Chapter Five: The Examination
Dr. Reeves examined Lily first.
His gentle hands and kind eyes at odds with the clinical efficiency of his movements.
Harper sat nearby.
Fighting to stay conscious.
Terrified of what he might find.
“Ear infection.”
He announced finally.
“Fairly severe. She needs a different antibiotic than what you’ve been giving her.”
He looked at Harper with professionally neutral eyes.
But she could sense the question behind them.
Why hadn’t you taken her to a doctor sooner?
The answer hung in the air between them.
Obvious in the sparse furnishings of the apartment.
The worn clothes she wore.
The exhaustion etched into every line of her face.
No health insurance.
Not enough money.
The terrible calculations of poverty that forced her to gamble with what she loved most.
“I’ll write a prescription.”
Dr. Reeves continued, reaching for his bag.
“And she needs fever reducers administered properly.”
Alessio Russo had been standing by the window.
Lily still cradled in his arms.
She had fallen into an uneasy sleep.
Her flushed cheek pressed against his expensive suit jacket.
He hadn’t seemed to mind when she drooled on it earlier.
“Your turn.”
Dr. Reeves said once he’d finished with Lily.
She shook her head.
“I’m fine. Just tired.”
“Harper.”
Russo spoke her name for the first time.
The sound of it in his mouth sent an inexplicable shiver through her.
“Let the doctor examine you.”
Again, that tone that wasn’t quite a command.
But somehow compelled obedience.
She submitted to the examination.
Too exhausted to argue further.
“Exhaustion, dehydration, and malnutrition.”
Dr. Reeves concluded.
His voice matter-of-fact.
“You need fluids, rest, and proper nutrition.”
He glanced at Russo.
“She should be hospitalized.”
“No hospitals.”
Harper said quickly.
The bills would destroy her even more thoroughly than she already was.
“I just need to sleep.”
“I’ll have someone bring supplies.”
Russo said, ignoring her protest.
“Fluids, proper food. Everything the doctor prescribes for both of them.”
Dr. Reeves nodded, seemingly unsurprised that his wealthy patient would have someone dispatched in the middle of the night for medical supplies.
He packed his bag and left.
Writing out instructions that he handed not to Harper but to Russo.
Mrs. Patel had been hovering anxiously throughout the examination.
Now she approached Harper, her weathered hands clasping hers.
“I should go home now. You have help.”
She glanced uncertainly at Russo.
“Yes. Thank you so much, Mrs. Patel. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Harper squeezed her hands, trying to convey her gratitude.
After she left, an uncomfortable silence filled the apartment.
Harper was acutely aware of how small and shabby it must look to someone like Alessio Russo.
The secondhand furniture.
The water stains on the ceiling.
The bare minimum of possessions.
She’d sold almost everything of value months ago.
“You should lie down.”
He said finally.
Still holding Lily as if she belonged in his arms.
Harper struggled to her feet, swaying slightly.
“I can take her now.”
He shook his head.
“Show me where to put her.”
Too weak to argue, she led him to the corner that served as Lily’s nursery.
He laid her in the crib with surprising gentleness.
His large hands careful as he arranged her blanket.
“Now you.”
He said, turning to Harper.
She shuffled to the worn couch that doubled as her bed.
She’d given the apartment’s only bedroom to Lily.
Converting it into a nursery because she deserved at least that much normality.
She sank onto the cushions.
Her body finally giving in to the exhaustion that had been threatening to overwhelm her for hours.
Russo stood looking down at her.
His expression still unreadable.
In the harsh overhead light of her apartment, she could see him clearly for the first time.
He was even more handsome than she’d thought in the dim restaurant lighting.
But there was something hard about his beauty.
Something dangerous in the set of his jaw.
The calculating look in his eyes.
“Why are you helping us?”
She managed to ask.
The question that had been burning in her mind since she’d awakened in his car.
