue."
"So marry Victoria like you planned!"
"I can't." He turned away from me. "The Castellano family... let's just say the engagement was more business than romance. And now that I know about Sofia, everything's changed."
"What do you mean?"
Alexander turned back to me, and his face was scary calm. "My father wanted me to have an heir. A child to pass the family business to. I was going to tell him Victoria and I would have children after the wedding. But now I already have a daughter. A sick daughter who needs expensive surgery and years of medical care."
"So this is about your inheritance? About your family business?"
"This is about saving Sofia!" His voice echoed off the walls. "Do you think any hospital will do that surgery without guaranteed payment? Do you think you can get that kind of money anywhere else in time?"
He was right. I hated it, but he was right.
"If I marry you," I said slowly, "what happens to us after Sofia is better?"
"We stay married. At least until my father dies. After that..." He shrugged. "We can discuss options."
"And Victoria?"
"She'll be compensated for the broken engagement. Generously."
I thought about Sofia's smile. About her asking when her daddy would come. About the way she'd lit up when Alexander promised to take care of her.
"I need time to think."
"You have one hour." Alexander checked his watch. "After that, my offer expires. I have other obligations, other deals to consider. One hour, Isabella. Then I walk away, and you'll never see me or my money again."
"You can't—"
"One hour." He opened the door. "I'll be in the cafeteria. Come find me when you've made your decision."
He left me standing there, my mind spinning.
How could I marry a man I didn't love? A man who was probably a criminal? A man who'd broken my heart once already?
But how could I not, when my daughter's life depended on it?
I walked back to Sofia's room and stood in the doorway, watching her sleep. Her chest rose and fell with each breath. Each precious breath that might be one of her last if I didn't do something.
"I'd do anything for you," I whispered. "Anything."
My phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number: 45 minutes left. The clock is ticking. -
I closed my eyes and made my choice.
But when I got to the cafeteria, Alexander wasn't alone.
Victoria Castellano sat across from him, and she was holding a gun.