Chapter 130
Elara
The cardiac unit smelled like disinfectant and despair.
Raven led me through narrow hallways to a four–person room. Beeping monitors. Hushed conversations. The steady hiss of oxygen
machines.
Her grandmother lay in the bed by the window. Small. Gray. Hooked
up to so many tubes and wires she looked like a broken machine.
“Babushka,” Raven whispered. “I brought a friend.”
The old woman’s eyes opened. Focused on me. She smiled faintly.
“Hello, dear.”
Her accent was thick. Russian, maybe. Or Ukrainian. The kind that never fully fades, no matter how many decades you spend in America.
“Mrs. Blake,” I said. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Call me Anya.” She patted the bed. “Sit. Please.”
1/2
Chapter 130
I perched on the edge carefully, avoiding the wires.
“Raven tells me you’re helping her with school,” Anya said. “That’s
good. She’s so smart. Too smart to waste.”
“I know.”
“The doctors say I need surgery.” Her voice was calm. Resigned. “But it
costs too much. So I wait.”
“You’ll get the surgery,” I said. “I promise.”
Raven shot me a look. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.
But I meant it.
A nurse came in, checked vitals, adjusted something on the IV. When
she left, I pulled out my phone.
“What are you doing?” Raven asked,
“Research.”
I found the hospital’s patient advocacy page. Their triage protocol.
The policy manual buried three clicks deep.
217
Chapter 130
“When’s your appointment?” I asked.
“Two PM. Why?”
VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABEL
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Reborn at Eighteen The Billionaire's Second Chance