Chapter 9 - The Ghost City
The horrific news broadcast echoed through the armored SUV, confirming Matteo's dying words.
Isabella hadn't just destroyed the hospital to frame Vincent as a brutal terrorist.
She had specifically targeted the building to ensure every police officer and federal agent in the state would be hunting him.
We could not go to any of his known safe houses, businesses, or allied territories.
The entire city of Chicago was actively looking for his face and my license plate.
Vincent cursed, gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned completely white.
He swerved off the main highway, taking a series of abandoned dirt roads heading deep into the rural outskirts.
We drove in absolute silence for two hours, the relentless rain washing the blood from the windshield.
He finally pulled the vehicle off the road, hiding it deep within a dense, overgrown forest.
Standing at the end of the hidden path was an old, crumbling stone church that looked entirely abandoned.
Vincent explained that this was a place only he knew about, a ghost property that existed completely off the grid.
He kicked open the rotting wooden doors, leading me into the quiet, dusty sanctuary.
The moonlight filtered through the broken stained glass windows, casting long, eerie shadows across the empty pews.
Vincent collapsed heavily onto a wooden bench near the altar, his breathing shallow and ragged.
The dark stain on his shirt had spread considerably, showing just how much damage the escape had cost him.
I immediately opened my medical bag, completely shifting back into my professional trauma nurse mindset.
He allowed me to carefully strip away his ruined shirt and clean the reopened surgical wounds.
I worked methodically by the light of a small tactical flashlight, stitching his skin for the second time that night.
He watched my face intently, his stormy eyes filled with a profound, overwhelming gratitude.
He reached up and gently tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear, his fingers warm against my cold skin.
He promised me that tomorrow he would find a way to clear his name and destroy Isabella for good.
He told me that I was the bravest woman he had ever met, and I was finally, truly safe.
I felt a deep, overwhelming sense of victory, believing we had finally outrun the horrific nightmare.
I smiled at him, my heart swelling with an emotion I was entirely too afraid to name.
I reached into the dark bottom of my emergency medical bag to grab a fresh roll of clean bandages.
My fingers brushed against a cold, unfamiliar rectangular object hidden beneath the trauma supplies.
I pulled it out and realized it was a cheap, prepaid burner phone that I had never seen before.
May you like
The screen suddenly illuminated the dark church with a single, unread text message.
The message read: "Thank you for bringing him exactly where I wanted him, little nurse."
