shot at a family. People who actually want children.”
It was like a splash of cold water.
People who actually want children.
So it was clear he didn’t want children. Just like she’d first thought when she’d found out she was pregnant. It still hurt, though. She’d been hoping for better from him.
His rejection of having a family, of children, was a rejection of their baby as far as she was concerned.
“You’d better get a lawyer involved,” Kiri snarled.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because you’d better make sure you can be financially responsible for this child. If you try to take action and the board gets wind of it and doesn’t approve, I won’t back you.”
She tried to leave, but he grabbed her arm, spinning her round to face him. His dark eyes were flashing with that dangerous light she’d seen before.
“Are you threatening me again?”
“No, I’m not. I’m telling you the reality of the situation.” She shook her arm free. “You’re one of my surgeons, Dr. Valentino. I am only looking out for your best interest.”
“Best interest? It would be better if you didn’t let the board cut the pro bono fund. That would be in everyone’s best interests.”
Kiri glanced around and could see staff were watching them now. What she did next was crucial as the new head of the department. She couldn’t let Alejandro upstage her here. If she did then she’d lose any kind of footing she had.
“Dr. Valentino, if you value your career here at Buena Vista I suggest you speak to me privately about any issues you have with the board’s decisions in this matter. If you continue to bring up confidential information like this in a public manner I will have no choice but to reprimand you. Do I make myself clear?”
Inside she was shaking. She’d never stood up to someone like this before and she wasn’t 100 percent sure he wouldn’t just quit. Which would put her ass on the line as Dr. Valentino was a valued pediatric surgeon and brought in a lot of money.
“Crystal,” he said. Then he turned on his heel and stormed away.
Kiri crossed her arms and stared down everyone who was still staring at her. They quickly looked away. Once she was sure she had sufficiently stood her ground she walked away as quickly as she could before the tears brought on by adrenaline began to fall.
* * *
“Are you out of your mind?”
Alejandro groaned as his best friend and legal counsel, Emilio Guardia, lambasted him on the other end of the phone.
“Probably,” Alejandro groused. “But can it be done?”
There was a sigh on the other end. “Usually the state of Florida doesn’t allow health professionals to become guardians of wards of the state. Unless we can prove that there is no conflict of interest.”
“There is no conflict of interest. I’m not gaining anything financial from helping this baby.”
Which was the truth. He wasn’t. In fact, according to Kiri, he was risking it all by helping him. She’d made that perfectly clear to him, but he really had no choice. If the baby was sent to County he’d die.
“Can you send me over the medical records you do have on the boy and I’ll apply for an emergency injunction? I don’t see why a court wouldn’t approve of you having guardianship over the boy, especially if they can’t locate the family in the next forty-eight hours. For now, I can at least keep him at Buena Vista.”
“Thank you, Emilio.” Alejandro was relieved. “I’ll get those medical records over to your office as soon as possible.”
“I’ll watch for them.”
Alejandro hung up the phone and ran his hands through his hair. He hadn’t believed it when he’d heard that little cry from behind the Dumpster.
He’d been so angry that the board was cutting the pro bono cases that when he’d heard the cry it had shocked him. And then to find that little guy, premature, barely clinging to life in the hot Miami sun...
It had infuriated him.
There was no one to fight for this baby. Just him. Dr. Bhardwaj had made it clear that the onus was on him. Last night he’d tossed and turned, thinking about how Kiri had appeared to be angry about the fact he was willing to pay for the baby but not adopt him. Having a family was something he’d never planned on. Not with his uncertain future. His heart, his father’s heart, which beat inside him, could fail. In fact, the median survival rate for a pediatric transplant patient, such as he had been, was twenty-two years. He was nearing that. Once he started to have problems, he’d be put back on to UNOS to wait for a new heart that might never come. And Alejandro wouldn’t leave any child without a parent.
He knew the pain all too well. His future was far too unpredictable.
Yeah, he loved kids, but he knew the pain of losing your parents. He wouldn’t wish it on anyone. The best thing would’ve been to let the baby go to County instead of getting involved, but he couldn’t just let this baby get lost in the system.
The baby would die if they moved him now. Of that Alejandro was certain so there was really no choice, he had to fight for the boy.
Just like Dante, Rafe and Santi had done for him.
He, at least, had had someone to fight for him when he’d been lying in a coma, his parents dead. His brothers had made the decision to take their brain-dead father off life support and direct their father’s heart to him because it was a good match and without it Alejandro would also have died that night because of the robbery.
Alejandro had been a priority on the list back then. And at least he hadn’t been an infant. Children as young as six could receive a heart from an adult. It was harder to find an infant or a child’s heart.
Alejandro and his father had been a perfect match.
His brothers had given him a second chance to live. They’d sacrificed so much to give him a life. This little boy had no one and Alejandro seriously doubted that they would find the baby’s family.
The baby was alone, fighting for life, and Alejandro was going to make sure he had a chance.
What about after you save his life?
The thought caught him off guard.
You’re lonely.
He was lonely, but he was used to this life. This was what he’d resigned himself to when he’d finally been old enough to understand the ramifications of his lifesaving surgery. Any chance at happiness like Santiago had found had died that day. And when his transplanted heart stopped beating, no child would mourn him like he mourned his parents.
There was a knock at his office door and he looked up. “Come in.”
Mr. Snyder walked in. “Dr. Valentino, a word.”
Great. Apparently word got around fast.
Alejandro gritted his teeth. “Of course. Please have a seat.”
Mr. Snyder took a seat. He smoothed down the lapels of his expensive designer suit and cleared his throat. “I wanted to speak to you last night, but you’d left.”
“My shift was over,” Alejandro said, “so I left for the evening.”
“You’re certain it wasn’t because of your dressing-down?” There was a glint of pleasure in Snyder’s eyes.
Alejandro fought the urge to toss him out of his office. “I’m quite busy today. How can I help you, Mr. Snyder?”
“It’s come to our attention that you’re trying to keep that abandoned baby here.”
“Yes.