Richard tightened his grip on the steering wheel, his knuckles white against the leather. The hospital loomed ahead, its clean white walls stark against the soft morning sky. Beside him, Fiona rummaged through her purse, her expression distracted as she searched for her phone. “I hope Abigail is on duty,” Fiona said. “Emma always says how good she is with her.” She paused, her words trailing off as Richard’s phone began to ring. The caller ID flashed across the dashboard: **Chief of the Medical Board**. Richard frowned and answered, keeping one hand firmly on the wheel. “Doctor? Is everything all right?” The voice on the other end was hesitant, each word carrying a weight Richard immediately recognized as bad news. “Richard, I don’t know how to say this, but there’s been an incident. Your daughter, Emma, has been kidnapped.” For a moment, Richard forgot to breathe. The world outside the car blurred, his focus narrowing to those few impossible words. “Kidnapped?” he said,
Emma woke to a peculiar sensation in her leg, an itch that shouldn’t have been possible. Still sleepy, she reached down to scratch her leg, more out of instinct than conscious effort. Her hand froze when she felt the unfamiliar warmth of movement in her left foot, the same one paralyzed in the accident. Two of her toes were moving.She held her breath out of excitement as she flexed her toes experimentally. First the big one, then the second one, a wave of relief and happiness flooding through her emotions. "Oh my God, "I can move them," she said to herself.The joy of this development , encouraged her to sit upright and swing her legs over the edge of the bed. Fueled by excitement, Emma tried to stand, but her legs betrayed her, she lost her balance and she hit the floor hard, pain shooting up her hip as she cried out. “Nurse! Someone, help!” she yelled.She waited, as her heart pounding. Footsteps hurried down the hallway, but it wasn’t Abigail, her usual nurse, who appeared. Ins
Maxwell paced his room, restless. the events of the evening weighing heavily on his mind. After returning home, he’d taken a long shower, hoping to wash away the stress and clear his thoughts. He changed into clean clothes, but the sense of unease lingered. He glanced at his phone and, after an hour of deliberation, he dialed Alfred.The call was brief but informative. Alfred confirmed that Marcus was safe and unharmed, though the news wasn’t without its cost. “One of the guards was killed during the escape,” Alfred said .The guard’s death was the final straw. Lenox and his uncle Alphonse had crossed a line. He was enraged and wanted to act but retained his calm exterior. “Prepare the car, We’re going to Marcus’ house,” he said to Jackson who was helping himself to some coffee.Jackson nodded without question, his stoic expression a reflection of his loyalty. The drive was tense, the silence in the car was only broken by the hum of the engine. Maxwell stared out the window, his min
Alfred tightened the laces on his sneakers, grabbed his gym bag, and took a deep breath. Morning workouts were a sacred ritual—a rare moment of peace away from the relentless pressures of the clan’s politics. He slung the bag over his shoulder, ready to leave, when the creak of his father’s door shattered the early morning stillness. Alfred frowned. His father, Marcus, rarely rose before nine. A man of strict routine, Marcus treated dawn as his personal sanctuary for rest. Alfred hesitated, then set his bag down and stepped into the hall. There stood Marcus, impeccably dressed in a gray suit and wearing the silver lapel pin that symbolized his high status within the clan. “What’s going on?” Alfred asked, his voice tinged with concern. Marcus looked at him with an expression that was both stoic and heavy with purpose. “Alphonse has called an emergency summit.” “An emergency summit? At this hour? Why?” Alfred’s suspicion flared immediately. Marcus shook his head. “He didn’t
Emma rested her head on James’s chest, her breaths soft and steady. The physiotherapy session had drained her, leaving her weary but strangely at peace in his arms. The sterile hospital room felt less cold when she was wrapped in his warmth. The faint hum of the air conditioning filled the silence, a steady backdrop to the rhythmic beating of his heart. James brushed a stray strand of hair from her face, his fingers lingering longer than necessary. The bruises on her body had faded, but the invisible scars remained. She didn’t talk about the pain anymore, but he could see it in the way her eyes clouded over at times, as if revisiting some dark memory. He wondered if his presence helped her, even a little. Her hand rested on his chest, fingers curling lightly, when his phone buzzed on the nightstand. He glanced at the screen, and his stomach tightened. Lenox.“Sorry,” he murmured, kissing her hair as he gently shifted her off him. “I need to take this.” Emma opened her eyes, her
