The Mafia's Doctor

<-01->

"Ila, I was just looking for you. Do you know which room they moved patient Jackson Waller to?" She asked me as she tried to multitask texting information of the patient to her colleagues and writing it down on her notepad.

"Nope. Sorry, you'll have to ask Justin. I'm going to be off the clock for a bit." I told her, tapping my watch.

"What?" She yelled, grabbing my wrist to check the time. Her brown eyes grew huge as horror struck her face. "Oh no! It's already four!"

"Yeah, why?" I asked.

"I need to turn in the assignment to Dr. Yasmin!" Charlotte shoved her notepad and phone into her pockets and began running towards the nurse's lounge.

"She's going to kill me now!" She yelled, passing wounded patients, worried visitors, and busy nurses who all threw her questioning looks.

Typical Charlotte, I thought as I watched her run out of sight. I continued on my way to my office. On my desk, there was a carton of apple juice and a sticky note. The note read:

Drink up. :) ~Quinten.

I smiled at the cute happy face drawn to the side. Quinten was one of the doctors that already worked here before I came. He was a few years older than me. He's known as "the big brother" around the hospital since Quinten always looks after his colleagues. There were times where he offered to take my shifts so that I could rest a bit. I'm grateful to be working with him.

I switched my white doctor coat for my cardigan. I grabbed my purse, phone, and the carton of apple juice as I head to the front of the hospital.

"Okay, I'm going out. See you in a bit." I told the lady, behind the front desk, who was in charge of the staff's schedule.

I walked out of the building and took a deep breath of fresh air, replacing the cleaning chemical smell of the hospital that was in my lungs. I stuck the small straw into the carton and took a sip, feeling relaxed.

Fortunately, there was a convenience store down a few blocks from the hospital. Almost every staff goes over there once in awhile to pick up snacks for their tight shifts. I'm a regular there. My break only last 30 minutes, giving me enough time to walk the couple blocks, grab a few bags of chips, and back. Taking my car to the place would take the full 30 minutes. The streets of New York was always crammed, as well as the sidewalks but its more convenient.

When walking, I often look at the items displayed in the windows of the shops. Doing so helps me avoid awkward eye contact with passing walkers. I stopped in front of the pet store, right next to the convenience store, waving at the interested puppy in the window. I smiled as a few of the puppy's sibling came over to greet me. The little brown dog stood up on its hind legs, with her two front paws against the window glass to hold herself upright, as she yapped.

Nearby, I could hear muffled sounds of an argument. It wasn't until I said goodbye to the puppies and made my way to the convenience store to see that the debate was taking place in between the alleyway of the two shops.

The two men shouted at each other. One man was shorter, rounder, and older. The other was young, tall, and muscular, not to mention very attractive. Their face was red, eyebrows were furrowed, and veins were popping out of their necks. The verbal fight looked heated, at the edge of it getting physical, arms and hands moving as they yelled to make their point. The debate was going on in a different language, sounds like Italian. Since I was unable to understand the situation, I decided not to interfere. Feeling uneasy, I moved forward and into the store.

>>>-M-A-T-T-E-O->

"I thought we had a truce!" I yelled, angrily at the man in front of me. "We were supposed to put our difference aside and work together until we landed a deal with the French!"

"Then why were five of my best men killed, Casciani? You and your father were the only one who knew their exact location that night." Riccardo said, throwing accusations.

"And you knew where our men were that night too. They weren't around yours." I defended.

"How am I suppose to believe that? Do you think I'm stupid? Of course, you and your men would hold your part of the deal."

This is ridiculous. I was just out, running errands for my grandmother when I ran into Riccardo Stollo. Somehow, I ended up in an alleyway, between a pet shop and a convenience store, arguing with Stollo like a madman. My mother was right. Mafia business is messy. I should have left with her to England.

"Look, we can get to the bottom of this together. We still need to get the French's deal."

"No. Reece wouldn't like that." The way Riccardo mentioned his recently dead right-hand man sent chills down my back. He took a step closer to me, revealing his hidden pocket knife.

"No, Stollo. Not here, not now. We can work this out, just let me speak to my father." I said, firmly, as I slowly backed up and eyed the switchblade.

<-I-L-A-<<<

Walking into the store, the bell rang, informing the worker a customer had arrived.

"Hey, Ila." Ray, the recently new cashier, greeted me.

I come here so often that we were on a first name basis. Ray was a 17-year-old high school student, taking the cashier job to save some extra money for college. When she rings me up, we often chit-chat about new gossip and unusual events.

I waved and walked over to the middle aisle, knowing that's where the snacks were kept. I grabbed a bag of gummy worms and lemon lays chips. Before walking over to Ray, I stopped to grab a can of Pepsi.

"You are a doctor, right?" She asked me as she rang me up.

"Yes," I answered. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"No. I was just wondering why you always get unhealthy snacks? You know we have apples, carrot sticks, and water." Ray told me, bagging my items into a plastic bag after judging them.

"Hey! I work out." I told her, pretending to be offended.

"Really?" Her eyebrows cocked up as she handed me the bag.

"Yeah, walking here and back is enough exercise."

Ray only shook her head and rolled her eyes. I looked down at my watch to see I had ten minutes left to make it back to the hospital. I said goodbye and headed out.

Stepping out, I noticed it was quiet. I walked past the alleyway and stopped to see that the two men that were fighting were now gone. They probably brought the argument inside or settled it. I was about to walk off when I heard a groan of pain. My concern caused me to looked back into the alley.

On the ground was one of the two men from earlier.

<~>

Out of curiosity, who here is a rereader? Please tell me how you feel about this chapter compared to the one in the original book :)

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