Chapter 9 - THE HEART THAT STOPPED FOR NINE SECONDS
Adrian’s heart stopped for nine seconds.
The implanted device shocked it back into rhythm.
Dr. Maren reached him with the emergency team.
He woke inside the ambulance.
Lily sat outside with Sarah.
She had seen him fall.
Sarah refused to allow her into the vehicle until Adrian was stable.
At the hospital, Lily sat in the same kind of plastic chair where Adrian had received his diagnosis weeks earlier.
She held Sarah’s hand.
“Did I make his heart stop?”
“No.”
“He heard me yell.”
“That did not cause his illness.”
“But the doctor said stress.”
“Stress is not one person’s fault.”
Sarah pulled Lily close.
“Daddy’s body has a problem.”
“It is not your job to keep every feeling away from him.”
Lily looked toward the treatment doors.
“Will he leave because I’m dangerous?”
The question broke Sarah.
She realized Lily had interpreted Adrian’s three-year absence as evidence that she herself created danger.
“No.”
“Your father stayed away because he made a frightened adult decision.”
“You did nothing wrong.”
Vincent entered with a bandage across his forehead.
Volkov had been arrested.
Nicholas’s evidence connected him to multiple crimes.
Miss Collins and her brother entered protection after cooperating.
The concert plot had failed.
Still, Lily stared at the treatment doors.
“Can I hold his hand?”
“When the doctor says yes.”
Dr. Maren allowed a brief visit.
Adrian lay beneath monitors.
Lily approached carefully.
“Does your machine still work?”
“Yes.”
“You fell.”
“It brought me back.”
“Were you dead?”
“For a few seconds.”
Lily’s lower lip trembled.
Adrian reached toward her.
She placed her hand inside his.
“Did I make it happen?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“My heart was sick before I knew you.”
“Knowing you is one of the reasons I am treating it.”
Lily climbed onto the chair.
“You can’t die before my birthday.”
“When is it?”
“March.”
“I will do my best.”
“And after?”
“I will keep doing my best.”
She nodded.
“That’s better.”
Sarah stood near the window.
Adrian looked at her.
“I nearly made her responsible for my surgery.”
“Yes.”
“I nearly made you responsible for whether I survived.”
“Yes.”
“I am sorry.”
Sarah did not say it was fine.
It had not been fine.
“What happens now?” she asked.
Adrian looked toward Vincent.
Volkov’s arrest created a power vacuum.
Moretti captains expected Adrian to return immediately.
Old enemies expected retaliation.
His organization wanted the same man he had been before Lily held his hand.
“I dismantle what I can.”
“And the crimes?”
“I give Quinn records.”
Vincent stared at him.
“Boss.”
Adrian looked at his oldest friend.
“You know where the bodies are.”
“You know the accounts.”
“You know what we did.”
“If we keep going, Lily spends her life waiting for the next theater.”
Vincent’s face tightened.
“What happens to us?”
“We answer for what belongs to us.”
“And our families?”
“The legitimate businesses move into protected management.”
“Employees keep their jobs.”
“No child inherits our debts or our authority.”
Vincent looked toward Lily.
Then at his brother’s interrogation room visible through the hallway glass.
“I spent eleven years calling this loyalty.”
“What was it?” Sarah asked.
May you like
Vincent answered quietly.
“Fear with a salary.”
