Chapter 7 - THE DOCTOR IN THE EMERGENCY WARD
The name on the tiny slip of paper burned itself into my mind.
Dr. Simon Aris.
My younger sister, Lily, had been engaged to Simon for six months. He was a brilliant, charming emergency room physician. He paid for her nursing school. He bought my parents expensive dinners. He was the golden boy who was going to take care of my sister forever.
And according to the routing number hidden in my dead father's locket, Simon was also the man my father had been paying blackmail money to for eighteen years.
"Simon is thirty-two years old," I whispered, panic constricting my throat. "Eighteen years ago, he would have been fourteen. How could a teenager blackmail my father?"
Luca stared at the paper, his jaw tightening into a lethal line.
"He didn't blackmail your father when he was fourteen," Luca said quietly, helping me up from the wet grass. "He inherited the blackmail. Simon's father must have been the one who found out Julian didn't drown. When his father died, Simon took over the payments."
The realization hit me like a physical blow.
Simon didn't love Lily. He hadn't randomly met her at the hospital. He had targeted her. He had infiltrated my family to keep a closer eye on his investment.
"Where is your sister right now?" Luca demanded, his tone shifting into absolute command.
"She's on shift," I answered, my heart racing. "She works the night rotation at Chicago General."
"And Simon?"
"He's the attending ER physician tonight."
Luca turned to Daniel, who had just returned from speaking with the police commissioner.
"Daniel. We need to get to Chicago General immediately. Have two cars waiting."
"Boss, the police won't let you leave," Daniel warned, gesturing to the flashing red and blue lights. "You're a material witness to a sniper shooting. They want statements."
Luca didn't flinch. He looked directly at the police commissioner standing near the ambulances.
"Tell the commissioner I am taking my employee to identify a potential suspect. If he tries to stop me, tell him I’ll hold a press conference tomorrow detailing exactly how the Chicago PD allowed an armed sniper within five hundred yards of my property."
Daniel nodded grimly and ran toward the barricades.
Five minutes later, we were in the back of Luca's armored SUV, tearing through the rain-slicked streets of Chicago.
I sat rigidly, my hands still stained with my father's blood. I couldn't stop shivering. Everything I thought I knew about my family, my life, was a carefully constructed lie built on a kidnapped child and blood money.
Luca reached across the console.
He didn't offer a platitude. He didn't tell me it was going to be okay. He simply took my shaking, blood-stained hands in his large, warm ones and held them firmly.
"We will find her," Luca promised, his voice a low, steady rumble. "I will not let him hurt your sister."
I looked at him. The Mafia boss. The man I had served dinner to just hours ago. He was the only solid thing left in my world.
"Why are you helping me?" I asked, a tear slipping down my cheek. "You could have handed me over to the police. This isn't your fight."
Luca’s dark eyes softened slightly, reflecting the passing streetlights.
"My father orchestrated this tragedy to save a child," Luca said softly. "But he created a monster in the process. Julian is out there. Simon knows where he is. This is my family's mess, Hannah. And you bled for it tonight. You are under my protection now."
We arrived at Chicago General in less than fifteen minutes.
The emergency room was chaotic, buzzing with the usual Friday night trauma. Nurses rushed past with clipboards; doctors yelled orders.
We walked through the sliding glass doors, flanked by Daniel and two massive security guards. The hospital security immediately took notice, stepping forward to intercept us.
Luca didn't slow down.
"I'm looking for Dr. Simon Aris," Luca told the head security guard, his voice carrying an authority that brooked no argument.
The guard hesitated, intimidated by Luca's presence. "Sir, Dr. Aris is currently treating patients. You can't just—"
"Where is he?" Luca repeated, stepping closer, lowering his voice to a dangerous whisper.
"Trauma Bay 4," the guard stammered, pointing down the hall.
We bypassed the triage desk and moved quickly down the sterile, brightly lit corridor.
I saw Lily first.
She was standing outside Trauma Bay 4, wearing her blue scrubs, holding a clipboard. She looked exhausted but focused.
