Chapter 2 - SHADOWS AT THE ICUThe private floor of Swedish Medical Center had been completely locked down within thirty minutes of Griffin’s arrival. Four armed guards from Drake Security stood at every entrance, their dark suits contrasting with the clinical white walls.
Inside the VIP suite, Sloan lay attached to a ventilator, her vitals stabilized after three harrowing resuscitations.
Griffin stood at the floor-to-ceiling glass window, watching the rain streak down the Seattle skyline. On the leather sofa behind him, Iris and Hazel were fast asleep, exhausted by terror, curled together under a heavy cashmere coat he had draped over them.
His phone buzzed on silent. He picked it up.
"Speak," Griffin commanded softly, stepping away from the sleeping girls.
"Boss, we swept Sloan’s house in Queen Anne," his chief head of security, Vance, reported over the encrypted line. "It wasn't an accidental medical emergency."
Griffin’s grip on the phone tightened until his knuckles turned white. "What did you find?"
"Traces of synthetic paralytic agent in her evening tea. High-grade, military-class toxicity. It’s designed to look like a massive heart attack within two hours of ingestion." Vance paused, his tone growing heavier. "Someone was trying to murder her quietly, boss. And there’s more."
"Go on."
"The front door was picked from the outside using professional gear before you arrived. But whoever broke in didn't take valuables or paperwork. They were looking for something specific. And... we found a tracker installed on her car three days ago."
Griffin turned slowly to look at his daughters. Eight years. Eight long years he had believed Sloan walked away because she hated his cold, ruthless world. He had spent nearly a decade wallowing in bitter pride, assuming she had traded his empire for a quiet life in Oregon.
Instead, she had been hiding. Running. Protecting his children from a threat he didn't even know existed.
Suddenly, the lights in the ICU suite flickered once, twice—and went pitch black.
May you like
The emergency backup generators failed to kick in instantly.
From the hallway outside, two suppressed gunshots echoed—thwip, thwip.
