Chapter 1 - THE MAN WHO MADE HER CRY“Chloe. Your ten minutes are up.”
Senator Richard Caldwell's voice carried across the Gilded Stag like a command nobody dared question.
Chloe Bennett froze beside Victor Costello's table.
Every conversation seemed to stop at once.
Victor slowly turned toward the senator.
“Did you just threaten my waitress?”
Caldwell laughed. “This is a private conversation, Costello.”
“Not anymore.”
Victor rose from his chair.
At forty-two, he was one of Chicago's most feared men. He rarely raised his voice, and he never needed to.
Chloe tried to step away.
“Mr. Costello, please. I don't want trouble.”
Victor looked at the red fingerprints circling her wrist.
“Then tell me who put those marks on you.”
Tears gathered in Chloe's eyes.
“The senator,” she whispered. “He said he'd destroy my brother's treatment if I didn't meet him outside.”
Silence fell over the dining room.
Caldwell's smile disappeared.
“That's a serious accusation.”
Victor walked toward him.
One bodyguard stepped forward, but Gabriel intercepted him with a quiet warning.
“Stay where you are.”
Victor stopped beside Caldwell's chair.
“You have five seconds to apologize.”
Caldwell stood abruptly.
“You don't understand who you're dealing with.”
Victor's expression never changed.
“I know exactly who you are.”
The senator reached for Chloe.
Victor caught his wrist before his fingers touched her.
“Don't.”
Caldwell struggled, but Victor held him firmly until the senator stopped.
Then Victor released him.
“You'll regret this,” Caldwell hissed.
Victor leaned closer.
“Only if you survive your own secrets.”
Caldwell went pale.
Chloe stared between them.
“What secrets?”
Victor didn't answer.
Instead, he looked toward Gabriel.
“Get someone to Oakridge Memorial. Her brother needs protection.”
Chloe's phone suddenly rang.
The screen displayed the hospital's emergency number.
She answered with trembling fingers.
“Miss Bennett?” a frightened nurse whispered. “Someone just signed paperwork transferring Liam out of our hospital.”
Chloe gripped the table.
“Who?”
The nurse hesitated.
“The authorization carries your mother's signature.”
Chloe stopped breathing.
May you like
Because her mother had been dead for eleven years.
And someone had just used her name to take Liam.
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