"Lily!" I called out.
She turned, her eyes widening in shock when she saw me.
"Hannah? What are you doing here?" Her gaze dropped to my blood-stained hands and uniform. "Oh my God, what happened? Are you hurt?"
Before I could answer, the curtain to Trauma Bay 4 was pulled back.
Dr. Simon Aris stepped out.
He was handsome, wearing a pristine white coat over his scrubs. He looked exactly like the charming fiancé my sister adored.
But when he saw Luca Moretti standing next to me, the color drained entirely from his face.
He didn't ask what was wrong. He didn't rush to my side.
He immediately reached into his coat pocket.
"Simon, don't," Luca warned, his voice echoing in the hallway.
Simon pulled a small, silver handgun from his pocket and grabbed Lily, yanking her back against his chest. He pressed the barrel of the gun directly against her temple.
Lily screamed, dropping her clipboard. The plastic shattered on the linoleum floor.
Nurses and patients in the hallway shrieked, scattering in all directions. Alarms began to blare.
"Back off, Moretti!" Simon yelled, his charming facade completely gone, replaced by frantic desperation.
"Simon, what are you doing?!" Lily sobbed, terrified, struggling against his grip.
"Shut up, Lily," Simon hissed, tightening his hold on her neck. He looked at me, his eyes wide and panicked. "Your father told you, didn't he? That old fool finally cracked."
"He didn't tell me," I said, my voice shaking with rage. "You shot him before he could. I found the routing number."
Simon laughed, a hysterical, ugly sound.
"I had to shoot him! Margaret Vance called me from the mansion. She said the truth was coming out. If Elias found out I had been hiding his son and extorting your father, Elias would have skinned me alive!"
"Elias is dead," Luca said coldly. "Margaret blew him up."
Simon froze. The news shocked him, but it didn't make him lower the gun.
"Then the money stops," Simon muttered, his eyes darting frantically. "The blackmail is over. I need a way out."
He began dragging Lily backward toward the ambulance bay exit doors at the end of the hall.
"Let her go, Simon," I begged, taking a step forward. "She didn't do anything!"
"She's my insurance policy," Simon sneered.
"You're surrounded," Luca said, gesturing to Daniel and the guards who had drawn their weapons, forming a semi-circle. "You won't make it to the parking lot."
Simon smiled grimly.
"I don't need to make it to the parking lot, Luca. I just need to make it to the ambulance. Because you don't know where Julian is. And if you kill me, you never will."
Luca's eyes narrowed. "You're going to tell me right now."
"Or what?" Simon mocked.
"Simon," Luca said, his voice dropping to a low, terrifying register. "My father paid to have Julian relocated to protect him. Why did your father intercept him?"
"Because my father was the doctor who signed the fake death certificate when Julian supposedly drowned!" Simon yelled, the truth finally spilling out. "Your father, Antonio, paid my dad to fake the autopsy so Elias would stop looking. But my dad realized that if he kept Julian alive, he could extort David Collins for the rest of his life!"
I felt sick. Simon's father had faked my brother's autopsy, then stolen him from my parents to use as a blackmail chip.
"Where is he?" Luca demanded.
Simon smirked, dragging Lily closer to the exit doors.
"He's been right under your nose the entire time, Moretti. He's been working for you."
Luca went completely still.
"Working for me?"
"Yes," Simon laughed. "And the best part? Julian doesn't even know who he really is. My father convinced him he was an orphan. We've been using him to feed information about the Moretti family to the Feds for years."
Simon reached behind him and pushed the emergency exit bar. The heavy doors swung open into the rainy night.
"If you want to find Julian, Luca," Simon yelled over the rain. "Ask your head of security."
I gasped.
Luca slowly turned his head.
He looked directly at Daniel.
Daniel stood completely frozen, his gun still raised, his face devoid of all color.
"Daniel?" Luca whispered.
May you like
Daniel didn't answer. He just stared at Luca.
And then, Daniel slowly lowered his weapon and aimed it directly at Luca's chest.
