He Chose His Adopted Sister, So I Left the Mafia Chapter 02
It all started when Selena Moretti returned to Chicago.
She was the old Don’s adopted daughter and Adrian’s adopted sister, the girl he had protected since they were children.
On her third day back, she burst into my office in tears.
“Erin, after I used the medication you prescribed, my wound got infected! And now I have HIV!”
She rolled up her sleeve.
A strange patch of angry red swelling covered her arm.
I frowned and pulled up her medical records.
The medication I’d prescribed was routinely used at the medical center, and there was nothing wrong with the batch number, manufacturer, or dosage.
More importantly, she had contracted HIV long before I ever treated her.
The lab results made that perfectly clear.
I had barely opened my mouth to explain when the office door was kicked open.
Adrian walked in with two Family enforcers behind him.
Selena’s eyes instantly filled with tears.
“Adrian, I really don’t blame her. Maybe Erin just looks down on me because I’m adopted. She doesn’t think I’m a real Moretti, so she didn’t care what medication she gave me.”
“She ruined my life!”
I stared at her in disbelief.
“Selena, you know that’s not what the test results say.”
Adrian didn’t even look at the report.
He only looked at me.
“You admit you prescribed the medication?”
“Yes, but the HIV infection wasn’t caused by it.”
“Enough.”
He lifted one hand.
One of the enforcers stepped forward and seized my right arm.
A terrible feeling hit me.
“Adrian, what are you doing?”
His expression was ice cold.
“Isn’t this the hand you’re so proud of? You’re a doctor on the Moretti payroll, with no Family name and no protection of your own, and you still thought you could go after a daughter of this Family. Let me make one thing clear. You don’t have that right here.”
The next second, a heavy metal baton came crashing down on my right wrist.
The crack of bone came almost at the exact same moment as my scream.
The pain dropped me to my knees.
Adrian only looked down at me.
“This is a lesson. Once you learn how to respect her, I’ll have the best orthopedic surgeon treat your hand.”
I looked up at him through the pain.
“You didn’t even read the test results, and you’ve already decided I’m guilty?”
Selena burst into tears and wrapped both arms around his.
“Forget it, Adrian. She’s going to marry you soon, after all.”
That sentence didn’t protect me.
If anything, it only made everyone around us look at me with even more contempt.
In their eyes, I wasn’t arguing because I was a doctor defending a medical judgment.
I was arguing because they thought I was about to become Mrs. Moretti.
By that evening, everyone at the Family’s private bar had already heard the rumors, and they drank and laughed as they tore me apart.
“An outsider thinks she gets to throw her weight around in the Moretti Family?”
“She can’t seriously think getting engaged to the underboss means she can start ordering Family members around.”
“She’s just some broke doctor with no Family behind her, and she’s already acting like she’s Mrs. Moretti.”
“I heard she’s almost burned through what little her father left her, and she still acts like she’s too good for the rest of us.”
I stood outside the bar and heard every word.
After looking into it, I discovered the rumors had started with Adrian’s personal assistant.
I called him, and he answered.
“Did you tell people to spread those rumors about me?”
“Yes.”
His answer was perfectly calm.
“You’ve crossed the line too many times lately. I just wanted to make sure you don’t do it again.”
I stared down at my splinted hand as a chill slowly spread through me.
“Shut the rumors down.”
“Apologize to Selena first.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong.”
There was silence on the other end for two seconds before Adrian gave a quiet laugh.
“Erin, did you forget who pulled strings for you at the medical center? Who helped you go from an unknown resident to a lead surgeon at the Family’s medical center? Without the Morettis, you’re nothing.”
That was the first time I truly understood.
Everything Adrian had ever done to help me had never been love in his eyes.
They were resources and privileges, things he believed he had given me and could take back whenever he wanted.