Chapter 4: Fooled by a Spoiled Princess

[Juliette’s POV]

Doctor Rose slotted the chart under her right arm and casually tucked both hands into her robe pockets. “The bills aren’t cleared, and there’s another patient waiting for this bed. So, we’re out of choice, Miss Lux.”

My eyes couldn’t grow any larger. “Are you telling me that you’re gonna take him off the machines and expect me to wheel him out of the hospital right now?”

“Like I said, Miss Lux–.”

“Don’t you ‘Miss Lux’ me! You've been my doctor since I was born! What’s gotten into you? Don’t act like you don’t know me!” I cried in anguish. These people, the ones Papa called friends, are now turning their backs on him. First, Uncle Jerry, now, Doctor Rose. Money seems to be the only thing that’s been keeping their friendships alive.

Doctor Rose sighed and said, “Bills are bills, Miss Lux. The hospital needs funds to cure more people. Your father is not the only one here who needs medical attention.”

“But he’s in a coma!” I protested strongly, my lips quivering in disbelief.

“I have his medical report here,” the woman replied in an auctioneer tone. “We see no problem discharging him if his bills aren’t paid.” She handed over a piece of paper.

I took it and noted the cost at the bottom. A sardonic chuckle slipped from me and I remarked sarcastically, “So if his bills are settled, then you'll have a problem discharging him?” I felt a wry smile on my face. “That’s what medical attention is, huh?”

While chastising the cruel doctor, the wheels in my mind churned furiously.

As Ralph Virtus clearly pointed out, I’m broke and powerless. I haven’t got a single cent on me, so how am I going to settle a $7.9 million hospital bill? I can’t ask for favours because I’m now at everyone’s mercy, so no one will give me any.

The sparkle on my fourth finger caught my eye, and an idea popped into my mind. My head shot up and I stepped forward enthusiastically, “I have the money. Don’t discharge him.”

Doctor Rose blinked in surprise. “You do?” There was a strange twinkle in her eyes.

I dismissed my curiosity and pushed my chin up proudly, and said firmly, “I’m also invoking the Medical Debt Disarming Act, so you can’t kick my father out if I pay a part of the bill within 24 hours from its issued date. So I still have….” I paused to check my phone for the time and then looked up at her again. “1 hour 13 minutes and 40 seconds to get the money. If I’m not back by then, not a second early, you can throw my father out.”

I pivoted from her and dashed out of the ward.

*****

[Doctor Rose POV]

She watched with a heavy heart as the young heiress disappeared behind the closing door. After a helpless sigh, she turned to the coma patient and gave him a weak smile. “You’re right, Harold. She’s got the Lux’s gift of calculation, and she’s a real bone breaker.”

Turning away from the bed, she muttered remorsely under her breath, “While I’m the worst doctor.” She fished out her phone and speed dialled a number. The receiver answered after two rings, and she immediately reported Juliette’s responses to the man at the other end of the line.

When she was done, she demanded in an icy tone, “I’ve done everything you asked, so leave my grandson alone.” Her lips quivered with raw worry.

“Oh, he’s a real charmer, Rose,” Ben remarked, sounding almost sincere. “I’d love to have a younger brother like him.”

“Don’t you dare—!!” She halted consciously and turned away from the curious bodyguards who caught her outburst. Lowering her voice, she hissed cautiously, “Don’t you dare touch him!”

“Aw, don’t worry, Rose.” Ben chuckled. “His recess ended a while ago so he’s left the playground with his teacher.”

The frantic pounding in her chest started to subside as the smooth voice added, “Appreciate your help, doc.” She ignored it and made a mental note to check with her daughter on little Ryan again.

“My boss says, you’ve earned a huge donation for your department.” The smooth voice continued.

She’d hope to say: stick that money up your mafia asses; I don’t want it.

But she couldn’t; imagine all the new equipment she could get with that money, the patients she could cure. Harold would want her to take it too—it was his money in the first place anyway. “Thank you,” she managed a weak reply, and the call disconnected.

*****

[Juliette’s POV]

I was alone in the elevator, hovering my right hand close to my eyes as I studied the sparkling stone on the diamond ring—it’s the size and weight of my mother’s 34-carat diamond ring, and it’s pink diamond….

I rocked my hand to catch the light on the diamond. The colour seems deeper than the ones I’ve seen before, so it must be a rare gem. I peered at the surface from its side and noted its seemingly high clarity. I hovered my gaze directly above it and realised that it’s in the perfect symmetry.

My lips broke into the widest smile I’ve ever had since Bora Bora. This diamond is excellent in all the 4Cs, it’ll definitely fetch a good price. I’ll sell it and settle the hospital bill first. Then I’ll come up with a plausible excuse for the mafia.

