Chapter 1 - The Silent Arrival
The automatic doors of Saint Brendan's Emergency Room slid open with a mechanical hiss.
Killeran Ashcraftoft walked into the sterile hospital lobby without a single bodyguard trailing behind him.
The night receptionist stopped typing on her keyboard the moment she saw his cold, dangerous eyes.
The blinking colored lights of the lobby Christmas tree reflected ominously in his dark gaze.
He did not stop to ask for directions or sign a mandatory visitor log.
He simply walked past the terrified security desk directly toward the trauma ward.
He followed the sharp scent of antiseptic and the rhythmic sound of distant heart monitors.
He found Mave Donnelly sitting quietly in a cheap plastic chair in the deserted hallway.
Her left arm was strapped tightly into a rigid, heavy medical brace.
One side of her face was swollen and dark purple with fresh, painful bruises.
Her old wool coat was torn violently open at the shoulder seam.
She was staring blankly at the cold linoleum floor in absolute silence.
She looked up only when his expensive leather shoes stopped directly in front of her.
She did not cry or ask him why a billionaire mafia boss was at a public hospital.
She simply apologized again for not being able to set his dining room table for Christmas morning.
Killeran felt a strange, heavy knot form deep in his chest.
He stared down at the quiet, unassuming woman who had served him silently for three years.
He gently reached out and traced the torn fabric of her coat with his bare hand.
He asked her calmly who had purposefully run her car off the icy road.
Mave shook her head and whispered that it was just a random hit-and-run accident.
Killeran knew instantly that she was lying to protect someone.
He noticed a small piece of black metal peeking out from the torn lining of her pocket.
He carefully pulled it out and examined it under the harsh fluorescent hallway lights.
It was a heavy iron coin stamped with the sinister emblem of a screaming eagle.
This was the official calling card of the ruthless Rossi crime syndicate.
The men who brutally attacked his maid were not random drunk drivers.
They were sending a direct, violent message to the most powerful man in Boston.
Killeran slipped the heavy metal coin silently into his tailored suit pocket.
He carefully leaned down and lifted Mave entirely into his strong arms.
She gasped softly in surprise but did not struggle against his firm grip.
He told her in a low whisper that she would never have to clean his house again.
He carried her out of the hospital and into the freezing Christmas Eve snow.
He gently placed her into the heated leather seat of his armored sedan.
As he closed the heavy car door, his encrypted phone suddenly buzzed with a new message.
He pulled it out and opened a secure video file sent from an untraceable number.
May you like
The live video showed Mave's younger brother sitting helplessly in the common room of his rehab facility.
A masked man was standing behind Rowan with a long hunting knife pressed directly to his throat.
