Chapter 4 - The Midnight Extraction
I grabbed my father by the arm and pulled him into the hallway. "Dad, we can't let him take her. He’s going to kill her."
My dad, a man who had built his own construction empire from the ground up, didn't flinch. He looked at his lead attorney, Marcus. "How much time do we have before Preston's court order clears the hospital board?"
"Twenty minutes, maybe thirty," Marcus replied grimly. "Sterling owns half the judges in this city."
"Then we don't use the law," my dad said, his voice like grinding stone.
While Preston and his lawyers were occupied in the administrative wing threatening the hospital director, Dr. Aris quietly slipped back into our circle. He handed me a set of blue hospital scrubs and an employee badge. "The ICU service elevator bypasses the lobby," he whispered. "It goes straight to the underground loading dock. My shift ended ten minutes ago. I officially have no idea what you're doing."
My dad's security team moved with military precision. We dressed the unconscious, heavily monitored Olivia in a staff uniform, transferring her to a discrete transport wheelchair. We hooked her IVs to a concealed bag under her blanket.
My heart was in my throat as we wheeled her down the sterile ICU hallway. Every beep of a monitor sounded like an alarm. As the service elevator doors opened, one of Preston’s massive private guards stepped out of the adjacent stairwell.
"Hey! Where are you taking her?" the guard shouted, reaching into his jacket.
Without missing a beat, my dad tackled the man, driving his shoulder straight into the guard's chest and pinning him against the wall. "Get her in the elevator! Go!" my dad roared.
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I pushed the wheelchair inside, hammering the basement button. The doors slid shut just as Preston came sprinting around the corner, his face twisted in pure, unhinged rage. He slammed his fists against the metal doors as the elevator descended.
At the loading dock, Marcus had an unmarked black SUV waiting with the engine running and an independent medical team inside. We loaded Olivia in, the tires screeching as we blasted out of the hospital parking garage and vanished into the labyrinth of the New York night.
