Chapter 2 - VICTOR’S RULE
Victor Costello had three rules.
Never threaten a child.
Never hurt someone inside a hospital.
And never use his name without permission.
Someone had broken all three.
“Lock down the estate,” Victor ordered.
Steel gates closed outside. Armed guards moved through the hallways, checking rooms, cars, and security feeds.
Sadie backed away.
“I need to go to Sam.”
“You’ll never reach him alone,” Victor said.
“He’s my brother.”
“And somebody expects you to run.”
Victor pointed toward the office. “Inside.”
Sadie didn’t move.
“I’m not one of your soldiers.”
“No. Soldiers usually listen.”
She should have been terrified. Instead, anger rushed through her.
“My brother could be dying while you stand here giving orders.”
Victor’s eyes darkened.
“And if you leave through that front gate, a shooter could put a bullet through your head before you reach the street.”
The words hit her hard.
Victor stepped closer.
“This stopped being only about money the moment one of my pins appeared at that hospital.”
Sadie entered the office.
A wall of security monitors showed every corner of the estate. On the desk sat ledgers, photographs, and a half-empty glass of bourbon.
Victor picked up a secure phone.
“Gabriel, status.”
“We found the hospital intruder,” Gabriel replied. “His name is Declan Reece. He claims O’Shea sent him.”
“Then why was he wearing our pin?”
“He won’t say.”
“Make him comfortable enough to reconsider.”
Sadie stared at Victor.
“You’re going to torture him?”
Victor met her eyes. “I’m going to ask him questions.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the only one you’re getting.”
A doctor appeared on another monitor beside Sam’s hospital bed. Gabriel’s men stood outside the room.
Sadie rushed closer.
Sam looked pale but awake.
“Can he hear me?”
Victor connected the audio.
“Sadie?” Sam said weakly.
“I’m here.”
“You’re crying.”
“No, I’m not.”
“You’re a terrible liar.”
She laughed once, but it came out broken.
A nurse adjusted his IV. “He’s stable. We’ve moved him to a secure floor.”
Sadie pressed her palm to the screen.
“I’ll come as soon as I can.”
Victor ended the call.
“Now tell me everything about the debt.”
Sadie explained how Sam’s treatment had drained their savings. Insurance rejected an experimental therapy. Mick offered sixty thousand dollars with no paperwork she understood and interest that changed every week.
“How much have you paid?” Victor asked.
“Eighty-three thousand.”
“For a sixty-thousand-dollar loan?”
“He says I still owe forty.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“That isn’t lending. It’s ownership.”
A gunshot cracked somewhere downstairs.
Sadie jumped.
Victor pulled her behind the desk as the office lights went out.
Men shouted in the hallway.
Then the backup lights flickered red.
A body slammed against the other side of the office door.
Victor aimed his pistol.
The door slowly opened.
One of his guards collapsed into the room, blood spreading across his shirt.
May you like
He lifted one shaking hand toward Sadie.
“The girl,” he gasped. “They came for the girl.”