The elevator ping, and the doors slid open. I strode out hurriedly, fishing out my phone to check the address of a possible buyer with lots of cash to spare.

*****

[Ralph’s POV]

Blood. It takes blood—not sweat or tears—to be the head of this sick household; and if you didn’t want it, your blood would be shed for someone to take it. So it was either them, or me. For the sake of the woman who birthed me, I made the choice, and now I’m the head of the Virtus family. They called me by many names, but I know myself by one—the Don of this Mafia family....

And I’ve been sitting in my office, listening to my so-called uncles, my father's 'business associates', the second rank from the top of the food chain; the family call them the 'Cousins' while I call them ‘the second tier Virtuses’.

They’ve been talking for the past hour, fighting over their rightful piece of the Lux business empire.

Of course, they’ve forgotten one important detail.

“Lux Corp belongs to me,” I said solemnly, my eyes narrowed to a warning gaze at these old geezers.

“Sure…,” replied the oldest and the slimiest of the trio, Sandy, in a sarcastic drawl with a wicked smile and a sly glint in his hooded eyes. “What’s in the family, belongs to the family.”

“NO." I refuted strongly just as the other two opened their shameless mouths, about to sing their agreements. I repeated in the Don's commanding tone, “Lux Corp. Is. Mine. Not the family's. MINE.”

Disapproval shot from their eyes like killing lasers.

I snickered internally in satisfaction. Riling them up has been one of my greatest pleasures since I succeeded my father as the Don. They were his best buddies, so, naturally, they are my worst enemies, after my father.

Ben entered the office, and I don't like the look on his face. Something must have happened to the Lux woman—those violet eyes bothered me a hell more than I thought.

Hastily, I stood and began, "Gentlemen." I waved a hand to the door. "I think we’re done here. It’s my acquisition; we’ll leave it at that.”

They left wearing looks of bitter displeasure, huffing a string of almost inaudible curses about my disrespecting the family. Once the door shut behind them, Ben turned to me with a flustered look. “Bad news.”

“Juliette Lux?” 

“Yes,” Ben replied nervously.

I sighed and sat back on the couch. How can one woman get into trouble that fast? It's only been two hours since I left her at the church. “How bad?”

“Like Mickey-bad.”

I jumped up to a stand again, glaring at my right-hand man in bewilderment. “That Mickey?”

Ben nodded. “The only one. And she’s on her way there.”

“Jesus….” My fingers raked through my hair in frustration. “Her father never mentioned that she has a drug problem.” I stared at Ben in disbelief. “We checked her bio too, didn’t we? She’s clean, isn’t she?” I was almost shouting. Since I wanted to reform my family's mafia ways, I married the Lux woman for her family's good name. But even her family name would be useless to me if she was a junkie.

“She’s not going there for drugs.”

I lifted a puzzled brow. “Then what the hell is she there for?” I asked apprehensively.

“She’s actually going there to err…,” Ben trailed off sheepishly, then took a deep breath and forced a smile. “To sell her ring.”

My eyes enlarged. “Her wedding ring?”

Ben nodded once more.

“So she’s selling the ring that I gave her to Mickey…,” I muttered absently, still baffled by the surprising turn of events, as I strolled to the office glass wall. I stood before the city landscape and stared at it until a pair of beautiful violet eyes emerged in my mind, glaring at me.

Juliette Lux.... Yesterday, she was screaming like a spoiled brat asking for daddy and mummy. Today, she stood up to me like a fighter and even found a way to settle her father’s hospital bills on her own.

My jaw clenched in dissatisfaction. This time, my plan failed. Doctor Rose was supposed to use Harold Lux's medical bills to drive his daughter to a desperate need, so she'd come to me, and I'd use the chance to win her trust and cooperation.

But I underestimated her. I didn’t think that she’d be bold or smart enough to sell the ring that I gave her. Her father was right all along—she is a go-getter, and I need to play my game right, or she’ll slip through my fingers before I know it.

“How the hell does she know Mickey if she isn’t into drugs?” I turned back to Ben, and he was just as clueless.

He stepped closer and lowered his voice to my ear, “Ralph, Mickey knows you got married and Juliette’s your wife. And he’s one very unhappy drug king. Remember our last meeting with him? Your father ordered us to get that druggie Sandy back, so we broke into his place and got surrounded by hundreds of his men. We only got out of there alive because you beat the shit out of him.”

Of course, I remembered that bloody night. “It was 3 years ago,” I murmured and could still feel the crack in my knuckles when they crashed repeatedly into that hyena’s bony chest.

“So what do we do now?” Ben asked with a concerned look. “If anything happens to Juliette Lux, it won’t look good on us. We’re supposed to get out of this mafia business, not stay in it”

I looked up with a smirk on my lips, a new plan had already formed in my mind. "We do nothing.”