Home / The Don’s Clock Never Waited for Me / Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

All Chapters of The Don’s Clock Never Waited for Me: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

Blood runs down my thighs. It soaks my dress."Mrs. Burke! Your vitals are crashing! The baby is in danger!" The doctor stares at my blood. His face is pale."Eleven weeks." I grip the stretcher. My knuckles turn white. "I am eleven weeks pregnant. Save my baby.""We need to notify the Don! The surgery risk is too high!""He is unreachable right now." I grit my teeth.But my hands are still shaking. I dial Cillian’s encrypted line.First try. Declined. Second try. Busy.Third try. The line finally connects."Ava. I gave you top-tier medical access. Do not use it to throw a tantrum."His voice is low. Annoyed. I interrupted him.Then, I hear it. Liliana’s pathetic whimpers in the background. "Cillian? Is Ava hurt? We can go back. I shouldn't have grabbed you during the alarm. I can bear the pain..."Cillian’s voice shows no emotion. But he comforts her so gently. "Hush, Lili. Stop overthinking. She just wants attention as usual. Go rest."My heart drops into an icebox.Next second, Cil

Chapter 2

The date on the receipt burns my eyes.That day. I waited in the VIP clinic for four whole hours for my first checkup.For one reason only. Cillian promised me. He promised to look at our baby's first ultrasound picture together.I called Cillian. I just wanted to hear his voice.What was his answer?"Liliana touched raw toxins in the lab. She is throwing up badly. I must stay and take care of her. Stop bothering me with little things."His "care" meant taking her to the nation’s top fertility clinic.I stare dead at the phone. The speaker is still on."You went to a fertility clinic with her?" My voice shakes.Cillian sighs softly on the other end. So helpless. Dealing with an unreasonable child."Ava. Stop complicating things. She is always sick. She needs the best expert. She lost her parents. She is all alone. I owe her father my life. Taking care of her is my duty.""For a sickness? At a fertility clinic?""They just have the best authorities there." He rubs his temples. His voice

Chapter 3

The monitor in the room beeps fast.The doctor holds new lab results. He looks grave. He stops Cillian at the door."Mr. Burke. Your wife’s vitals are dropping fast." The doctor sounds desperate. "She is extremely weak. She could hemorrhage any minute. A family member must stay 24/7. Do not leave her alone."I lean against the bed. My pale face has zero color. I quietly watch Cillian.Cillian stops walking.He looks down at his Patek Philippe watch."It is seven-thirty." He frowns slightly. Sounding annoyed. "Doctor. I must rehearse the bidding pitch with Liliana at eight. I cannot be late. That is my rule. Can a nurse stay with her?""This is a life-threatening miscarriage risk!" The doctor is frantic.Cillian sighs. He walks to my bed. No heartbreak in his eyes. Just looking at an ignorant child."Ava. Be good." He softens his voice. But leaves no room for argument. "Lili is easily scared. She is taking your place on stage soon. She is shaking with nerves right now. I have to go reh

Chapter 4

The bleeding spikes.Blood pours down my thighs. It pools on the tiles. A shocking dark red."Prep anesthesia!" The doctor roars. "Blood bank! Get her reserved O-negative blood! Now!"I fight the agony. I snatch the pen from the nurse. I sign my name hard on the consent form.My blood blurs the ink."Phone." My voice is weak but absolute.I take my backup phone. I call Rocco. The heir to the rival New York syndicate.He always wanted to swallow the Burke Family."Bring your best divorce lawyers and acquisition team." I gasp for air. "You have twenty minutes. Get here. I will give you the core synthesis formula for 'Eden'."Rocco chuckles low. "Finally deciding to leave him?""No." I stare at the blinding surgical lights. "I am going to ruin him."Call ended. The lead surgeon panics. He hits the emergency intercom. He connects directly to Cillian.Cillian is in the exact same building. Up on the third floor. With Liliana."Mr. Burke! Your wife is hemorrhaging! Critical condition!" The d

