#Chapter 86 - Layla’s questions

I stepped into the hospital lobby. The bright light and harsh scents of antiseptic stung my senses, and yet, it was like coming home. It’d been months since I’d been here, walked these halls, visited patients. Saved lives. Everything was the same—the fluorescent lights, the human smells lurking beneath the chemicals, the steady beep of heart monitors, the low murmur of constant chatter, the patter of rushed rubber shoes against tile floor … And yet, it felt so different. I was different. And not just in name—I was Dr. Layla Marcello now, and that would take some getting used to after so long being Dr. Bennett. Layla Marcello: wife of a Mafia boss. A woman who’d fought for her life and that of her son and husband. A woman who’d spilled blood. Taken lives. A woman who was now here to save them. “Layla!” One of the nurses waved at me across the lobby, and I smiled back. Forced a long, slow breath through my nose. I was here, I was back, and I would return to my duty as a