Chapter 6 - THE PRIVATE WARD
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At eight o'clock the next morning, my black armored Maybach pulled up to the private entrance of St. Jude's Medical Center.
Clary sat in the passenger seat beside me, wearing a soft cream-colored sweater and dark trousers my staff had purchased for her at dawn.
Without the oversized maid uniform, she looked delicate and strikingly beautiful.
Her dark hair tumbled down her shoulders in loose waves, catching the early morning sunlight.
She gripped the door handle nervously as two of my armed guards opened her door.
"He's on the fourth floor," I told her, stepping out into the brisk autumn air.
We rode the private elevator up in silence, the tension radiating off her small body in waves.
When the elevator doors parted, Arthur was already waiting in the hallway.
"Dr. Chen completed the surgery forty minutes ago," Arthur reported smoothly.
"Tommy's radius and ulna were cleanly reset with titanium plates."
"He's awake and resting in Room 402."
Clary didn't wait for permission.
She broke into a run down the pristine corridor, bursting through the door of Room 402 with tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Tommy!"
A lanky nineteen-year-old boy with messy brown hair was sitting up in bed, his right arm bound in a clean white cast.
"Clary?" the boy choked out, his eyes widening in shock.
"What are you doing here?"
"Who paid for this room?"
"They told me a billionaire checked me into the VIP surgical suite!"
Clary threw her arms around her brother's uninjured shoulder, sobbing into his hospital gown.
"It's over, Tommy."
"The debt is gone."
Tommy looked past his sister and locked eyes with me as I stepped through the doorway.
His face went pale as milk.
"Declan Knox," Tommy whispered, his voice cracking with terror.
"Clary, get away from him!"
"That's the head of the Knox family!"
"He's the one who sent those thugs to break my bones!"
I stepped up to the foot of the bed, crossing my arms over my broad chest.
"The man who hurt you is currently floating three miles off the Atlantic coast, kid."
"I don't tolerate vermin operating under my flag."
Tommy blinked, looking back and forth between his sister and the feared king of the underworld.
"You... you killed him?"
"I eradicated a pest," I corrected coldly.
"Now listen to me carefully, Thomas Davies."
"You will finish your physical therapy."
"You will never place another bet on a street corner as long as you live."
"And when your arm heals, Arthur will enroll you in an accredited trade academy on my payroll."
Tommy's mouth hung open in utter disbelief.
"Why would you do that for us?"
May you like
I looked down at Clary, who was still holding her brother's hand while staring at me with something dangerously close to awe.
"Because your sister has a voice that shouldn't be silenced by fear."
