Chapter 5 - The Intruder in the RainTen blocks away, a sleek black town car sliced through the torrential rain, its tinted windows hiding a man whose phone was currently buzzing incessantly with encrypted alerts.
Victor Thorne sat in the leather back seat, swirling a glass of amber scotch as he stared at a live financial ledger glowing on his tablet. Marino Atlantic Holdings was scheduled to vote on a multi-billion-dollar lithium mining merger tomorrow morning at dawn. Nicholas Marino was the sole obstacle standing between Thorne’s syndicate and total monopolistic control of the global supply chain.
“Sir,” his driver spoke up, glancing in the rearview mirror. “Reports are coming in from Hawthorne House. Something’s happening at table fourteen.”
Thorne paused, his glass halting halfway to his mouth. A slow, predatory smile spread across his thin lips. “Is the heart condition acting up? Did our anonymous tip to his private chef about the trace iodine in the truffle oil finally work?”
“It’s worse—or better,” the driver replied, tapping his earpiece. “Marino is having a massive dissection event right now. But an employee—some waitress—is keeping him alive and trying to retrieve his emergency medical kit.”
Thorne’s smile vanished, replaced by a sudden, sharp glint of dangerous calculation. “A waitress? How does a waitress know how to manage a Type A aortic dissection?”
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“Reports say she used to be an ICU nurse before leaving under mysterious circumstances three years ago.”
Thorne slammed his scotch glass down onto the console, liquid splashing across the leather. “I didn’t spend six months orchestrating this hostile takeover to let some minimum-wage waitress play hero. Turn the car around. We’re going to Hawthorne House.”
