Chapter 4 - THE HOSPITAL TRAP
When the Maybach pulled up to City General Hospital, two hospital administrators and four armed security guards were already waiting outside in the pouring rain.
Priya rushed out of the car before the driver could even open the door, sprinting through the automatic sliding glass doors and racing up the stairs to Room 412.
She burst through the door—and froze in horror.
The room was trashed. The heart monitor was beeping erratically. The oxygen tank had been tipped over, and Aarav was gone from the bed. A single note was pinned to the rumpled pillows with a switchblade:
Your brother is insurance, Priya. Bring the girl to the old docks by midnight, or he goes into the river. — The Syndicate.
Priya’s breath hitched. Her vision blurred for a fraction of a second as white-hot panic threatened to consume her.
Then, the heavy boots echoed behind her in the corridor.
Elliot stepped into the room, taking in the chaos in a single, sweeping glance. His face hardened into a mask of pure, unadulterated ice. The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees.
“They took him,” Priya whispered, her voice shaking with suppressed rage. “Gregor’s men... they took my brother.”
Elliot pulled out his heavily encrypted satellite phone and tapped the screen twice.
“Call a full lockdown on District Four. Seal every tunnel, every highway, and every shipping container out of the old docks,” Elliot commanded into the device, his voice carrying the terrifying authority of a king sending armies to war.
May you like
He hung up and turned to Priya, stepping close enough that she could feel the heat radiating from his chest.
“They think they can use your blood against you,” Elliot said softly, his eyes flashing with a dark, dangerous promise. “They don’t realize that by touching your family, they’ve just signed their own death warrants. Get your coat, Priya. We’re going hunting.”