Maxwell woke to the sharp, relentless buzz of his alarm. His phone blinked on the nightstand, vibrating insistently. Groaning, he grabbed it, blinking away the haze of sleep until the words on the screen came into focus: “6:00 a.m. Gym session with Alfred."He exhaled heavily and swung his legs over the bed, every muscle in his body protesting. Yesterday’s sparring had been brutal; each punch and block now etched into his aching limbs. As he stood, a sharp pain shot from his calves to his shoulders, making him mutter, “Should’ve skipped the second round.” The thought of Alfred—always brimming with inexhaustible energy—waiting for another grueling session filled Maxwell with reluctant determination. Their sparring had become a ritual, a weekly test of endurance, but today, he wasn’t sure if his body would cooperate. Dragging himself to the bathroom, he caught his reflection in the mirror: disheveled hair, dark circles under his eyes, and a faint bruise on his jaw—a souvenir from
James leaned back in his leather chair, the tension in his shoulders betraying his outward calm. A crisp stack of documents sat on his desk, its bolded figures blurring under his sharp gaze. The offer from the board was too good to be true—a staggering buyout that promised wealth for all involved. But the fine print was unmistakable: agreeing meant relinquishing control of the company he had painstakingly built. This wasn’t just business; it was betrayal disguised as opportunity. The board, long resentful of James’s dominant hold, clearly saw this as their chance to strip him of power. He clenched his fists, his jaw tightening. Losing was not an option.Moments later, James stepped into the conference room. The tension in the air was palpable, the polished marble floor reflecting his determined stride. The board sat stiffly, their expressions carefully blank, but one figure at the head of the table sent a jolt through James. Lenox. James’s stomach turned. Lenox’s reputation precede
The room carried the weight of memories, the scent of aged wood mingling with stale tobacco. Lenox stood near the doorway, his posture rigid, hands clasped behind his back. The faint creak of the floorboards beneath his boots was the only sound, punctuating the tense silence as he stared at the frail figure of Alphonse, his adoptive father, slumped in a king-size armchair. Once a towering presence, Alphonse had been a man whose word could bend others to his will, a force of nature who commanded loyalty and fear in equal measure. But now, age had whittled him down, his frame thin and brittle. Still, the sharpness in his voice remained, an echo of the man he once was. “How dare you show your face here?” Alphonse's voice sliced through the air. “After all I’ve done for you? After the life I gave you, you walk in here like this—a weakling?” Lenox’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t respond. His expression was stoic, carved from stone, his gaze steady and unyielding. Silence was his shiel
James stepped into the hospital lobby, just moments after Maxwell had left. He caught a glimpse of him sliding into the back seat of a sleek black SUV, a man in a tailored suit opening the door for him. It was clear the man wasn’t just a driver—he exuded authority, the kind that turned heads. Tempted to approach, James took a step toward the vehicle, his curiosity burning, but as his eyes landed on the imposing figure of Jackson standing nearby, he stopped. Something about the man’s sharp gaze and controlled demeanor sent a warning signal through James’s gut. Without a word, he turned back toward the hospital. Inside, when the receptionist informed him that Emma had been moved to an executive wing reserved for VIPs, his curiosity only deepened. Though he masked his reaction, the unexpected shift left him unsettled. A nurse arrived to guide James through the exclusive wing. She was polite but distant, her demeanor professional. James couldn’t help but notice the contrast between