Chapter 7 - The Hostile TakeoverA wall of blue-uniformed police officers and paramedics poured into the restaurant, clearing a path through the stunned crowd of diners. But striding right behind them was a figure who immediately made Grant Keller’s blood run cold.
Victor Thorne.
Dressed in a bespoke charcoal Brioni suit with an immaculate silk pocket square, Thorne walked with the swagger of a man who owned the city. His cold, calculating eyes swept across the dining room, locking instantly onto table fourteen—and specifically onto Avery Cole standing over the recovering billionaire.
“Nicholas, my dear friend!” Thorne exclaimed, his voice dripping with oily, theatrical concern as he pushed past the paramedics. “I heard the terrible news while I was in the neighborhood. Are you alright? The merger vote is tomorrow morning—we simply cannot have you checking out early!”
Nicholas, still supported by the linen wedges against his lower back, slowly turned his head. The color in his cheeks was returning, but the look in his eyes was pure, unadulterated venom.
“Victor,” Nicholas rasped, his voice cold enough to freeze boiling water. “You look entirely too disappointed to see me breathing.”
Thorne’s polite smile faltered for a fraction of a second before he recovered his composure, chuckling dryly. “My dear Nicholas, what a morbid thing to say. I only came to ensure my primary business partner is in good hands. Though I must say...” Thorne’s gaze shifted deliberately toward Avery, looking her up and down with open condescension. “I didn’t realize Marino Atlantic Holdings outsourced its executive medical management to low-level waitresses with sketchy pasts.”
The entire dining room went dead silent.
Grant bristled, stepping in front of Avery. “Thorne, back off. She just saved his life.”
“Did she?” Thorne smiled thinly, pulling a folded document from his breast pocket. “Or did she just interfere in a private medical emergency without a valid active license? Because a quick background check on my phone tells me Miss Avery Cole didn’t just leave her nursing career in Boston three years ago—she left under an active administrative investigation for medical tampering.”
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Avery’s face instantly drained of color.
The air in the room seemed to vanish.
