CHAPTER FOUR : THE SINGLE CALL.

" SIX MONTHS AGO"

The Hospital Bed

​The steady, clinical beep of the heart monitor was the only sound keeping the silence alive in Room 501.

Rachel looked incredibly fragile, swallowed up by the white hospital sheets, her skin pale and translucent under the harsh fluorescent lights. The advanced heart condition was suffocating her, making every breath a visible battle.

​Raymond sat on the edge of the plastic chair, his head in his hands. His world had completely collapsed. The bankruptcy had stripped them clean; the business was gone, their properties had been auctioned off, and the family members and lifelong friends he had begged for help had all closed their doors when the storm hit. He was entirely alone, staring at a medical bill he couldn't pay for a surgery she couldn't survive without.

​"Rachel," Raymond whispered, his voice cracking as he leaned closer to her pillow. "I have one option left.

There’s someone from my past... a schoolmate. We weren't close, just acquaintances, but he has resources. Infinite resources. His name is Damian."

​Rachel’s eyes snapped open. The monitor’s beep spiked, jumping rapidly. A look of pure, unadulterated terror washed over her face, cutting right through her exhaustion. She reached out with a trembling, needle bruised hand, gripping Raymond’s collar with surprising, desperate strength.

​"No," she gasped, her voice a ragged, terrified wheeze. "Not him, Raymond. Please... no."

​"Rachel, you don't understand, the hospital needs the payment for the surgery by tomorrow morning..."

​"I don't care!" Tears spilled over her hollow cheeks as she shook her head frantically. "You don't know what he is! Everyone knows who his family is, Raymond.

He is the biological brother of the monster running the Sovereign Syndicate. They aren't just criminals, they are butcherers. Damian wears a suit, but he is a devil."

​"He was just a boy when I knew him, Rachel, he might remember me....."

​"He will ruin us!" she cried out, her chest heaving as the monitor began to chime an alarm. "I would rather die right here on this bed. Let the heart fail, Raymond.

I am begging you... do not sell our souls to that family. Promise me. Promise me you won't go!"

​Raymond looked into his wife's terrified eyes and felt his chest rip apart. He held her hand, whispering lies, soothing her until the nurse rushed in to quiet her heart. He promised her he wouldn't go. But looking at her fading face, he already knew he was going to break that promise.

The doors of room 501 clicked shut, cutting off the terrifying gaze of his wife. Raymond stood in the bleached white corridor of the hospital, his ears still ringing with Rachel's frantic pleas.

"He is a devil. He will ruin us. Let me die!"

His hands were shaking so violently he had to shove them into his pockets just to steady them. He had promised her he wouldn't go to Damian. He had looked into her hollow tears stained eyes and lied to her face. Because the alternative, watching her stop on the hospital bed was a reality he refused to accept.

Raymond checked his watch. It was time, school was letting out, he had to pick mellisa from school.

When he arrived at the academy gates, the sea of laughing children and bustling parents only made his chest feel tighter. Then he saw her. Mellisa walked out of the brick building alone, her backpack slung loosely over one shoulder. She wasn't running, her head was bowed, her small shoulders curved inward under a weight no child should ever have to carry. Even from a distance, the sheer sadness radiating from her was palpable.

Raymond forced the exhaustion from his face and stepped forward, catching her in a tight embrace. She did not say a word; she just leaned her forehead against his chest, her small hands gripping his jacket. They walked home hand in hand, the silence between them heavier than any conversation.

The house felt like a tomb. The house which once felt heavy with love, joy and laughter, now feels completely empty. Raymond moved to the kitchen to prepare dinner, a simple meal made from the last of the groceries they had.

At the dining table, they tried to talk about normal things, but their conversations always drifted back to room 501. "Is mom going to come home, Dad?" Mellisa asked, her eyes wide and glassy in the dim overhead light.

Raymond reached across the table, squeezing her hand, his heart breaking over and over again. "Things are going to get better, sweetheart. I promise you, I'm handling it. You just need to focus on being brave for her, okay? Your dad has everything under control."

That night, Mellisa did not want to be alone in her room, the house felt too quiet. Raymond did not hesitate. He lay down in the same bed with her, pulling the blankets up to her chin and keeping his arm anchored around her small frame to make her feel safe, to let her know he was watching over her.

Mellisa eventually drifted off,her breathing slow and rhythmic. But for Raymond, sleep was an impossibility. He lay awake through the grueling, silent hours of the night, staring blankly at the ceiling. The mattress felt like stone. Every time he closed his eyes, his mind spiraled back into the same suffocating trap. He looked down at mellisa's peaceful face in the shadows. She cannot be without a mother, his mind screamed. She is too young. If Rachel dies it will destroy her. If the only way to keep mellisa's world from shattering was to walk into the fire himself, then he would do it. Rachel's warning flashed in his head, but desperation had made Raymond immune to fear.

By the time the first pale gray light of dawn began to bleed through the window curtains, Raymond had made his choice. He quietly slipped out of the bed, careful not to disturb his daughter. Moving like a ghost through the cold house, he picked up the old landline phone in the kitchen. His fingers trembled as he dialed a number he had memorized years ago but prayed he would never have to use.

He made the single, brief phone call that would forever alter the position of their lives. He did not ask for a favor; he simply asked for an audience. He asked to see Lord Damian.

The voice on the other end gave him an address and a time. Three hours from now. It was the only chance he would ever get and if he missed it, there would be no reconsideration.

Raymond hung up the receiver, the finality of the click echoing in the empty kitchen. There was no going back. He turned to the stove, hurriedly preparing a warm breakfast for mellisa, settling the plate on the table with a small note so she would have something to eat the moment she woke up.

He didn't wake her to say goodbye. He couldn't risk her seeing the terror in his eyes. Locking the front door quietly behind him, Raymond stepped out into the freezing dawn air of Kai, his coat collar turned up against the wind.