Francesca Romano

Chapter 25 | $107k

"Giovanni you have work so don't worry about me please." I placed the phone on speaker as I jumped onto the counter kicking my feet back and forth. "Yeah but Beverly's not there and you can't go to work. Frankie you know how you get when your bored so let me come spend the time with you."

"You we're just down here for the carnival and missed work so no, but I'll call you every day okay." I rolled my eyes but with a smile on my face knowing her cared. "Francesca." He started. "Bye Vanni." I said getting ready to hang up. "Okay but call me." He said quickly through the phone. "Yes yes, I love you." And with that I hung up.

I had just dropped Beverly at the airport and I checked my watch, jumping off the counter. 10:45. I'll watch a movie and waist time, I thought to myself when I remembered I had enough time to resolve what technique I'd use to remove Micky's inoperable tumor. Sitting down going over his scans over and over again I noticed a slowly growing headache.

Each way I'd think of going at this, I only came across ways to kill the boy or make his life worse and shorter than it already is. I was stressing out for him and his family, I stood up and paced around the table wondering why I put such pressure on myself to take a case like this.

I grabbed my phone and called Jocelyn as I put my phone on speaker walking to the freezer getting myself ice cream. "Hey hun how are you feeling?" Jocelyn asked. "I give up, on Micky's case I can't figure out how to do it. The tumors to big." I leaned over my counter and took a spoon full of pistachio ice cream, my favorite.

"I'm sorry to hear that, would you like me to tell Kathy?" This is going to ruin her, I was her last chance and I gave her false hope. "I should be the one to tell her." She deserves to hear it from me.

"Well to cheer you up I have a cool surgery I'm scrubbing into." I could hear the excitement in her voice. "Oh really what is it." I asked grabbing my phone and ice cream to lay on the couch. "Spine surgery but we have to keep him awake to make sure we didn't hit a nerve." Her words were like a light bulb just flashed over my head.

"That's it. I can go in posteriorly." Silence was between the two of us for a long while. "What are you talking about, Francesca?" I smile slowly grew on my face as I sat up and out the container of ice creams down. "I'll go into Micky posteriorly with a stealth system and the newly pilfered ORBEYE scope."

"That wouldn't work. The tumor is over several nerves of the brain. I mean think about it, if you made a mistake we wouldn't know until he's off anesthesia or dead." Every point she made was correct for the most part. "Unless he was awake and talking while I did the surgery so if anything was wrong I'd know and be able to fix it."

"You're kidding right? You can't preform a Craniotomy posteriorly on a patient under the age of 20 it's illegal." It was illegal but saving a child's life was not. "It's only illegal if you get caught, and we're not getting caught. Please I need your help on this one Jocelyn." I was tempting my fate with this one and with every second that went by with no answer I felt sick and out of my mind. "If we get caught you take the blame for it."

I jumped up and down in joy. "Of course no other way, can you put Kathy on the line?" I listened as she walked down the halls, my hands trembling I almost didn't feel the pain of my bruised hand. "Dr. Romano, is every thing okay?"

"Hi Kathy, yes everything is okay I come with good news. I found the way I'll be doing the surgery on Micky and there's a 75 percent survival rate." She gave me a sigh of relief  and thanked me over and over again melting my heart but she calmed herself and went silent just for a moment.

"How much would it be?" I'm so glad to not be in front of the woman right now because there's no way in the world id keep eye contact without tearing up myself. "Well it would come out to 170 thousand flat." As she tried to speak I heard her short of breath and her voice breaking. "I only have 44 thousand but Doctor please, id owe you my life if you did this."

I listened as she continued to plead to me but I had no words. I sat back down and put my face in my hand with my eyes tearing listening to this young mom beg me to help her living son.

"You know what Kathy you don't have to pay me. I'll pay for the bills, please don't tell anyone. Not even the doctors if not me of Dr. Monet." And with that I hung up, throwing my phone down on the table pushing my hair out of my face.

I either just made a deal with the lord and I'm about to save a kids life doing wrong, Or I get caught, I lose Micky, I never work again and I end up living with 78 cats in a small condo, after years in jail.