Filed To Story: Returning to Her Not-So-Poor Family
Steward, seeing her run, hastily ordered his men to give chase while he bent down beside Sean. “Hang in there, Sean, I’m getting you to the hospital.”
He wanted to help Sean up, but seeing him in blood, he hesitated, afraid of causing him more pain.
As he lay on the ground, Sean’s vision blurred in and out of focus.He saw his sister’s retreating figure. The urge to call out her name gripped him, yet his voice failed to emerge. As if he had lost his soul, his head was spinning dizzily.
When Sean threw himself to the ground, using his body as a cushion to protect his sister, his arms wrapped protectively around her. In doing so, his back and head had taken the full force of the fall.
Now, blood was also trickling from the back of his head.
As his sister moved further away, Sean noticed the injury on her arm. The bright red of her blood made his heart skip a beat. He opened his mouth to speak, but then darkness took over him.
“Sean, Sean.” Steward panicked, calling for help.
“They’re definitely after us.” Horace looked back and saw that Steward’s men were still hot on their heels. Luckily, he had called his people to come pick them up when they were escaping from the 18th floor.
Suddenly, several black cars screeched to a halt in front of them.
“Get in, quick,” Horace urged. “It’s our ride.”
Mirabella opened the car door and slid in.
The car sped off, and Horace, not yet inside, shouted, “Hey, hey, I’m not in yet!”
He grabbed the passenger-side door and managed to squirm through the window as the car raced away.
“Don’t leave—” Steward’s men shouted from behind, “Come back with us.”
Sean wanted to see her.But she was already gone.
They could only pull their guns out, aiming to shoot the tires to force the car to stop, but the vehicle was moving too fast.
“Damn, they’re pulling guns. All this over a freaking island deal?” Horace panted, his words punctuated by gasps of air. As he caught his breath, he noticed Mirabella’s left arm was injured, blood seeping out.
“Boss Bella, you’re injured.”
When did she get injured without him noticing?
“It’s nothing,” Mirabella brushed it off casually.
Earlier, when Sean had yanked her down the stairs, bullets sliced the air around them. Her arm, entangled by Sean’s grip, lacked its usual agility to evade, resulting in a bullet grazing her.
Luckily, the bullet had not embedded itself in her flesh—as it had in Sean’s back. That bullet was undoubtedly lodged deep, likely requiring surgical extraction.
And as for the fall, it was Sean who had it rough. The harsh landing likely reopened the incision from his recent heart operation, which would require re-stitching.
Fortunately, these were all well within the hospital doctors’ expertise.
Nothing they couldn’t fix.
“Boss Bella, we should swing by our safe house first. I’ll have someone dress your wounds there.”
“No need, just hit the hotel. I’ve got a first aid kit on me.” Mirabella was prepared; she always carried an emergency medical kit whenever she went out.
“Okay, then let me at least stop the bleeding for now.” Horace fished through the car and found some gauze, efficiently wrapping it around Mirabella’s bleeding arm to stop the flow.
They were often on assignments, so the car was usually stocked with medical supplies. But this time, they were down to nothing but bandages—the medicine had all been used up.
“Just bear with me, we’ll have you patched up in no time.” After applying several layers of gauze, Horace make sure it was fastened securely. Throughout the process, Mirabella remained silent and stoic, though her complexion was noticeably pale and weary.
“Boss.” Horace couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy seeing her like this—and it was well past 2:00
a.m..
Mirabella must be exhausted, and likely famished.
“Hand over your jacket.”
When Mirabella said this, Horace assumed she was chilly and quickly took his off, helping her put it on with care.
But a moment later, something dawned on him, and he exclaimed in shock, “Boss Bella, are you covering up your wound so that Romeo won’t see it and worry.”
Mirabella gave him a look that said: “If you’ve figured it out, why ask?”Horace zipped his lips, swallowing hard, and at the same time, he couldn’t believe that—Boss had changed.
