Chapter 1 - The Sanctuary
The rain hammered against the roof of the SUV in heavy, relentless sheets.
Dominic watched the woman shivering beneath his wool coat in the reflection of the rearview mirror.
She had passed out three blocks away from the warehouse, her body finally surrendering to the trauma.
Marco sat in the passenger seat, his massive hands resting near the suppressed weapon holstered at his hip.
"Boss," Marco said quietly, not taking his eyes off the dark, wet road.
"Caldwell is going to scorch the earth when he finds out we took her."
Dominic didn't answer immediately.
Vincent Caldwell ran the most violent rival syndicate in the city, a man who viewed people as disposable currency.
If Caldwell's crew had chained her to a pillar and beaten her, it wasn't for sport.
She knew something, or she meant something to someone powerful.
"Let him burn," Dominic finally replied, his voice a low, dangerous rumble.
They arrived at an ultra-secure private clinic funded exclusively by the Ashford syndicate.
Dominic carried her inside himself, ignoring the alarmed stares of his men.
Dr. Vance, a brilliant surgeon who had lost his license years ago for operating on gunshot victims without reporting them, was already waiting.
"Ribs are cracked, severe concussion, and extensive tissue damage," Vance reported grimly after an hour.
"But the wounds on her wrists... those chains were meant to hold her for days, not hours."
Dominic stood by the hospital bed, watching the slow rise and fall of her chest beneath the white sheets.
She looked entirely too fragile to be tangled in a war between two mafia empires.
Suddenly, her good eye fluttered open.
She didn't scream or thrash this time.
She just stared at the ceiling, her expression completely blank, before turning her head to look at him.
"You're Dominic Ashford," she whispered, her voice rough and dry.
"And you are?" Dominic asked, crossing his arms.
"Evangeline."
She hesitated, her gaze dropping to the heavy gold ring on his right hand.
"Evangeline Caldwell. Vincent is my older brother."
Dominic froze as the impossible words hung in the sterile air of the clinic.
He hadn't just rescued a victim of his enemy's cruelty.
He had just stolen the enemy's own flesh and blood.
Before Dominic could even process the magnitude of her confession, his encrypted phone vibrated violently.
It was Marco.
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"Boss, you need to get down to the lobby right now," Marco shouted over the sound of shattering glass.
"Caldwell's hit squad just drove a truck through the front doors."
