Chapter 5 - The Loyal Hound
Willa spun around violently, her right hand instinctively dropping to the lethal syringe hidden deep in her pocket.
Mr. Crowley, the stern and impeccable house manager, stood quietly in the doorway with his hands clasped casually behind his back.
He slowly stepped into the room, gently closing the heavy door until it clicked softly into place.
"You possess rather remarkable reflexes, Mrs. Kane," Crowley said quietly, glancing at the exact spot where the terrified maid had just stood.
Willa backed up slowly until her trembling legs hit the solid edge of Everett's mattress.
"If you're here to finish the job for them, you'll have to go through me first," she said, her voice shaking but fiercely defiant.
Crowley’s severely disciplined expression softened for a tiny fraction of a second.
He looked completely past her, respectfully meeting Everett’s half-open, weary gray eyes.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, Boss," Crowley murmured, bowing his gray head in profound, absolute respect.
Willa let out a massive breath she didn't realize she was holding, her shoulders slumping.
"You knew this whole time?" she asked, looking rapidly between the old, distinguished butler and her dangerous husband.
"I have served the Kane family loyally for over forty years," Crowley replied, moving smoothly closer to the camera's blind spot.
"I knew Sterling was slowly poisoning him, but I lacked the sophisticated medical knowledge to safely intervene without killing him."
Everett’s pale lips parted, and a hoarse, painful scraping sound emerged from his brutally dry throat.
"Water," he rasped, his powerful voice raw and damaged from eight agonizing months of disuse.
Willa quickly moistened a fresh sponge and gently pressed it to his cracked lips, meticulously hiding her actions with her body.
"Sterling is making his final, irrevocable move tomorrow morning," Crowley warned them, his tone incredibly grim.
"He has officially called a massive meeting of the Five Families to officially declare Everett brain-dead and assume total, legal control."
Everett’s strong jaw tightened visibly, a terrifying, murderous fury burning brightly in his gray eyes.
"Dr. Whitfield is scheduled to administer a final, supposedly painless lethal injection at precisely noon," Crowley continued softly.
Willa felt a sickening wave of deep nausea wash violently over her stomach.
"We have to get him out of this house tonight," she whispered frantically, looking at the medical equipment.
Crowley shook his head slowly, profound regret in his tired eyes.
"We absolutely cannot leave."
He pulled a neatly folded piece of expensive paper from his pocket and gently handed it to Willa.
May you like
It was an official transfer order for Ruth Hayes, forcefully moving Willa's helpless mother to a private hospice entirely owned by Sterling Kane.
"If Everett somehow disappears tonight, your mother dies terribly tomorrow morning," Crowley said.
