Chapter 5 - The Face in the CrosshairsTen minutes later, the security chopper touched down on the helipad, rotor blades kicking up a whirlwind of dust and loose slate.
Marcus and two guards descended from the cabin, dragging a hooded figure between them. They hauled the prisoner across the platform and shoved them hard onto their knees right in front of my wheelchair.
Marcus yanked the black hood off.
I stared down at the prisoner, and the breath evacuated my lungs.
It wasn't a hardened assassin. It wasn't a cartel hitman.
It was Dr. Evelyn Vance.
She was Audrey’s closest friend, my personal physician for over a decade, and the woman who had held my hand in the hospital room the night I woke up paralyzed.
"Evelyn?" My voice was a broken whisper. "No... no, that's impossible. You saved my life. You told me my legs would never heal."
Evelyn raised her head. Her hair was windblown, her face smeared with soot and dirt, but her eyes were unnervingly calm. There was no terror in them—only a deep, weary resignation.
"I didn't save your life, Caleb," Evelyn said, her voice steady and chillingly cold. "I kept you asleep. Do you have any idea how dangerous a waking Harbor King is? If you had walked out of that hospital eight years ago, the Vanguard would have put a bullet in your head before you reached the parking lot."
"You lied to me," I snarled, my hands gripping the armrests so hard the wood splintered beneath my palms. "You told me my wife was dead. You told me my child didn't survive."
"Audrey died because she wouldn't stop digging," Evelyn retorted, her voice hardening with sudden, sharp grief. "I kept your daughter hidden in plain sight because it was the only way to keep her breathing! Do you think Julian was smart enough to protect her? I smuggled Lily out of the maternity ward that night and placed her with a trusted family in the district before Julian could get his hands on her!"
Julian scrambled backward on the slate, pointing a trembling finger at Evelyn. "You bitch! You double-crossed the Syndicate! You said you disposed of the kid!"
"I lied to protect her from monsters like you, Julian!" Evelyn spat, glaring at him with pure venom.
I sat in silence, the storm raging around us mirroring the hurricane tearing through my soul. My wife was murdered. My daughter had spent eight years living in the slums while I sat in a gilded prison. And the woman I trusted like a sister had played god with my entire existence.
And yet... Lily was alive.
My right foot twitched again. A sharp, burning wave of pain shot up from my ankle, tearing through my calves, waking up nerves that had been sleeping for a decade.
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath of the freezing sea air, and felt the dead weight of my legs begin to burn with fire.
May you like
The king wasn't just awake.
He was standing up.
