Chapter 4 - The Flatline and the Banishment
Before darkness swallowed my vision completely, Dr. Hannah Mercer shoved Mateo backward into the corridor with a fury that no bullet could stop. ""Right now,"" the doctor snarled straight into his terrified face, ""neither of them belongs to you!"" The heavy doors slammed shut between us, sealing off his desperate cries. Mateo stumbled back into the hallway, his entire world burning to the ground around him, just as his private encrypted phone began to vibrate violently in the pocket of his cashmere coat.
The cold, flat voice of his long-time underboss, Salvatore, came through the line, carrying news that would shatter whatever sanity Mateo had left: ""Mateo. The girl’s car on the coast road. Don't go to the hospital. It wasn't an accident. We found the brake lines sliced clean through before she even left the harbor."" Inside Trauma Room 4, the chaos was deafening. ""Push one milligram of epinephrine! Charge again!"" Dr. Mercer barked, her palms slamming rhythmically against my chest. Pain tore through my ribs, but I was already drifting away, floating above the bright lights and the shouting medical staff, watching my broken body fight a losing battle against death.
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Outside in the corridor, the news of the sabotage hit Mateo with the force of an avalanche. The realization that someone had targeted his wife—and his unborn child—sent a homicidal rage surging through his veins that eclipsed even his shock. He spun around, his eyes locking onto Vivienne, who was standing frozen against the wall like a ghost. ""You,"" Mateo whispered, his voice dropping into a register so chillingly lethal that Vivienne whimpered and backed away. ""You told me she was gone for good. You told me she was just a bitter ex.""
Salvatore rounded the corner, flanked by four armed enforcers in black suits, their faces grim. ""Boss,"" Salvatore said quietly, handing Mateo a bloodstained envelope recovered from the passenger seat of my smashed sedan. ""She wasn't running away from you, Mateo. She was running to the federal prosecutor's office. She found the ledger linking Vivienne’s family to the syndicate's money laundering ring. She was trying to protect the child from them."" Mateo stared at the envelope, the ground dropping out beneath his feet. He had driven me away with his coldness, allowed Vivienne to poison his household, and nearly gotten us both murdered by his own enemies.
