Chapter 6 - THE SHADOWS ADVANCEThree weeks passed like a blur of high-stakes tension and quiet domesticity.
Ash had returned to the Red Hook warehouse after a week of intensive post-operative care at Mara’s apartment, but Adrian’s visits didn't stop with the dog. Every two or three days, the black Mercedes would idle outside her building. Sometimes Adrian brought coffee from her favorite bakery across the river; sometimes he simply sat in her kitchen for twenty minutes, drinking black tea and watching her organize her veterinary notes with a quiet intensity that made her pulse race.
Mara’s clinic had reinstated her with a formal, groveling apology from the board director, but Adrian had quietly bought the entire medical practice three days after the incident, making her the primary head technician with a salary that tripled her previous earnings. When she confronted him about it, he simply shrugged and said, "Good talent is hard to find, Mara. I invest in assets that appreciate."
But peace in Adrian Voss’s world was never permanent.
It happened on a crisp Tuesday evening. Mara was closing up the clinic when her phone buzzed on the counter. It wasn't Adrian, but Vance.
"Miss Ellison," Vance’s voice came through the speaker, tight and stripped of all warmth. "You need to lock the clinic doors right now. Do not go out the back alley."
"Vance? What's going on?" Mara’s heart skipped a beat. She dropped her clipboard, her eyes darting toward the front glass windows that looked out onto Kent Avenue.
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"The Moretti family made a move," Vance said tersely. "They hit one of our secondary storage units in DUMBO ten minutes ago. Boss is handling it, but there’s chatter on the police scanner that they’re looking for leverage. You’re compromised."
Before Mara could answer, the front window of the clinic shattered with an explosive, deafening crash.
