The Billionaire's Secretive Enchantress (The Berutelli Escape) (2 page)

The black car pulled away with a harsh screeching of tires and Sierra
accelerated cautiously forward, her heart pounding frantically with the fear of what she might find.

When she pulled up even with the alleyway, she struggled for breath, shocked by what she was seeing. 
Sierra jumped out of her car, barely remembering to put it in park in her rush to get to the wounded man lying on the gravel as if he were a piece of trash. 

She rushed over to the man, cradling his head in her lap and trying to shield his face from the harsh glare of the sun.  She heard him moan and rested her hand against his cheek.  “Please don’t die on me,” she begged to the
extremely large, inert form.  “You just have to be okay.  I’ll make this all okay, if you’ll just survive this horrible incident,” she whispered, unaware that she was actually sobbing out the words. 

With her cell phone in one hand, she
cradled the man’s head, her fingers laying on his cheek as she sobbed almost uncontrollably.  She could barely dial nine-one-one because her hand was shaking so badly but finally she managed to get the numbers pressed.  As soon as the operator came online she said, “Please, I need an ambulance here as soon as possible.” 

She squinted into the hot, summer sunshine, trying to read the street signs halfway down the block. 
It was one of those horrible, hazy days that Chicago was famous for so the street signs were a bit blurry. 

Squinting through the smog, sun and haze, she finally read the words and almost yelled them through the phone. 
She told the operator her location, then kept answering the questions about this stranger’s condition.  She couldn’t believe all the bruises that were quickly forming on the man’s face and body.  His previously pristine, white shirt was now torn and bloodied and she didn’t realize that tears were streaming down her cheeks, inadvertently landing on the man’s face. 

When she heard the ambulance in the distance, she felt a small amount of relief.  It felt like it had taken them hours to reach her location but it was probably only minutes.  Finally, the paramedics were jumping out of the vehicle with their stretchers and equipment, urging her to step away from the man
so they could help him.  She didn’t want to let go of his head, afraid of letting it rest on the gravel for even a moment.  She’d been cradling the man’s head in her lap, praying to God that he would save this man from an undeserved death.  She had no idea what had gone on in her father’s office, but she was sure, with an instinct born of desperation and experience, that this man was innocent.  From looking at the condition of the man, he’d probably insulted her father in some way and this was his punishment. 

It wasn’t fair.  No matter what the insult, no one should have to deal with this kind of torture.

The paramedics were loading the man into the ambulance, telling her to drive to the hospital so she could help her “brother”.  She didn’t understand that part of their comments, but she jumped back into her car and raced behind the ambulance.  It took precious moments to find a parking space, but she was racing through the doors of the emergency room entrance just as the stranger was being pushed behind a pair of swinging doors. 

“You’ll have to wait out here for your brother, ma’am,” one of the nurses was telling her, grabbing her arms gently and leading her towards a plastic chair.  “He’s going to be fine,” the woman was assuring her.

“Promise?” Sierra whispered, unaware and uncaring that the tears were falling once again, unconcerned that she had mascara streaks on her cheeks and her brown, curly hair was sticking out in different directions.  She even had some of the man’s blood on her own shirt which would ruin the blouse, but that was inconsequential compared to the man’s pain and anguish.  She just wanted that man to live. 

“The doctors
at this facility are excellent,” the woman assured Sierra, resting a firm hand on her shoulder.  “They will do everything to help him.  You can be sure of that.”

Sierra didn’t like that statement.  It wasn’t the absolute reassurance that she was looking for, but more of an anemic comment that nurses all around the world made to people who were panicking about their loved one. 

She had no idea how long she sat in the painful, plastic chair, staring at the double doors, watching people rush in and out, doctors going in but not coming out.  She lost count of how many doctors were trying to heal the man.  On one level, she should be reassured that so much expertise was being expended.  On the other hand, she didn’t like the possibility that he was so hurt that he needed that much care. 

It might have been an hour or ten, she wasn’t really sure.  There weren’t any windows where she was sitting so she wouldn’t have been able to
gauge the time even if her mind were functioning enough to make the connection between the daylight and nighttime.  In fact, she must have fallen asleep because the next thing she knew, a gentle hand was touching her shoulder and Sierra jerked awake with a start.  It took her only seconds to realize where she was and she jumped up, ignoring the shooting pain in her legs that had been curled up in the tiny, uncomfortable, plastic chair for what might have been several hours. 

“Yes?” Sierra felt the shivering start even before the doctor had a chance to explain. 
“Is he okay?  Is he in pain?” 

The doctor smiled into her soft, blue eyes, relieved that he could convey good news this time. 
“Your brother is going to be okay,” he said to reassure her. 

Sierra felt as if she were going to
faint with that news but she gripped the back of the chair and forced her mind to function properly.  As the news sunk in, she was so relieved, she started crying again, grabbing the doctor’s hand and gripping it between both of hers.  “Thank you!” she whispered with vehemence. 

“Not so fast,” the doctor cautioned
gently, clearing his throat at the stunningly beautiful woman standing before him.  Even with her mascara running down her face, he could see her porcelain complexion and her big, blue eyes made him forget his wife while she looked up at him.  They actually made him forget to breathe for a moment.  This young girl was exquisitely gorgeous and the deep compassion shining through her lovely eyes only added to her beauty. 

He fel
t bad when her exquisite blue eyes filled up with anxiety.  He shook his head and focused on her words, trying to explain the whole situation.  He had to stop thinking of her loveliness and focus on explaining her brother’s condition. 

