Chapter 4 - The Basement Safe Room
The air in the mansion was thick with the smell of gunpowder and panic.
Leo didn't waste a single second.
He hoisted Liam out of the wheelchair with terrifying ease, throwing the injured boss over his shoulder like a sack of grain.
"Clara, grab the medical bag and follow me," Leo ordered, already moving toward the hallway.
Clara scrambled to her feet, ignoring the throbbing pain in her cheek.
She grabbed her trauma kit and the portable IV stand, rushing after Leo.
They bypassed the grand staircase and headed toward a hidden door disguised as a bookshelf in the study.
Leo punched a code into a keypad, and the heavy steel door slid open.
They descended into the dark, damp basement of the estate.
The safe room was a concrete bunker equipped with monitors, weapons, and a single hospital bed.
Leo laid Liam down gently, but the damage was already done.
Liam was pale, sweating profusely, and his breathing was shallow and rapid.
The violent movement had torn his abdominal stitches completely open.
Dark red blood was rapidly soaking through his bandages, pooling onto the crisp white sheets.
Clara threw open her trauma kit and ripped a new pair of sterile gloves out of the box.
"Leo, I need pressure on the wound, right now!" Clara shouted.
Leo pressed both of his massive hands against Liam's stomach, trying to stem the bleeding.
Clara quickly assessed the damage to the external fixator on his leg.
One of the metal pins had shifted, pulling dangerously close to the femoral artery.
If it punctured the artery, Liam would bleed out in minutes.
"The pin in his leg shifted. I have to stabilize it, but I can't do that while he's hemorrhaging from his stomach," Clara said, her voice shaking slightly.
"Fix the stomach first," Liam rasped, his eyes barely open. "I don't care about the leg."
Clara grabbed a suture kit and a bottle of iodine.
She didn't have time to administer local anesthesia.
"This is going to hurt," Clara warned him, locking eyes with the mafia boss.
"Do it," Liam grunted.
Clara threaded the needle and began to stitch the torn muscle and skin back together.
Liam let out a low, guttural groan, his head thrashing against the pillow.
He reached out blindly, his hand finding Clara's hip.
He gripped her scrubs tightly, anchoring himself against the excruciating pain as she worked.
Ten agonizing minutes later, Clara tied the final knot and secured a fresh pressure dressing over the wound.
She quickly moved to his leg, carefully adjusting the metal brace to relieve the pressure on the artery.
When she finally stepped back, her hands were covered in his blood.
Liam was unconscious, his chest rising and falling in a steady, exhausted rhythm.
Leo stood by the security monitors, staring at the screens with a dark, terrifying expression.
"Did you catch the mole on camera?" Clara asked quietly, wiping her hands with a towel.
Leo turned around slowly.
"Yes," Leo said softly.
He pointed to the screen showing the kitchen hallway.
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The footage clearly showed the mole unlocking the side door for the hit squad.
It was Tommy's oncologist, the doctor who had recommended Clara for this very job.
