He was certain the woman he loved had died in a terrible fire ten years ago. But one day, lying on the operating table, he saw his beloved in a mysterious surgeon. She denied who she was, yet the real reason behind her disappearance shocked everyone. π€―π±π³
Ten years ago, Alex Cassian lost the woman for whom he had been ready to leave the criminal world. Back then he wasn’t yet the most dangerous man in Chicago. He was the young heir of a mafia family, and Mary was the girl with whom he secretly dreamed of starting a new life.
But one night, an old warehouse where they were supposed to meet caught fire. Alex arrived too late. All that remained of the building were charred walls, and Mary was officially declared dead. From that point on, he never let anyone get close to him again.
Now Alex lay on the operating table after an assassination attempt. The doctors said it was a matter of minutes.
“I want ‘the Star’ to operate on me,” he said hoarsely.
“That’s impossible. She only works when she wants to. She can’t be forced to work β not for money, not by force,” the chief physician answered.
Alex struggled to open his eyes.
“I don’t care how. Just make her come.”
Twenty minutes later, the operating room doors opened. A woman in surgical scrubs walked in, calmly checked the equipment, and approached the operating table. Everyone was surprised to see her, because “the Star” had decided to come help of her own accord.
Alex looked at her and froze. Beneath the mask, in the cold light of the surgical lamps, he saw eyes he had never forgotten.
“Mary?…” he whispered.
The woman didn’t even flinch.
“My name is Dr. Emma Carter.”
He wanted to say something, but his consciousness was gradually growing foggy.
“You’re losing too much blood right now. You need to save your strength.”
“I saw that building burn. I thought you were dead,” Alex kept saying, barely aware anymore of where he was.
Emma turned away and continued preparing for the surgery, ignoring his words.
But Alex whispered again:
“I saw that building burn. I thought you were dead.”
Emma slowly looked at him. For the first time, irritation appeared on her face.
“Stop talking. You’re in a critical condition as it is. You’re just delirious.”
Alex tried to sit up, but his strength finally left him, and he sank back down onto the table.
Emma froze for a few seconds. She was clearly thrown off, though she tried not to show it.
Behind the glass, several people watched what was happening. They couldn’t understand why the most ruthless man in Chicago looked frightened for the first time. But what surprised them even more was something else: why a world-renowned surgeon, who couldn’t be made to come in even for enormous sums of money, had reacted so strangely to a patient’s words.
Emma took a deep breath, pulled herself together, and started acting again. She turned away, picked up a surgical instrument, and prepared to begin the operation.
But before taking the first step, she quietly said a few words that shocked everyone watching. π€―
Continued in the commentsβ¦ πππ
“If you really recognized me just by looking at me, then don’t you dare die. You have to survive.”
Silence fell over the operating room. No one had expected to hear such words from “the Star,” but no one dared to ask anything.
A few hours later, Alex survived. And when he opened his eyes several days later, Emma was already gone. He was told that she had saved him, and that before the surgery she had said only one phrase.
Alex decided he would find her no matter what.
But he didn’t have to search. One evening, Emma appeared at his door herself.
“Now you deserve to know the truth,” she said.
She told him that ten years ago, people working against Alex’s family had forced her to lure him to the warehouse. If she had refused, they would have killed her family.
But Mary had no intention of betraying the man she loved. She set the warehouse on fire, leaving enough evidence for everyone to believe she was dead, and then disappeared and started a new life under the name Emma Carter.
“I wanted you to forget me. That was the only way I could be sure you wouldn’t be killed because of me.”
Alex was silent for a long time.
“So why did you come back now?”
She looked him in the eyes.
“Because ten years ago, I saved you by disappearing. And now someone has tried to kill you again.”
Alex understood: the assassination attempt was connected to the same secret.
He took her hand.
“This time, we’re not running.”
Mary smiled for the first time.
For ten years, they had both believed they had lost each other. But the fire hadn’t ended their story β it had only made them wait to be reunited.