Chapter 5

I open my eyes.The first thing I see is the double helix pendant.Cillian is clutching it. His knuckles are white.I gave it to him. Our first anniversary.A symbol. Us, tangled together forever.He reeks of that heavy musk. I used to love it.Now it just makes my stomach turn. Bile rises in my throat."Ava, you're awake." He leans in. His voice is soft. Pleading. "The blood plasma… I didn't know. A Capo trying to suck up to Lili. Acting on his own. I’ll deal with him when I get back. In house. The baby… we can have another one. We're young."We can have another one.The words are a dull knife. Twisting in my chest.I turn my head away. Away from his hand."Sign it, Cillian." I push the papers across the sheet. The divorce papers. My voice is so calm it scares me.He stares. Then he laughs. Like I am a child throwing a tantrum."This again? Ava, you're not thinking straight. I know you're hurting. But don't talk crazy. In our world, marriage is for life.""Nine o'clock. You were upsta

Chapter 6

"It was you!" Liliana screams, shoving the bodyguards away. She lunges at the captive Capo Marcus. "You said I could bend the rules and go over my authority!"Marcus just sneers, biting back without a second thought. "Shut up. You were the one crying, begging me for the plasma. Said you were 'dizzy' and needed a 'backup.' Now there’s trouble, you want to wash your hands of it? You really thought you were the Queen bee, stealing from the Don's wife?"They tear into each other right there. Pathetic.The Enforcer watches, his face blank. With a wave of his hand, they are both dragged away.Cillian just stands there. Whiter than the bedsheets.I don't look at him again. I just close my eyes. Let the last of the drugs pull me under.Eleven o'clock. The door opens again.I open my eyes. Cillian is by my bed. He is holding the double helix pendant. Broken and badly repaired.The solder mark is clumsy. An ugly scar."Ava," his voice is hoarse. Brittle in a way I've never heard. "I fixed it. We

Chapter 7

The doors to the Commission room open. I smell that familiar musk.Thirty days. Cillian is thinner. The suit is still sharp, but his eyes are bloodshot.He stands across the long table, facing the dons and elders of the Five Families."Gentlemen," he begins, his voice strangely calm. "Ava and I have been married for seven years. She loved me for seven years. This shouldn't go this far over a moment of anger."I don't look at him. I just push a folder across the table to the chief arbiter."Hospital records for the plasma. Security footage. And a forensics report on the forged signature for the 'Eden' formula." My voice is steady. "For your consideration, gentlemen."The room falls silent as the arbiter reads.Cillian's face drains of color.I don't say another word. No accusations. In our world, only two things talk: money and proof. The truth doesn't need a voice when the evidence screams.The arbiter calls for a recess. I stand up to leave.Cillian follows me out. Blocks my way in th

Chapter 8

"Cillian Burke has stepped down as Don of the family."The meeting room door closes behind me. I can hear the old men murmuring inside.I don't stop walking.I skip the internal family meeting the next day. Rocco's man records everything for me.Cillian stands at the head of the table. Facing all the Capos and killers who once answered to him."Because of my favoritism, my pride," his voice is dry, "this family suffered great losses. We almost lost the 'Eden' formula. Liliana's treachery nearly brought the FBI and our enemies to our door. This is all my fault."No one argues. They all know it is the truth.That afternoon, he signs away his power. All his territories. All his weapons routes.The Don, once untouchable. Overnight, he becomes a nobody who can't show his face on the street.Three days later, I walk into the Burke family's negotiation room. As a new ally of the Rocco family.Down the hall, I see him.Cillian. In a cheap, ill-fitting suit. Standing outside the closed meeting

Chapter 9

Three years later.I sit in the leather chair. The seat of power for the Monroe family. My fingers tap on the desk.Outside the window, the old, run-down dockside lab is now a pharmaceutical empire. Spanning an entire city block.A knock on the door."Donna, Mr. Rocco is here.""Send him in."Rocco walks in. He is holding a vintage bottle of champagne. There is a new look on his face. Respect. Maybe even a little fear."Happy third anniversary, Ava," he says, placing the bottle on my desk. He gives a slight bow. "A gift to celebrate your new empire."I look up at him.Three years ago, this man walked into my hospital room. He'd arrived in exactly twenty minutes. His eyes were full of calculation and opportunity. (注：此处为闪回倒叙，刻意保留过去时以区分时间线)Now, he stands before me. Humble. Like he is meeting a real Boss."Sit." I gesture to the chair opposite me.Rocco sits. He is smooth, measured. A man who knows his place in the food chain."Profits from the joint smuggling routes and black markets are

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