FAZER LOGINIt had been a few hours since Carlos and Pascal walked out of the hospital building, and nobody had heard a single word from either of them.The clean up team arrived at the hospital after taking care of everything in the woods. They were all in the waiting area on the first floor, awaiting news of how Maxton was doing.Bailey sat in the waiting area with her injured hand resting on her knee, and her eyes flicking to the entrance every few minutes. Marcus sat beside her, with his head leaning back against the wall. The other men who had come with them were scattered around the room, some dozing, some staring at their phones, all of them wearing the same heavy, drained look of people who had been through a lot in one night.When Carlos and Pascal finally walked through the entrance, Bailey sat up straight immediately and she couldn't wait to ask them how Maxton was doing.Carlos looked like he had aged in just a few hours. His face was slightly pale and his jaw was set in a tight line,
Almost half an hour later, the emergency room door finally opened again and Carlos walked out with a complicated expression.His expression was a clear indication that something was terribly wrong and Raina saw it immediately. The way he was walking too fast, eyes down and not looking at anyone. She pushed off the wall and went straight towards him with an anxious expression."Carlos." She grabbed his arm while staring at his face. "How is he? What did he say to you?"Carlos stopped and looked at her hand on his arm, then looked away. "He is stable." He replied stiffly."That's not what I asked." Raina said angrily."Raina…." Carlos began."Why did he ask for you?" Raina didn't let him speak, as she immediately interrupted him. Her voice was already breaking as her emotions were heightened. "Why you and not me? I'm his wife, Carlos. What is going on?"Carlos didn't answer her question, he just quietly took her hand off his arm and started walking away without a word.Just like that,
Pascal drove like the road owed him something and his grip on the steering wheel was extremely tight as he kept looking at the back through the rearview mirror every few minutes.Every red light and slow car in front of them made Raina's chest tighten another notch. She sat in the back with Maxton's head still in her lap, one hand pressed flat against his chest, counting his breaths like each one was a small gift she was terrified of losing."Almost there," Pascal said from the front, more to himself than anyone else.Carlos said nothing, he just watched Maxton's face the whole ride, his own jaw tight, his hands resting on his knees with a stillness that only people who had seen the worst kind of things could manage.When the hospital finally came into view, Raina let out a breath she felt like she had been holding since the warehouse.There were already doctors and nurses waiting outside with a stretcher, which meant Carlos had made calls during the drive without her even noticing. T
“You bitch!” After finally recovering from the shock of the slap, Bailey yelled angrily at Raina.“That's enough, Bailey!” Carlos angrily reprimanded her with a deep frown.Raina just acted like she didn't hear what Bailey said and just looked ahead without a word.Carlos could only sigh and start the car. The drive to the woods felt like the longest hour of Raina's life.She sat in the back seat with her hands clasped tightly on her lap, her knee bouncing and her eyes fixed on the road ahead like staring hard enough would somehow make the car go faster. She didn't talk and nobody else did either. The only sounds were the engine, the tires on the road, and the occasional crackle of someone's radio up front.She kept replaying Maxton's voice in her head. The way he said her name and how calm he sounded, too calm, like he was working very hard to keep it that way. She didn't know whether to be relieved or terrified, so she couldn't help but feel anxious.When the cars finally rolled to
“Carlos, please meet the doctor and handle all the necessary papers” Raina said with a hoarse voice while still holding Angelo in her arms.Carlos nodded and walked with the Doctor to the other end of the hallway.“Do you think he understands?” Lisa suddenly asked from the side while looking at the sleeping Angelo.“Probably not…toddlers are dumb as fuck, so he probably doesn't understand” Bailey rolled her eyes and said without any emotion.Marcus angrily glared at her and she frowned with a confused expression. “What? Why are you giving me that look?” She asked him and this time, it was her friend Lisa that glared at her.Raina was pissed off but she wasn't in the mood to deal with Bailey's insensitive actions.“ That little boy just lost his father and he is now an orphan, that's something I expect you to know how painful it is” Pascal said from the side and his voice was cold.“You expect me to know? Why don't you just call me an orphan directly!” Bailey suddenly raised her voice
Deep in the woods, far from any main road, stood an old, abandoned building, its walls covered in thick moss, its windows boarded up with rotting wood that had long since given up trying to keep out the weather. Inside one of the back rooms, Maxton sat on a cold metal chair, his wrists bound tightly behind him with thick rope, two of Evan's men standing guard by the door, guns slung casually over their shoulders like they had no real concerns about him trying anything.His mind wasn't at peace. Not even close.He kept replaying the image of Xander in his head, over and over, like a wound he couldn't stop picking at. The blood soaking through his friend's shirt. The pale, gray color his face had turned. The way his eyes kept fluttering shut despite his clear effort to stay conscious as the men loaded him into the car to rush him to the hospital. Maxton had seen enough wounds in his lifetime, more than most men ever would, to know exactly what that kind of injury usually meant. Still,
The cathedral was a monument to old blood and older sins. Its towering stone arches and stained-glass windows usually spoke of peace, but today, they felt like a cage. The pews were filled with the elite of the underworld, men in tailored suits with bulges under their jackets, and women whose diam
The morning of the wedding arrived quickly. For forty-eight hours, Raina had been a prisoner in her own bedroom, the four walls closing in on her until the air felt thin and toxic. She hadn't slept or eaten the bland meals the guards slid through the door. She felt exhausted, her body aching from
On the southern side of the Capital city, the atmosphere was different. The Retroferd estate, twice the size of the Valente's, was a place of absolute power.The fortress of the family that had spent twenty years sabotaging the Valente bloodline. The feud had been vicious, killing sons and brother
“Thud!”“Thud!”“This!”The rhythmic sound of leather hitting canvas was the only tone Raina Valente craved. The boxing gym was a dump but to her, it was a sanctuary and the only place where the name 'Valente' didn’t restrict or meddle in her life. She leaned into a sharp jab and the heavy bag gro







