"Are there any injuries that we should be concerned about, doctor?" Valentina asked the doctor who was checking on Delfina.
It hadn't been long since Marco's men brought Delfina to her home. Seeing the injuries carved on her friend's body, Valentina's heart shattered into pieces.
Immediately, she called the family doctor to check up on her.
"She has a few tears on her skin, as if she'd been whipped with something sharp, like a belt or rope," the doctor replied, his eyebrows coming together to form a knot. "The wounds are quite deep too. Not only that, she seems to have suffered from malnutrition."
Valentina's gaze landed on Delfina, who'd collapsed the moment she was brought in, probably from exhaustion.
"We need to take her to the hospital immediately."
**
Dominic arrived at the hospital, his huge frame towering over almost everything there, which gained him unwanted attention.
People whispered while girls blushed at his arrival, but he ignored each and every one of them as he strode towards a familiar ward.
"These girls still love you, huh?" Jeremy, his closest friend, teased as he waved to the girls in his stead, grinning at them, which caused them to blush even further.
However, Dominic ignored his words completely.
On his way, he saw a lady on a stretcher who was obviously getting admitted to the hospital. His gaze briefly scanned her body, which was torn here and there as if she'd been whipped. She looked so thin and fragile, like a corpse.
Dominic tore his gaze from her body, but the whispers of the nurses got his attention.
"Isn't that the fiancée of Filippo Costa? I heard that her fiancé left her at the altar right when they were about to share their vows because her sister was admitted to the hospital?"
"It's obvious they have something going on with each other. But why does she look like this? Did they torture her or something?"
Filippo Costa. That name rang a bell in Dominic's ears. The Costa family were tycoons in the business world and their company always ranked second on the list.
Unable to stop himself, he turned, taking a quick glance at the lady on the stretcher once again, but one of the nurses obscured his vision.
Jeremy noticed his action and cocked an eyebrow. "You know her?" he asked.
"No," he replied flatly.
They reached their destination not long after that.
Inside the hospital room was an elderly looking woman lying on the bed. The only sign of life was the rising and falling of her chest.
A nurse was there, changing the IV drip.
"How's she?" he asked, his gaze on his mother.
"She's not showing any signs of waking up anytime soon. It's almost as if she's refused to wake up," she replied, her tone soft.
Dominic walked towards the bed and took a seat close to it. He held the woman's hand, his large ones clasping around hers gently.
His gaze was gentle with longing.
His mother had been in a comatose state for over five years already, and with every day that passed, his hope thinned.
Jeremy moved closer to Dominic, offering brotherly comfort by patting his shoulder as he stared at the woman's body on the bed. She looked like she was sound asleep, but only the heavens knew how much she was fighting for her life.
Dominic held his mother's hand tighter, silently praying as usual that she would wake up soon.
She'd been poisoned right under his nose just because he was too busy fighting for his position with Carlo. He'd returned only to find her body lying on the floor of her bedroom, cold and almost out of life.
Unfortunately, the poison wasn't discovered because the symptoms shown made them think it was only a severe cold.
"She's going to be alright, Dom," Jeremy said.
Dominic didn't utter a word. After checking on the woman, the nurse left the room and excused them.
After spending a silent hour with his mother, Dominic received a phone call that broke that silence.
He reached for his phone only to find it was his father calling. He opted to slide the screen to the left but paused and did the opposite.
"We have an emergency meeting. You have half an hour to get here." The older man hung up without waiting for Dominic to respond.
Dominic sighed as he slipped his phone back into his pocket.
"We have to leave," he said to Jeremy, who instantly stood up from the couch.
Dominic placed a kiss on his mother's head before the duo left.
As they passed the hall once again, Dominic's gaze moved to the door of another hospital room. Due to the see through door, he instantly saw the woman lying on the bed. It was the same woman whose body had been brutalized by her fiancé, allegedly.
He paused instantly as he watched her, his eyebrows furrowing deeply.
Jeremy glanced at the door, confusion etched on his face.
"What? Do you know that woman?" Jeremy asked.
Dominic didn't respond immediately.
His gaze focused hard on her, questions running through his mind.
"Why do women stay with men that hit them and use them as punching bags?" he asked.
Jeremy was quite taken aback by the question, which left him speechless for a while.
"I guess it's love?" he wondered, scratching the back of his head. "Dom, we need to leave."
Dominic tore his gaze from the door and marched forward, leaving the hospital.
Back inside, Delfina fluttered her eyes open only to find herself in an unfamiliar place.
She glanced around and found Valentina watching the news on the television.
"Val," she whispered, and immediately her friend heard her voice. Quickly, she rushed towards her. "You're awake."
"How long have I been sleeping?" she asked.
"About three hours," Valentina responded, immediately pouring a glass of water. Delfina gulped it down and asked for more.
Silence enveloped them as Delfina came to realize that she'd finally managed to escape from Navira's and Filippo's grasp.
Until she heard the news from the television.
She looked up and saw an engagement banner as Filippo and Navira announced that they planned to get married soon.