Chapter 2 - The Maid Who Was Suddenly More Valuable Than Millions
Roman remained unconscious for another fourteen hours.
But he was no longer deeply comatose.
Doctors called it an awakening phase.
Mara called it frightening.
Every hour, someone came to test his responses.
Light.
Sound.
Movement.
Questions.
Roman answered some.
Ignored others.
But when Mara entered the room, he always reacted.
His eyes followed her.
His heart rate changed.
Sometimes his fingers moved.
Dr. Walsh watched.
“He recognizes you.”
Mara looked at the monitor.
“I've been with him for seven months.”
“Yes.”
She smiled faintly.
“Maybe that matters.”
“It clearly does.”
The hospital administrator wanted her removed from the room.
Roman's security team refused.
The administrator argued.
Roman's men argued louder.
Mara stood in the middle, wishing she could disappear.
Finally, the administrator stepped out.
The head of security, Elias Porter, looked at her.
“You stay.”
“I have a job.”
“You're assigned to him.”
“That's not what my badge says.”
“It is now.”
Mara frowned.
“What changed?”
Elias glanced through the glass.
“Mr. Calder did.”
She didn't understand.
Then she saw the stack of files on the security desk.
Her name was on all of them.
Background.
Family.
Employment.
Address.
Education.
Financial information.
She felt exposed.
“Who asked for these?”
“Roman's attorney.”
“Why?”
Elias hesitated.
“Because Roman asked about you.”
Mara's breath caught.
“He was unconscious.”
“Apparently not as much as everyone thought.”
She entered the room.
Roman's eyes were open.
She approached slowly.
“You wanted to see me?”
His gaze shifted toward her.
He tried to speak.
Nothing.
Mara pulled a chair closer.
“You don't have to.”
He looked frustrated.
She placed a notepad on the bed.
“If you can move your hand, write.”
His fingers trembled.
He drew one letter.
M.
Then another.
A.
Then stopped.
Mara smiled.
“You're trying to write my name.”
He blinked.
She took his hand.
“I know.”
For the first time, a tear escaped the corner of his eye.
Mara wiped it away.
“Don't.”
He looked at her.
“It's okay.”
He squeezed her hand.
Weakly.
But deliberately.
Outside the room, Elias saw it.
He immediately stepped away and called Roman's attorney.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“He's attached to her.”
There was silence.
“How much?”
Elias looked through the glass.
“Enough to make enemies notice.”
The attorney sighed.
“Then protect her.”
Meanwhile, the false doctor had disappeared.
His name was fake.
His badge was stolen.
The syringe contained a drug designed to trigger a fatal arrhythmia.
Someone wanted Roman dead before he could identify the people behind the attack that had originally put him in the hospital.
The problem was simple.
Roman was waking.
And he remembered.
Not everything.
Fragments.
A street.
A rifle.
A black sedan.
A voice.
“Finish it.”
Doctors believed memory would return gradually.
Criminals didn't want to wait.
Three days after Roman woke, Mara was followed home.
She noticed because the same black sedan passed her apartment twice.
She called the police.
No one came.
She called the hospital.
Elias arrived in nine minutes.
“You have to move.”
“No.”
“Mara.”
“This is my home.”
“It isn't safe.”
“I can't afford another.”
He stared at her.
“You don't understand.”
“I understand very well.”
She pointed toward her apartment.
“I'm poor. I'm tired. My rent is due Friday. I don't have a second home.”
Elias almost smiled.
“Roman does.”
“I can't move into Roman's house.”
“You're not being asked.”
He handed her a key.
Mara stared at it.
“What is this?”
“A secure apartment.”
“I don't want charity.”
“It isn't.”
“Then what is it?”
“An order.”
She sighed.
“I hate rich people.”
He laughed.
“You'll fit in fine.”
The next morning, Roman was strong enough to sit for several minutes.
Mara helped him.
His hand closed around her wrist.
He looked at her.
She smiled.
“Easy.”
His eyes moved toward the door.
Elias stood there.
Roman lifted one finger.
Elias approached.
Roman mouthed a word.
“Carmine.”
Elias froze.
Carmine Russo.
Roman's chief strategist.
The man who had managed his operations while he was unconscious.
The man who had been beside the family for fifteen years.
The man who had insisted Roman was unlikely to recover.
Roman wrote the name.
CARMINE.
Then he drew a line through it.
Mara understood.
“Not him?”
Roman nodded.
Then wrote another name.
DR. CRANE.
Mara looked at Elias.
“You think the doctor and Carmine are connected.”
Roman shook his head.
He pointed to the name.
Then to the heart monitor.
Then to himself.
He was trying to say something.
Mara leaned closer.
“You think someone inside the hospital is helping them?”
Roman nodded.
Elias swore softly.
For seven months, someone had been trying to control the narrative around Roman's condition.
And someone had access to every medical decision.
That afternoon, Mara found something strange in the medication cabinet.
One bottle had been moved.
She checked the lot number.
It was the same batch number as the first suspicious medication she had once seen.
Her hands went cold.
Someone had returned.
She called Elias.
Then Roman's monitor suddenly alarmed.
He was awake.
Confused.
His eyes searched the room.
Mara rushed to him.
He grabbed her hand.
His grip was surprisingly strong.
Then he said the first complete sentence he had spoken since waking.
“Don't trust the man with the silver watch.”
Mara stared.
“Who?”
Roman looked toward the door.
Elias turned.
Carmine stood there.
May you like
His silver watch glinted under the lights.
For the first time, the loyal man looked afraid.
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