He Chose His Adopted Sister, So I Left the Mafia Chapter 03
The next day, Adrian took me to the Drake Hotel.
The Moretti Family was holding a private reception there, and almost every important capo in Chicago was in attendance.
Selena sat near the head table, her arm wrapped in an exaggerated amount of white bandages.
The moment I walked into the ballroom, every eye turned toward me.
Someone deliberately raised his voice.
“So that’s the incompetent doctor? I heard she even had the nerve to botch the Family’s own daughter’s treatment. Give an outsider too much status, and sooner or later she starts thinking she’s one of us.”
Adrian acted as though he hadn’t heard a word.
He walked up to Selena, then turned to me.
“Apologize.”
I didn’t move.
“I already sent you the complete lab report. Her infection had nothing to do with the medication I prescribed.”
Selena shook her head, her eyes red.
“Forget it, Adrian. I don’t want you two fighting because of me.”
The more she said things like that, the angrier everyone around us became.
One of the capos slammed his glass down on the table.
“Miss Carter, this isn’t your hospital. Miss Moretti is willing to accept your apology, so don’t keep testing the Family’s patience.”
Another man gave a mocking laugh.
“She probably thinks a medical license makes her more qualified to speak than those of us who actually came up on the streets.”
The whole thing was absurd.
They looked down on me because of where I came from, then turned around and accused me of looking down on them.
Adrian finally lost his patience.
“Erin, don’t make me have someone hold you down and force you to bow your head.”
I looked straight at him.
“What exactly do you want me to admit? That I hurt her on purpose? That because you skipped our engagement party, I took revenge on your adopted sister? That I’m not good enough to be a Moretti?”
His brow tightened.
“If you keep talking back like this, you’re only going to make everyone here hate you more.”
I suddenly laughed.
“So none of you care about the truth. You just want to hear me say whatever you’ve already decided you want to hear.”
The words had barely left my mouth when Adrian’s head of security grabbed my shoulder and pinned me against the edge of the table.
My injured right hand slammed into the corner, and pain tore through me so violently that all the color drained from my face.
Selena immediately ducked behind Adrian.
“Don’t do that. She’ll hate me.”
Adrian patted her hand.
“She has no right to hate you.”
Then he looked at me.
“Say you’re sorry.”
I clenched my teeth.
“No.”
The ballroom went silent.
A few seconds later, Adrian ripped the medical center ID badge from my chest and threw it onto the floor.
“Then for the rest of tonight, you don’t get to speak as a doctor from the Moretti Medical Center. Go stand by the door. Come back when you’ve thought it through.”
That night, still wearing my evening dress, I stood outside the Drake Hotel ballroom for three hours.
Every Family member who entered or left could see me.
Some deliberately spilled wine on my shoes, while others shoved empty glasses into my hands and told me to clear them away.
One man laughed as he passed.
“That’s more like it. A woman with no Family behind her should learn to serve the Family before she starts giving orders.”
I didn’t cry.
Not until a drunken young enforcer cornered me in a service hallway.
He waved an old needle he’d taken from a first aid kit, grinning viciously.
“Heard you’re obsessed with hygiene. Want to guess who used this before you?”
My expression changed.
“Put it down.”
Instead, he moved closer.
“A woman who only got this far because the underboss propped her up thinks she can order me around?”
I took a step back and hit the wall behind me.
“I said put it down.”
He suddenly grabbed my arm.
During the struggle, the needle broke the skin on my arm.
My entire body went rigid.
Footsteps sounded from the far end of the corridor.
Adrian and several capos were coming out of one of the private rooms.
I called out almost instinctively.
“Adrian!”
He stopped and looked from me to the man beside me.
The young enforcer immediately released my arm, but there wasn’t much fear on his face because he knew Adrian wasn’t going to punish him harshly over me.
Sure enough, Adrian only said flatly, “If you’re drunk, get the hell out of here.”
Then he turned to me.
“Don’t make a scene over this and ruin the whole reception. These people already don’t like you. The more you talk to them like you’re giving orders, the more they’ll make a point of targeting you.”
I looked down at the bead of blood forming on my arm.
“So this is still my fault?”
Adrian frowned.
“I didn’t say that. But maybe you should ask yourself why they never treat Selena this way.”
After that, I didn’t want to explain another word to him.
I went to the ER alone.
The doctor on duty cleaned the wound and prescribed HIV post-exposure prophylaxis.
Before I left, she handed me a document.
“Erin, I didn’t want to tell you this right now. Someone from the Moretti Family met with the hospital board this afternoon, and your surgical privileges have been suspended.”
I looked up.
“On what grounds?”
“A professional conduct investigation.”
Her eyes turned red.
“Adrian personally signed off on it.”