Chapter 3 - A Father's Vow
The private waiting room on the surgical floor of St. Mercy was dead silent, save for the ticking of a cheap wall
clock. Vincent sat in a low leather chair, his head buried in his hands. His black designer suit jacket was discarded
on the seat next to him, and his white shirt sleeves were rolled up, revealing the heavy tattoos that crawled up his
forearms. His hands, usually so clean and steady, were stained with dried blood. Emma's blood.
His brother and second-in-command, Dominic Kane, walked into the room, carrying two paper cups of black
coffee. Dominic was younger, sharper, but shared the same dark hair and piercing grey eyes as Vincent.
Dominic set one cup down in front of Vincent and sat opposite him. "The boy is in the NICU. He's premature,
but the doctors say he's strong. He's got your lungs, Vin. He's making sure the whole ward hears him."
Vincent didn't look up. "And Emma?"
"Still in surgery. They're trying to stop the internal bleeding. It's touch and go." Dominic sighed, rubbing the
back of his neck. "Vin... I ran a quick check. The moment you threw Emma out eight months ago, she vanished off
our radar. But she didn't go to the feds. I checked with our contacts in the department. There was never an active
file on her. She never spoke to a single agent."
Vincent slowly lifted his head, his face pale and etched with a deep, agonizing guilt. "Then the documents
Brooke gave me..."
"Fake," Dominic said softly, his voice dark. "Brooke's father owns a shell company that we use for some of our
shipping logistics. It would have been easy for her to access our financial templates and forge those wire transfers.
She wanted Emma out of the picture, and she knew exactly how to trigger your paranoia."
Vincent let out a ragged breath that sounded like a growl. He stood up, his massive frame pacing the small room
like a caged beast. "I ruined her life. I left her with nothing. She was pregnant with my son, and I let her starve."
"You didn't know, Vin."
"I should have known!" Vincent roared, slamming his fist into the drywall. The plaster cracked under the
impact, but he didn't even blink. "I loved her, Dominic. And I let my pride convince me she was a traitor because it
was easier than admitting I was vulnerable. I threw her to the wolves, and now she's dying because of it."
"So, what are you going to do about Brooke?" Dominic asked, his eyes narrowing.
"Keep her close. Don't let her know we're onto her yet," Vincent said, his voice dropping to a deadly whisper.
"If she knows she's caught, she'll run to her father, and he has enough political connections to make a mess. I want
every asset they own frozen. I want her father's shipping licenses revoked. I want them to lose everything, dollar by
dollar, before I personally show them what happens to people who touch what is mine."
Before Dominic could reply, the door to the waiting room opened. A tired-looking surgeon in green scrubs
stepped inside, pulling down his mask.
Vincent was across the room in a second. "Is she alive?"
"She survived the surgery, Mr. Kane," the doctor said, wiping sweat from his forehead. "We managed to stop the
hemorrhaging and repair the uterine tear. But she lost a massive amount of blood, and her body has gone into a
protective coma. The next forty-eight hours are critical. If she doesn't wake up by then, her organs may begin to
fail."
Vincent felt a physical pain in his chest, a tight, squeezing grip that made it hard to breathe. "Can I see her?"
"Only for a few minutes. She's in the intensive care unit."
Vincent didn't waste a second. He walked down the long, sterile hallways until he reached ICU Room Inside,
Emma looked even smaller than she had in the emergency room. She was hooked up to a dozen machines, a
ventilator tube in her mouth, her pale skin contrasting sharply with the blue hospital sheets.
Vincent walked to the side of the bed. He slowly reached down and took her hand, kissing her knuckles.
"I'm sorry, Emma," he whispered, a tear finally slipping down his cheek, cutting a clean path through the dried
May you like
blood on his skin. "I'm so sorry. I'm going to fix this. I'm going to protect you and our boy. Just please, come back
to me."
