The monitor flatlined just as the door burst open.\n\nI didn’t turn. Not even when boots echoed across the linoleum, not when the air thickened with tension and the scent of leather and gunpowder. I kept compressions going, counting under my breath, sweat stinging my eyes. 'Stay with me, Mateo,' I begged. 'Just hold on.'\n\nThen a voice—low, commanding—cut through the chaos. 'Do whatever she says. Pay whatever it takes.'\n\nI glanced up. Black suit, jaw clenched like stone, eyes dark with something unreadable. Victor Rook. Gangster. Killer. The man whose file I’d seen flagged in the police scanner earlier tonight. And now he was standing in my ICU, demanding they save my brother.\n\nThe lead doctor hesitated. 'Mr. Rook, this is highly irregular—'\n\n'I own half this hospital,' he said coldly. 'And starting now, I’m paying off Nurse Reyes’ entire debt. On one condition.'\n\nMy chest tightened. 'No.'\n\nHe stepped closer, voice dropping so only I could hear. 'Marry me, Tessa. One year. In return, your brother gets the transplant. The best care. No strings… except the ring.'\n\nI wanted to slap him. Scream. Run.\n\nBut Mateo gasped—weak, ragged—and opened his eyes.\n\nVictor didn’t blink. 'Your answer?'