Chapter 2 - THE SNAKE IN THE SUIT
The private medical suite on the top floor of Saint Jude's Hospital was silent except for the rhythmic, agonizing beep of the heart monitor.
Dr. Harrison stepped out of the ICU room, pulling off his surgical mask. His face was pale. Cole stood against the wall, towering over the hallway like a statue of dark marble, his shirt stained with dried mud and his mother’s faint blood. Moose sat motionless at his heels, his dark eyes fixed on the glass door.
"Is she going to make it?" Cole asked. His tone was deceptively calm, the kind of quiet that precedes a hurricane.
"Severe hypothermia, advanced malnutrition, three broken ribs that healed incorrectly, and chronic pneumonia," Dr. Harrison said cautiously. "If you had found her thirty minutes later, Mr. Ashworth, her heart would have stopped. She is stable now, but... her body has taken unspeakable trauma over the last three years."
Three years.
Cole shut his eyes. For three years, while he was expanding his casino empire into East Coast ports, his mother was being beaten and starved.
"And the girl?" Cole asked.
"Elena is suffering from frostbite on her fingers and severe exhaustion, but she will recover," Harrison replied. "She's awake."
Cole pushed open the door to Elena’s room. The young woman flinched as the door opened, her instinctual fear of men in expensive suits obvious. But when she saw Moose trot into the room and rest his chin on her bed, her shoulders relaxed slightly.
"Elena," Cole said softly, walking over and standing at the foot of the bed. "I owe you a debt I can never fully repay. But right now, I need answers. Tell me everything."
Elena swallowed hard, her trembling hands clutching the white hospital blanket. "Eight years ago, after you left, Marcus Vance showed up at your mother's house. At first, he brought groceries. He paid the bills. But three years ago... things changed."
"How?"
"Marcus got involved with the Syndicate—the Moretti crime family," Elena explained, her voice shaking. "He got hooked on underground high-stakes gambling. He owed millions. To cover his debts, he forged your mother's signature and took ownership of her house, her land, and the entire block. When she confronted him, he stopped giving her the money you were sending."
"Where did the money go?" Cole asked, his jaw tightening.
"Directly into Marcus's pocket. He told your mother that you were the one who ordered the bank to cut her off. He told her you said she was a burden, that you were rich now and wanted nothing to do with a poor old woman from the South Side."
A cold, agonizing spike drove through Cole’s heart. That was why she had looked at him with such heartbreaking confusion in the snow. She thought he was the monster who had condemned her.
"He threw her out on the street six months ago," Elena continued, tears streaming down her face. "He turned her house into a distribution hub for his illegal drug trade. I found her sleeping behind the diner. I tried to bring her to my apartment, but Marcus’s goons found out. They burned my apartment building down, killed my boss, and told us that if we tried to leave the South Side, they’d put a bullet in both our heads. We've been living on the streets, moving every night to stay alive."
Cole stood in silence for a long, agonizing minute. The air in the room seemed to drop ten degrees.
"Where is Marcus right now?" Cole asked quietly.
"He's throwing a celebration tonight," Elena whispered, looking up at him with terrified eyes. "At the Velvet Lounge—the casino he built using your mother's property deeds. He just closed a partnership deal with Don Carmine Moretti."
Cole reached into his jacket, pulled out a thick stack of black American Express cards and a heavy ring of keys, placing them on her nightstand.
"You will never have to worry about rent, safety, or money for the rest of your life, Elena," Cole said softly. "My men will guard this room. Anything you want, you ask for it."
He turned on his heel and walked out. Viktor was waiting in the corridor with four heavy-set men clad in dark tactical gear.
"Boss?" Viktor asked, his hand resting on his silenced piece. "What are the orders?"
May you like
Cole pulled a pair of black leather gloves back onto his hands, his eyes blazing with absolute madness.
"We're going to a party."
