Love Drowns In the Lake

But when I followed the ambulance to the Moretti family's private hospital, I found the main gates shut tight.

Black-clad bodyguards were shouting, "No one is allowed in! The Boss's woman has surgery tomorrow. No one is to disturb them."

I took a step forward, holding my mother in my arms. The moment the bodyguard saw me, he froze, a flicker of panic involuntarily crossing his face.

"M-Ma'am... these are the Boss's orders. I don't dare disobey. How about you give him a call?"

I snatched the bodyguard's phone and dialed the number I knew by heart.

When the call connected, my voice trembled as I spoke.

"Dante, my mother... she just drowned and she's badly hurt. Please, let me in so a doctor can see her. I'm begging you..."

But the man on the other end just scoffed.

"Save her?" he sneered. "On what grounds? Remember this, Stella. She's your mother, not mine!"

Those few short words pierced my heart with a searing pain. But I couldn't afford to be hurt; I continued to plead humbly.

"Dante, for the sake of how good she always was to you, I'm begging you..."

Before I could finish, he hung up with an abrupt click. I refused to give up, my trembling hands dialing the number again. This time, all I got was a notification that the phone had been turned off.

And with that, the last shred of my hope was extinguished.

Watching my mother's breaths grow fainter and fainter, I grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher and charged at the closed doors.

In an instant, shards of glass sliced across my skin, but I couldn't feel the pain. I scooped up my mother and rushed inside.

The bodyguards moved to stop me, but seeing the crazed look on my face, they couldn't bring themselves to intervene.

The on-duty doctor saw us and rushed to place my mother on a hospital bed to examine her. After just two minutes, he walked out, shaking his head.

“I’m sorry, we did everything we could.”

“The patient's pupils have dilated. You should start making the final arrangements…”

I froze, a buzzing sound filling my head as I collapsed weakly to my knees, my voice almost a plea:

“No… it can’t be…”

“Doctor, I’m begging you… I’m begging you to save my mom… She’s the only family I have left in this world!”

The doctor looked on with pity and sighed.

“It’s not that I won’t save her, it’s just that the patient is already… If you had come just a few minutes sooner, there might have been a chance. At this point, no one can bring her back, except maybe a leading authority in cardiology.”