“I’ll give you a million dollars if you heal me.” The millionaire joked. Until the unthinkable proved him wrong.
Rafael Cortez had learned to buy almost everything: companies in crisis, political wills, uncomfortable silences. There was only one thing his money hadn’t been able to get back in five years: his legs.
That afternoon, the private garden of the Jefferson Memorial Rehabilitation Center looked like a magazine spread: tables with white tablecloths, crystal glasses, expensive whiskey gleaming in the sun. In the middle of it all, Rafael, in his state-of-the-art wheelchair, ruled like a wounded emperor.
Around him, four of the most powerful businessmen in the state were laughing outrageously. They weren’t laughing at a clever joke. They were laughing at something much smaller, much crueler.
In front of them, a barefoot ten-year-old girl trembled on the polished marble. Her dress was torn in several places, revealing skin marked by poverty. Her name was Bella. Beside her, clinging to a mop like it was a life preserver, Teresa, her mother, wished she could disappear.
“One million dollars,” Rafael roared, pointing at the girl with a smile that could freeze hell. “All yours if you make me walk again. What do you say, little beggar?”
Laughter exploded. Gerard slammed the table, Mason pulled out his phone to record, Levi made a comment about whether the girl even knew the difference between a hundred pesos and a million. Even the wind seemed to laugh with them.
Teresa tried to intervene, her voice broken: “Mr. Cortez… please, we’re leaving now. Bella won’t touch anything. I promise…”
“Did I give you permission to speak?” he cut her off, like a whip.
Silence fell at once. Teresa shrank, tears already overflowing. Bella looked at her mother with a strange mix of pain and something older, stronger, that no ten-year-old should know.
Rafael enjoyed it. Since the helicopter crash that had left him in a wheelchair, he had built a 300-million-dollars empire. His suite at the institute was a monument to his ego. His favorite hobby was reminding the poor “what their place was.”
He gestured with his hand. “Come closer, girl.”
Bella looked at her mother. Teresa nodded just barely, swallowing the sob. The girl walked until she was standing in front of Rafael, her bare feet leaving almost invisible prints on the ridiculously expensive marble.
“Do you know how to read?” he asked.
“Yes, sir,” she answered, voice low but firm.
“Do you know how to count to one hundred?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Perfect. Then you understand what a million dollars is, right?”
Bella hesitated a second. “It’s… more money than we’ll ever see in our entire career.”
“I’ll give you a million dollars if you heal me.” The millionaire joked. Until the unthinkable proved him wrong.
Almost noon sunlight poured through the skylights of Jefferson Memorial Rehabilitation Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The private courtyard looked like a gathering place for aristocrats instead of patients. Linen tablecloths fluttered in the warm breeze. Pitchers of imported sparkling water glimmered beside untouched glasses. The scent of sandalwood and roses clung to the air like perfume designed to disguise suffering.
At the center of it all sat Rafael Cortez, forty years old, in a wheelchair that cost more than most houses. He held court like a monarch trapped in a cage of steel and quiet rage. Two years earlier, he had been the face of Cortez Enterprises, a construction empire known for swallowing smaller companies whole. Now, his legs remained unmoving, reminders of a mountain-climbing accident that fractured his spine and scattered his pride across the cliffside.
Around him lounged four wealthy acquaintances: Gerard Whitmore, Mason Delacroix, Levi Chambers, and Silas Beaumont. They traded jokes the way children throw stones into rivers, careless of what might sink beneath the surface.
Gerard lifted his tumbler in a toast. “To Rafael, the invincible emperor,” he said, laughter bubbling like champagne. “Even gravity couldn’t take you out completely.”
Rafael smiled thinly. He had learned to wear charm like armor. “I prefer ‘temporarily inconvenienced emperor’,” he replied. The wheelchair hummed as he shifted his weight.
Near the edge of the courtyard, a ten-year-old girl wiped rainwater from an outdoor bench. She used an old rag that soaked up more dirt than moisture. Her jeans were too short. Her sneakers had been taped together at the seams. Her hair fell in tangled waves down her back. Bella Morales. Her mother, Teresa Morales, stood nearby with cleaning supplies strapped to a cart, scrubbing patio stones until her fingernails bled.
Gerard eyed the girl with idle amusement. “Rafael,” he said, gesturing with his chin. “Is that the prodigy your staff mentioned? The one who stares like she knows all our secrets?”
Mason snorted. “Probably wondering how many zeros sit in our bank accounts. Poor thing.”
Teresa bowed her head. “She is just helping me. Please ignore her.”
Rafael glanced at Bella, noticing the quiet intelligence in her eyes. There was something unsettling about the way she observed the world, as if she were assembling it like a jigsaw puzzle only she could see. He lifted his voice with effortless authority.
“Bella. Come here.”
Teresa flinched. “Mr. Cortez, please. She does not want trouble.”
“I did not ask if she wanted trouble,” Rafael answered. The words sliced like a knife. “I asked her to come here.”
Bella approached, her hands shaking around the rag. When she stood before him, Rafael reached into his blazer and produced a checkbook. He tore a page, scribbled a number, and held it between two fingers.
“One hundred thousand dollars,” he said. “This can be yours if you prove me wrong.”
Levi raised his eyebrows. “What is she supposed to do? Make the chair fly?”
Rafael leaned forward. The courtyard hushed.
“Make me walk,” he said.
A ripple of disbelief shot through the group. Gerard burst into laughter first, followed by Mason’s theatrical guffaw. Even Silas, usually quiet, smirked like he had witnessed a performance.
Teresa gasped. “Please, sir. She cannot. We are not charlatans. We clean rooms. We do not make miracles.”
Bella’s voice surprised everyone…
