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sigh.
    Without thinking, Ashley tucked herself closer against Marco's body, welcoming the comforting warmth his presence gave her. She inhaled deeply, trying to calm her mind from the thoughts that were whizzing around her brain at an astronomical speed. Although, unexpectedly, she caught a slight waft of his scent which threw her off guard. She sniffed discreetly, finding reassurance in his decadent aroma of vanilla and sandalwood.
    It was alluring.
    His smell enticing.
    “How did you get here so quickly?” she asked, pulling away from him. The realisation of their closeness had finally sunk in and given her cause for alarm. She had only met this man face to face for the first time mere minutes ago, yet she had easily allowed his openly affectionate and friendly Italian nature to lure her in. She knew that she needed to maintain some sort of decorum whilst they were both running high on emotions and adrenaline.
    “ Ah,” he smiled weakly. “My boss was fortunately able to arrange a private plane at short notice to bring me to London.”
    “ Oh, you work for Callum Ellis, right?” Ashley recalled a previous conversation with him where he had discussed owning an up-market boutique in Milan that was being overseen by a wealthy new director.
    “ Si , Mr Ellis was appointed International Operations Director around eight months ago. He now monitors and manages all of the overseas locations,” Marco replied, his eyes watching for signs of movement outside of the waiting room.
    “ I suppose it’s good to have connections like that,” Ashley shrugged as a nurse passed the open doorway. “Did they tell you anything? Do we have any idea how much longer it’s going to be?” she said, flicking her hand in the nurse's direction.
    “ Niente,” he sighed. “They won’t tell me anything other than what you have already been told. We just have to wait.”
    Ashley scoffed. Waiting was most definitely the last thing she wanted to do right now. Hospitals were not her favourite place to visit in the world. She just wanted to speak to her best friend to get reassurance that everything was going to be okay before the clinical white walls closed in and became too much for her. “I'm sick of wait — ”
    “ Are you both related to Miss Gabriela Conti?” a young surgeon interrupted as he strode into the room.
    Nausea filled her stomach immediately from his presence. “Y-Yes,” she squeaked, scrabbling to her feet alongside Marco. 
    “ She’s our sister,” he confirmed. “Can we go and see her now?” He picked up his jacket from the back of the chair and pushed his arms through the sleeves. “I take it the surgery went well?” he asked, holding out his hand towards Ashley. “I think we will both feel better once we’ve seen Gabriela.”
    Ashley looked between the surgeon and Marco's outstretched hand and took a step backwards. “Marco, I think something’s wrong,” she whispered, noting the surgeon's lack of response and nervous demeanour. “Is she alright?” she croaked. “Please tell me that you aren't here to tell us what I think you are going to say?”
    “ I'm sorry,” he sighed. “But, unfortunately, Miss Conti passed away during surgery. We tried our best, but we were unable to stop the bleeding on her brain. She suffered a severe head injury which caused a subarachnoid haemorrhage on her brain. Following the initial CT scan we were able to locate the source of the bleed. It gave us hope of a successful surgery, which was why we prepped and rushed her straight through. But it wasn't until we commenced the procedure that we uncovered the sheer size of the bleed. We tried to control it as best as we could, but I'm afraid our attempts were unsuccessful.”
    Marco raised his hand. “S-S-Stop,” he pleaded. “I cannot hear anymore. I can't...”
    Ashley felt the world slowly crumbling beneath her feet. Fighting back against the trembling in her legs, she placed her palms flat on a nearby table and used