Clearing his throat, he took her hand and guided her back to the chairs so they were both sitting down. 
“He’s going to need a great deal of care.  Right now, he’s in a coma so that,” he heard her gasp but put a reassuring hand to her shoulder and guided her back to focus on his words, “ so we could operate more safely.  He has several broken ribs, one of which punctured a lung.  His right collar bone is broken, his left leg is broken in two places and there are several contusions which bruised his internal organs.  Thankfully, nothing was punctured or things would have been much worse.  But it was a good thing you were right there and able to call when you did.  He wouldn’t have made it if you’d been any later.”  The doctor chuckled at the young beauty’s worried expression.  “That was some bar fight he was in.” 

Sierra absorbed all of this information with a painful heart.  The doctor thought the man had been in a bar fight?  Should she tell him the truth?  What would happen if she said that her father’s men had done this?  Surely there would still be blood in her father’s office.
Maybe the police could seize the car and have it tested.  But would that get back to his father?  He hadn’t been driving the car, she hadn’t seen him beat up this stranger and she hadn’t even heard him order the beating. 

Or was her father smart enough to clean up all the evidence?  He wasn’t a stupid man.  No one could create the enormous criminal empire Joe Berutelli commanded and be unintelligent.  He’d gone this long without any problems with the law, or at least no problems that she knew about, so it was probably a good bet that he’d already cleaned up any evidence that might incriminate him.

Besides, if she told this doctor that it hadn’t been a bar fight, the police would get involved and they might start asking questions.  If they asked anything of her father, he would know that the stranger was still alive. 

Wasn’t it better to let the man heal before she took on gaining justice for the stranger? 

A moment later, the doctor cleared his throat and looked serious again so Sierra brought her eyes up from the floor to focus on his kind features once again.  “He’s in recovery now and the medicine we used to induce the coma will be wearing off pretty soon.  He’ll be moved to the intensive care unit and I can’t say how long it will take before he recovers enough to be moved to a regular room, much less to be released.”  He looked sad as he said, “This could be a long, painful and expensive ordeal ahead for your brother.”

“
Don’t worry about payment.  I’ll make sure everything is taken care of.  Just make sure he’s not in any pain.  Please!” Sierra cried, relieved that he was still alive.  She’d take it one day at a time.  “When can I see him?” she asked, not sure if the beaten man even wanted to see her but she could peek at him while he was unconscious, just to make sure he was really okay.

The doctor sm
iled, blushing slightly when Sierra smiled back at him.  Embarrassed at his reaction since he was a fifty year old man and this woman couldn’t be older than twenty, he admonished himself and reminded himself of his mission at the moment.  Besides, she was probably younger than twenty by the kind, innocent look about her. 

As the doctor glanced around, he noticed several
other men in the waiting room were having the same problem and he instinctively wanted to put a protective wall around this girl-child, to guard her against their lascivious thoughts.  He hated the way several of the men were glancing in her direction, some of them actually staring with adoration. 

In answer to her question, he said, “He’ll be
brought to the ICU as soon as the nurses in the recovery room think that he is well enough to endure the change.  Once he’s set up, the nurses will allow you to talk to him.  Whatever you say, be positive, talk to him, let him hear your voice so he knows that his family is around him, reassure him that everything is going to be okay and tell him stories of his past or about your other brothers and sisters.  We don’t know all that happens with the brain, but we know that he will hear your voice and recognize what you’re telling him.” 

“Yes!” she gasped, excited about the doctor’s prognosis
and eager to help in any way possible.  “I’ll go down there right now.”

She was grabbing her purse as the doctor walked wearily down the hallway when one of the nurses stopped her.  “Miss?” she called out. 

Sierra stopped hurrying, trying to smile but she was too tired at this point, and too relieved.  All she wanted to do was to see this stranger and make sure that her father hadn’t damaged him too much.  “Yes?” she asked.

“I’m sorry to bring this up at this point, but we need your brother’s insurance information,” the nurse said, handing the forms on a clipboard to Sierra.

Sierra had no idea if the man had health insurance or not, but she wasn’t going to impose the expense of her father’s brutality on the man’s financial woes.  Pulling out her wallet, she slipped a credit card out of the slot.  “Here, use this for any expenses,” she said, knowing that her father hadn’t put any limit on this credit card.  It would serve him right to pay for the recovery of the man he’d beaten.  “Don’t spare any expense to help this man get better,” Sierra urged the nurse who was looking back at her with a surprised expression. 

“But don’t you want…” she started to say, only to stop when Sierra shook her head adamantly. 

“No.  All expenses should go on that card.  If the card won’t cover it, contact me immediately and I’ll make sure everything is paid for,” she said, writing down her contact information.  She would sell the jewelry her father had given her over the years in order to pay the man’s hospital expenses if the credit card wouldn’t cover all the costs. 

With that, Sierra walked away, furious with her father and shaking with anticipation at seeing the stranger she’d never actually met.  Their eyes had seen each other, but she was sure he wouldn’t remember her.  There had been too much going on at the party for him to
have really seen her so she’d have to be careful.  She didn’t want him to recognize her since it might bring back bad memories. 

She followed the directions to the ICU and
was finally directed to the correct room.  She found the man laying on the hospital bed hooked up to so many machines her stomach twisted into knots just hearing their beeping noises. 

She was amazed because, even with bruises covering his face, bandages around his head and around his chest, his leg encased in a cast and so many machines beeping around him, the man still managed to look amazingly sexy and confident.  She stepped into the room, her fingers tenderly touching his hand as she sat down in the chair.  “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, looking at the man’s features in an effort to see if he understood anything she’d said.  “I can’t believe my father did this to you, but I’ll try very hard to make it right.”

She told him what the doctor had said, commenting on how nice he looked, how handsome he had seemed when he’d first stepped out onto the patio and how he had taken her breath away.  She kept talking to him, fearful that one of the nurses would tell her that she had to leave or that visiting hours were finished.  But no one disturbed her although occasionally someone came in to check on the man’s vitals or to put something into the IV.