Chapter 3 - The High-Rise Penthouse
Exactly five minutes later, a heavy black Mercedes SUV slid silently to a halt outside the clinic doors in the pouring rain.
The driver stepped out, holding a large umbrella, but said not a single word. Damen escorted both Selene and a trembling Ivy into the luxurious rear leather cabin, sliding in beside them as the SUV pulled away smoothly into the dark, rain-soaked night.
As the Mercy Street Clinic disappeared behind sheets of water and concrete shadows, Selene stared out the tinted window, her mind racing.
Twenty minutes later, the vehicle turned down a private drive and stopped outside a soaring, ultra-modern residential skyscraper overlooking the dark, churning waters of the Chicago River.
The building featured polished marble floors, an attentive uniformed doorman who nodded respectfully, and a private elevator that required a coded digital key card to access the upper residential tiers.
Damen led them directly to the top-floor penthouse.
The apartment was a masterclass in minimalist luxury—vast glass walls framing the glittering, rain-slicked skyline of downtown Chicago, minimalist modern furniture, and an eerie, absolute quiet that felt far removed from the chaotic streets below.
“You’ll be safe here,” Damen stated, gesturing for them to sit. “My security detail monitors the perimeter twenty-four hours a day. No one gets past the lobby without my direct authorization.”
Selene stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, hugging her arms across her chest. “Why go to all this trouble for a neighborhood clinic doctor and a battered stranger?”
Damen walked slowly toward a sleek wet bar, pouring a glass of mineral water. “Because in my city, balance matters, Doctor. And Preston Holloway is tipping the scales toward chaos. I despise chaos.”
“Is that your only code? Order?”
“It’s a reliable one,” he replied calmly, turning to face her.
Selene examined his face in the subdued lighting of the penthouse. Beneath the polished, billionaire exterior, she sensed an ancient, immovable weariness—the weight of a man who carried empires on his shoulders and rivers of blood on his hands.
“My clinic is going to be a mess tomorrow,” Selene whispered, looking down at her stained lab coat. “Medical supplies scattered everywhere, patient files unlocked...”
“My men are already securing your clinic,” Damen interrupted smoothly. “Any damage will be repaired by dawn. Your practice will open on schedule.”
Selene stared at him, caught off guard by his thoroughness. Before she could reply, her cell phone buzzed violently inside her coat pocket.
She jumped, pulling it out with trembling fingers.
The screen flashed with an incoming text message from an unknown number.
I know where you live, Selene. And I know you took my wife. Open your front door or I swear I’ll burn your precious clinic to ashes.
Attached to the text message was a close-up photograph of the front entrance of Mercy Street Clinic, timestamped two minutes prior.
Selene’s breath caught in her throat. She handed the phone silently to Damen.
Damen glanced down at the illuminated screen. His expression did not change by a single microsecond, but the air inside the penthouse suddenly grew ten degrees colder.
“He didn't wait thirty minutes,” Damen murmured.
“He’s at the clinic,” Selene whispered in horror. “What if he hurts someone else? What if Maria left something behind?”
Damen tapped the screen of his phone twice, bringing up an encrypted communication line.
“Marcus,” Damen said into the device, his voice dropping into a low, lethal register. “Prentice Hall district. The clinic on Mercy Street. Find Preston Holloway. Bring him to me. Alive, if possible. If he resists, neutralize him.”
Selene watched in stunned silence as the billionaire criminal lord casually ordered a hit on a prominent corporate executive as if he were ordering takeout.
May you like
“You didn't have to do that,” Selene said, her voice shaking slightly.
“He threatened you, your clinic, and my hospitality,” Damen replied evenly, locking his gray eyes onto hers. “In my world, that is a capital offense.”
