Seven Minutes
Chapter 6
Chapter 6
I grew up in a private healing community, tucked away in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley. We’re one of those places that doesn’t show up on Google Maps a sanctuary where ancient healing traditions will thrive. Think Sedona meets Johns Hopkins, but with stricter privacy protocols
That’s where my story with Lorenzo began. Fresh out of my holistic medicine residency, I’d gotten permission to work at a research hospital in the city. I found him collapsed on a mountain trail, a Western Diamondback bite turning his arm black. Our traditional antivenom saved his life. When he came to, he tried throwing money at me- classic billionaire move. I just walked away.
Fate wasn’t done with us. Weeks later, I spotted a notorious scam artist working her slip and fall” routine outside Whole Foods. Lorenzo happened to pull up in his Tesla, recognized me, and helped shot down the con. Seeing how I struggled with everything from Uber to Netflix, he appointed himself my guide to modern life. The rest was history – or so I thought.
The night I planned to tell him I loved him, corporate espionage turned violent. His rival’s hitman came at him with a knife. I took the blade meant for his throat, but the price was my sight. Lorenzo spent 36 hours in Mount Sinai’s waiting room, making deals with God and swearing he’d be my eyes forever if I pulled through.
Now those memories taste like ashes.
The sanctuary’s council waited at our gates – my mentor Dr. Sarah Bishop among them. Seeing them felt like exhaling after holding my breath for years.
“Welcome home,” Sarah said, her eyes knowing. “Sure about walking away from Lorenzo?”
“He made his choice,” I said. “Isabella’s pregnant. What was I supposed to do? Watch them play house? I gave him every chance to save our marriage. Instead, he got bolder, more reckless.”
Sarah wrapped me in a sage–scented hug. “Sometimes the hardest lessons are our best teachers.”
“You’re thirty, Sophia,” she added softly. “Your gift for healing could help thousands. The world needs our ancient knowledge combined with modern medicine. Don’t let a broken heart steal your purpose.”
She was right. My life wasn’t a romance novel where the heroine pines away for a lost love. It was time to focus on what really mattered – healing others and maybe, finally, myself.
