Part 3: The King's Protection
The news settled into my chest like an unexploded bomb. I was just a girl with student loans and orthopedic sneakers, and now I was a loose end in a multi-million-dollar turf war.
"I didn't see anything," I whispered, my voice cracking as I clutched the hospital blanket. "The glass just vanished. I don't know who they were. Tell them I don't know!"
"The Vales do not negotiate with threats, and we do not leave our debts unprotected," Gideon replied coldly, pulling a fountain pen and a legal document from his breast pocket. He laid it flat on my bedside tray. "This is a deed of total financial indemnity. Your student loans have been liquidated. Your apartment lease has been terminated, and your landlord has been paid triple to forget your name. By tomorrow morning, you will be discharged under an alias and moved to my private compound in Lake Forest."
I stared at the paperwork, my mind reeling. "You're kidnapping me."
"I am keeping you alive," Gideon countered, his eyes narrowing into sharp slits. "A debt to a Vale is a dangerous thing, Sadie. My mother wants to buy you a penthouse. I want to keep you breathing. Sign the document."
Before my trembling fingers could reach for the pen, the emergency alarms down the hallway began to blare. The steady, white lights of the private suite instantly flipped into a flashing, aggressive crimson.
The door burst open. Marco ran in, his hand already slipped inside his jacket, gripping the hidden weight of a firearm. "Gideon! We’ve got a breach on the south elevator. It's a cleanup crew. They’re coming for the girl."
The heart monitor beside me began to beep frantically, mirroring my rising panic. I couldn't run; my legs were still heavy logs from the medical blocks, and my abdomen throbbed with a white-hot agony at the mere thought of moving.
Gideon didn't panic. With an efficiency that was terrifying to behold, he stepped forward, threw the white sheets off my body, and scooped me entirely into his arms. The sudden movement sent a wave of excruciating pain through my stitched stomach, forcing a sharp scream from my throat, but he didn't stop. He held me tightly against his chest, his tailored black blazer absorbing the small drops of blood blooming through my fresh bandages.
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"Stay quiet," Gideon whispered into my ear, his breath hot against my face as Marco backed out into the corridor, gun drawn. "I told you, Sadie. I don't owe anyone anything. I am paying this debt with your life."
As the sound of distant gunfire echoed through the sterile hospital walls, Gideon carried me toward the private service exit, thrusting me headfirst into a world of shadow and blood where survival was the only currency that mattered.
