He Left the Altar to Save His First Love

Chapter 2: The Boy in the Hallway

Marco turned toward the door.

A small boy stood in the hallway.

He was about the same age as the girl, maybe a little older. His hair was dark, his hospital bracelet too loose around his wrist. He held the doorframe with one hand and stared at Marco with wide, frightened eyes.

The little girl ran to him.

"Mateo," she cried.

Marco looked from the girl to the boy.

His heart began to pound in a way that hurt.

Yolanda tried to speak again, but the monitor beside her screamed faster. Nurses rushed in, forcing Marco back as doctors surrounded the bed.

"Sir, you need to step outside."

"No," Marco said. "I just found her."

A doctor looked at him with pity. "Then let us keep her alive."

Marco stepped into the hallway, shaking.

The little girl clung to Mateo. Both children watched him like he was a stranger they had been told to find.

Marco crouched slowly.

"What are your names?"

The girl wiped her face. "I'm Sofia."

The boy whispered, "Mateo."

Marco swallowed. "And Yolanda is your mother?"

They nodded.

"Where is your father?"

Neither child answered.

That silence told him too much.

A nurse approached with a clipboard. "Are you family?"

Marco looked through the glass at Yolanda, then back at the children.

"Yes," he said. "I am."

Before the nurse could ask more, a man in a dark coat stepped from the elevator. He looked too polished for an emergency ward and too calm for the situation.

Sofia saw him and hid behind Marco.

The man smiled faintly.

"Mr. Bellini," he said. "You should not have come here."

Marco stood. "Who are you?"

The man looked at the children.

"The person who has been paying to keep their mother quiet."