Chapter 2 - The Empty Hospital
I drove my armored sedan through the Manhattan streets at a hundred miles an hour.
Marco sat in the passenger seat with his assault rifle loaded and ready.
We arrived at the hospital and bypassed the panicked front desk entirely.
I kicked open the doors to the intensive care unit and found a massacre.
Four of my most loyal men were lying dead in the sterile white hallway.
The door to Emma’s mother’s room was wide open.
I walked inside and found the hospital beds completely empty.
The medical monitors had been violently ripped from the walls.
I checked the security room down the hall and forced the terrified guard to rewind the footage.
The grainy video showed six heavily armed Russians wheeling Emma’s mother and brother out the back exit.
Kolov had not just taken them as hostages.
He had taken them to break the woman sleeping in my mansion.
I realized with absolute clarity what Kolov was planning to do.
He was going to use Emma’s family to force her to assassinate me.
I sprinted back to my car and ordered Marco to call the mansion immediately.
Marco dialed the security desk, but the line rang endlessly without an answer.
A cold dread settled deep in my stomach.
I pressed the gas pedal to the floor, weaving recklessly through the slick city traffic.
We crashed through the front gates of my estate and skidded to a halt on the wet gravel.
The front doors of my home were standing wide open.
I drew my weapon and moved silently through the dark foyer.
I rushed toward the guest bedroom where I had left Emma resting.
The bed was entirely empty, and the IV lines were torn and dripping fluid onto the rug.
I heard a soft, trembling footstep behind me in the shadows.
I spun around and saw Emma standing in the doorway.
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Her face was wrapped in bandages, and tears streamed from her swollen eyes.
She was holding a sharp silver kitchen knife aimed directly at my chest.
