Chapter 6 - Awakening to Fire
Nora opened her eyes to an agonizing, burning ache across her lower abdomen. Her throat felt like sandpaper, and the sterile smell of antiseptic stung her nostrils.
“Easy. Don't try to sit up.”
The voice was rough, cracked with exhaustion. Nora slowly turned her head.
Adrian was sitting in the armchair beside her bed. He looked like a man who had survived a war zone. His tie was undone, his white shirt was stained with dark streaks of grease and soot, and purple shadows bruised the skin beneath his hollow eyes. He was holding her limp hand, his thumb unconsciously rubbing circular patterns across her knuckles.
“M-Maya?” Nora croaked out, her voice barely a whisper.
“The kidney took,” Adrian said immediately, leaning closer to offer her a small sponge on a plastic stick to moisten her parched lips. “The surgeons said it was an extraordinary match. Her renal function levels dropped back to normal within three hours. She is resting in Room 804 under round-the-clock guard.”
Tears of pure relief spilled down Nora’s temples into her hair. “She’s alive... she’s really okay?”
“She is safe,” Adrian confirmed. “You saved her, Nora.”
Nora let out a jagged breath, her body relaxing into the mattress. But as her vision sharpened, she noticed the dark stain dried across the cuff of Adrian’s left sleeve. It wasn't grease. It was blood.
“Adrian... what happened to you?” she asked, fear replacing her relief. “Why are you bleeding?”
Adrian didn't look at his cuff. “A minor disagreement with the hospital’s electrical contractor. It has been permanently resolved.”
Before Nora could interrogate him, the door opened. Marcus entered, looking grim. He hesitated when he saw Nora was awake, but Adrian gave him a sharp nod to proceed.
“Boss, Julian Vance has taken refuge at Dominic Luciano’s estate outside the city limits,” Marcus reported in a hushed, urgent tone. “Luciano has reinforced the perimeter with thirty armed mercenaries from New York. They know the hospital hit failed, and they know Julian gave us the encrypted ledgers before he ran. They’re preparing to move their assets across the Canadian border by midnight.”
Nora gasped, piecing together the terrifying puzzle. “Julian? Your cousin? He tried to kill us?”
Adrian stood up slowly. The gentle, exhausted man who had been holding her hand vanished, replaced in an instant by the cold, merciless king of the underworld.
“He tried to kill you,” Adrian corrected softly, his voice sending a chill down Nora’s spine. “Which means he chose his own grave.”
“Adrian, don't!” Nora pleaded, struggling against the sharp pain in her incision as she reached for his coat. “If you go after them... if you get caught... Henry will lose his father! Please, don't do this for revenge!”
Adrian turned back, looking down at her with an intensity that stole the air from her lungs. He leaned over the bed, his face inches from hers.
May you like
“It isn't revenge, Nora,” he whispered, his lips brushing against her temple with devastating tenderness. “It’s pest control. Nobody touches what is mine and continues to breathe. You gave my son a mother, and you gave me a reason to feel human again. Rest now. When you wake up next, Philadelphia will be quiet.”
Without another word, Adrian turned and walked out of the room, leaving six heavily armed operatives stationed outside her door.