She actually showed a vulnerability now!
Pulling up at the hotel entrance, Mirabella gave her orders, “Take some trusted guys and head back to the states. From now on, you’re my right-hand man. I’ll head back with Romeo tonight or tomorrow.
Head over to Jack’s and wait for me.”
Horace considered asking if he could join them on their private jet, but then thought better of it—he didn’t want to be the third wheel.
“Boss Bella, make sure you get that wound seen to as soon as you’re up there. Don’t wait.” he urged instead.
“Sure.” Mirabella confirmed and headed into the hotel.
Horace stayed until he saw her step into the elevator before driving off.
With Romeo upstairs, Bella would be in safe hands.
Reassured, he could feel a weight lift from his shoulders.
Upon reaching her floor, Mirabella found the presidential suite’s door slightly open. Inside was chaos—a clear aftermath of turmoil, as if a storm had passed through.
The hotel manager and several executives were awkwardly gathered near the sofa, incessantly bowing to Romeo and apologizing, “We’re terribly sorry, Mr. McMillian. This incident was a lapse in our security.
Please accept our deepest apologies.”
Noticing Mirabella, Romeo dismissed them and rushed to her side, “Are you hurt?”She gave a slight shake of her head and questioned, “What happened?”
“Some thugs forced their way in here,” Romeo replied in a low voice.
Seeing her paleness, he quickly fetched her a glass of water and urged her to drink, his eyes filled with displeasure as he glanced at the inept hotel staff. “Why are you still there?” he growled.
The staff bowed again, expressing their gratitude for Romeo’s understanding, then hastened to straighten up the furniture.
But it was clear—the coffee table split into pieces, the windows and doors damaged, and bloodstains on both the bed and carpet.
This suite was beyond staying in.
“The suite next door is all set. The door is open, and I’ll arrange some late-night delicacies to be delivered.”
Before the manager could finish his words, Romeo shot him a stern glance that immediately cut him off. Knowing to exit swiftly, the man bowed out.
An attempt on Romeo’s life in their hotel.
If the word got out, how would the hotel ever attract the high society?
With such a security failure, who among the elite would trust a stay there?
The thing was, the head honcho of the hotel had been practically drooling to ink a deal with Romeo.
But after this security failure, that possibility was sinking fast. And to top it off, they might even need to make amends personally.
The hotel manager knew better not to speak further, mindful not to provoke more criticism. Exiting, he hurried off to devise damage control plans and compensation strategies with the other executives.
“How’s your hand?” Mirabella asked once the room was theirs. “Did it hurt?”
Romeo played it cool, “Nope, nothing.”
“I saw it when you were handling the water earlier. Where are you hurt? Show me.” Mirabella retrieved her backpack, which was packed with all sorts of first-aid supplies.
“You are quite the medic, aren’t you? Can’t get anything past you.” Romeo pushed up his sleeve to expose a crudely bandaged forearm.
“That’s some rough wrapping,” Mirabella teased. “Couldn’t put in a little more effort?”
Romeo had used some powder the manager had given him to stop the bleeding, then carelessly bandaged his arm, hoping Mirabella wouldn’t notice in case of a sudden return. But she had.
. Unwrapping his hastily done bondage, Mirabella spotted that it was a knife wound—thankfully, it was a shallow flesh wound.
“Were there many? Any tough ones?” she probed as she started her treatment.
Someone of Romeo’s caliber wasn’t easy to injure.”Just hired guns. They had numbers on their side.”
“They were after me?” Mirabella inferred.
“Mmm.” Romeo’s gaze lingered on her, wondering what enemies she had made recently.
When the intruders had slipped in under the cover of darkness, they likely hadn’t expected to find Romeo there. They had hesitated at first, as if they looked to avoid an extra fight.
But Romeo wasn’t about to let them off the hook. After a scuffle, they were badly injured.
He purposely allowed their escape, with his people to tail them. He intended to track them, revealing who they were, and who had sent them.