The contrast from the digital world to the hospital was a real one. Showing the harsh reality of the real world. Filled with blood,pains and guilts unlike the digital world showing the visual version. In this place everything was felt. It was real, brutal and filled with anguish.
Valerius Pov
I can't feel the direct impact of the blood from the hospital because I wasn't there. Everything about it was just blood, shouts and tears.
My eyes snapped to the monitor across from me and then I saw the movements. The movement that was trying so hard to go unnoticed and to fit into the background.
A man was wearing a lab coat, his face covered with a surgical mask. From a distance he doesn't look suspicious but there he was trying to pick the lock on locker 27.
Alessia's locker.
The intruder wasn't there looking for money or medical supplies because if he had wanted those he wouldn't be behaving like this.
And then my mind snapped to what he was looking for. A biological match to Alessia. Her face has never been seen before I was even lucky I caught a glimpse of it. He was looking for a match to know how she looks. And this isn't just random, it's the council.
" You don't know the territory you just stepped into." I whispered my eyes still tracing his movements. I hit the intercom connecting to Kaelen immediately. " The hospital is compromised. A threat is there right now. I'm going in."
"Val, don't you leave your seat." Kaelen's panicked voice came through. "If you show up there in person it's dangerous and life threatening."
"Don't get worried. I'm not going to stay here as a ghost. I'm going to the
hospital as the man who told her she is mine."
Alessia's Pov.
Everything .
Everything in here was to be dealt with precision. Surgeries,files, lives, deaths,drugs and family members.
But the best part is I've never dealt with breaking the news of death to anyone before. The devastation I see on their face when others do makes me work with dedication and I've never lost a patient.
The surgery was a gruelling marathon. Six hours in the OR the longest I have done this week. As I sutured the last layer my hands were steady but my mind wasn't. Lucian's voice replaying at the back of my head.
'I think that makes me yours.'
What does he even mean by that?
I left the OR quickly in a bid to assume my position as the Donna.
The hospital was quiet, it was during the emergency hours and others were busy saving life. I was done for the day.
My phone pinged in my pockets and I withdrew it.
On the screen I saw a message.
"Don't go to the locker room, Lyra.
It's dangerous."
My steps slowed immediately. My eyes were scanning for threats.
Lucian promised to protect me but I wasn't expecting it this early for him to track every movement in the hospital.
I moved to the door of the bathroom thinking of what to do. I pulled my surgical mask down, my face was always masked even in the hospital.
As the head of the hospital no one had the right to question me. They just know I'm in charge, nothing else matters except professional infos.
"You're late,Dr Vincenzo." My hands instinctively flew to the scalpel in my coat.
"Calm down Lyra." Immediately I heard that name I knew it was Lucian.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, my voice so cold.
"I promised to protect you. I'm not only doing that behind a firewall." He spoke up. And when I looked at him he was staring at my bare face. I have forgotten I was without a mask.
"You can't be here."
He stepped closer. Then he started tracing my jawline.
"I see a woman who's working so hard to balance her life. The Donna wears the gold cheetah mask and the surgeon also wears a mask. Interesting. But I'm the only one who has seen your face bare. Twice."
At the mention of 'twice' my heart hammered against my chest.
What does he mean by twice?
"This isn't a game to play." I whispered.
"Let's go. I'm just trying to make you calm before we move."
Three Minutes Later
As we reached the garage a black Sedan pulled over blocking our path. The window rolled down.
"That's the man I saw." Valerius whispered close to my ears.
The man raised his phone and there was a high resolution photo of me.
Lucian rested his hands on my back and drew me closer to himself.
"I think you just made a huge mistake. A mistake you shouldn't have made."
The man chuckled.
" Have I done that ghost or I just found what I've been looking for?
And with that he drove away.
"They have it." I whispered, my voice shaking. "The rivals… boards… once they see it they will target the hospital."
Valerius turned to me, his hands already working on his phone.
"I'm trying to use my phone to block his network. It won't take long before he transfers it to a drive. I need my laptop. You can't go back right now."
We moved to his car and his voice came again.
" You have to make a choice right now Lyra. Either you go to Sotto L'etna where you will be surrounded with guns or you follow me to my safe house where I can make sure that photo never existed in the first place."
I thought for a while.
Sotto L'etna was well protected but right now it's not about that. I need to trust a man I've only known for two days just like my father had done for years.
" I will go with you."
And with that he stepped on the accelerator.
One hand on his tablet and the other on the steering wheel.
"Do you want to kill me?" I asked fear gripping me.
"No. The car is already programmed, my hand is just there."
"Then what are you seeing right now?"
" He is trying to counter it. He is trying so hard to bounce the signal through VPNS in Norway. If he is successful the facial recognition software will link your identity to the Vincenzo family tree in seconds."
"I wasn't expecting this so early."
"Be calm. I'm slowing his upload rate to bytes but it won't stop the process forever. I need a server and my laptop."
"You are doing a lot for a woman you barely know. How are you so calm in a situation like this?"
He looked at me and smirked.
"I know a lot about you. So many things you don't expect. And I'm calm because I know nothing will happen to you. He is even a fool for not sending the photo immediately to who sent him. I can do it. I just need to reach the safe house on time and from the information I'm getting he is at the outskirts of town and before he gets anywhere else it will take two hours and I will delete the photo soon."
"Are you doing all this because of the instructions my father left or because I'm your boss?"
He turned his head and chuckled.
"There are reasons I'm doing all these than those two. I know that in this city full of wolves you are the only sheep who isn't worth devouring."
"Don't compare me to a sheep because I'm dangerous."
"You might be dangerous but to me right now you are the sheep I have to remove her photo from the claws of the wolves ."
I leaned back my head on the headrest. Quiet because words have finally left me to the mercy of a man. A man who has only known me for two days but behaved as if he had known me forever.
Author's Note.
Thank you Spiritus Cheetahs for reading this chapter. I promised about the reveal of seeing her face few days back and I kept my promise.
So please now you have to promise to add to your collections, comment and power stones too.
For those of you who added it to your collections when I haven't even posted for days thank you and you are welcome.
You are officially now a member of the Spiritus Cheetahs.
Stay Lethal,
--Cruentis.