Chapter 4
The next morning, I was forced down to the hospital basement for a checkup on my old injuries.
The corridor on the second sub-floor was cold and damp, the air thick with the pungent stench of bleach.
Joanna insisted on tagging along under the guise of looking after me.
Linking her arm through Carl's, she walked two paces ahead of me, swaying her hips with a smug smile.
As we reached the corner at the end of the hall, a sudden rush of chaotic footsteps shattered the dead silence.
The steel door of the emergency exit slammed open with a heavy clang!
Two thugs wearing black ski masks burst out.
Gripping two-foot machetes, the blades flashed with a menacing cold light.
"Die, dogs of Raven Isle!"
Bellowing, the thugs lunged straight at us, swinging their blades.
The corridor was narrow, leaving absolutely nowhere to hide.
The thugs pressed forward relentlessly, forcing us all the way back to the edge of a steep, unguarded staircase.
With dozens of concrete steps behind us, there was no turning back.
Carl didn't even have time to draw his gun.
Seeing one thug's blade swinging straight down toward Joanna's shoulder,
Carl bellowed, "Watch out, Joanna!"
He yanked her arm violently, pulling her securely into his embrace.
At that exact moment, his eyes turned vicious as he drove his elbow backward, striking my hip with brutal force!
Using that massive thrust, he shoved me headfirst right into the incoming blade without a second thought!
A tearing, agonizing pain exploded across my waist.
Completely losing my balance, my feet left the ground instantly.
I tumbled all the way down the steep steps.
Crash! Crash! Crash!
The hard concrete steps repeatedly smashed against my spine, ribs, and head.
The sickening sound of fracturing bones echoed through the stairwell.
The old injury in my throat tore completely open from the violent impact.
Warm blood welled up, instantly choking off my airway.
I slammed heavily onto the landing at the bottom of the stairs.
Sprawled inside an expanding pool of my own blood, my vision blurred as the air was entirely squeezed out of my lungs.
Struggling to lift my head, I looked upward through a crimson haze.
Carl didn't even spare me a single glance.
He scooped up the completely unharmed Joanna in a bridal carry.
Stepping right over my blood on the stairs, he bolted toward the opposite emergency exit to save his own skin.
At the corner, he even threw a shout back over his shoulder.
"Stop playing dead! Hold them off!"
By the time I woke up again, it was late at night.
I lay in a VIP hospital bed, wrapped heavily in thick bandages with oxygen tubes plugged into my nose.
Carl stood at the foot of the bed.
He had changed into a clean, silver-gray suit, his hair combed back immaculately.
Seeing my eyes flutter open, he didn't step closer, nor did he ask about my injuries.
Instead, he spoke with absolute entitlement from his high horse.
"Good, you're awake. Sign these papers."
He tossed a document right onto my blanket.
"It was an emergency. Joanna is pregnant and can't handle any scares. Shoving you was just a split-second survival instinct."
Adjusting his expensive cuffs, his tone was entirely dismissive.
"You're already a useless mute anyway, so a few more injuries don't matter. Just be mature and let it go.
"As compensation, the papers state I'll let you keep a fifty-thousand-dollar monthly allowance.
"The condition is that you transfer all seven casinos over to Joanna for free, and tell everyone you just fell down the stairs yourself."
I stared at his sickening, hypocritical face.
Fighting through the agonizing pain of my fractured bones, I forced myself up onto my elbows, slowly sitting upright.
I ripped the oxygen tubes straight out of my nose.
Reaching over, I grabbed the tablet hidden beneath my pillow.
I pulled up the surveillance video of their closet affair in the lounge.
I cranked the volume up to the absolute maximum.
Joanna's flirty moans and Carl's disgusting words instantly filled the entire room.
Summoning every ounce of strength left in my body, I hurled the tablet straight at his chest! Crash!
Carl let out a muffled grunt as the tablet dropped onto the blanket, the screen still playing his hideous behavior.
Before he could even process it, I grabbed my other phone.
The screen clearly displayed the dark web receipts for the poison and the vocal serum.
Sender: [Joanna Sinclair.]
Delivery address: [The private family hospital wing.]
I smashed the phone, along with several pre-printed logs of their money laundering schemes,
right at the feet of Joanna, who had just sauntered in to gloat.
Papers scattered all over the floor.
The moment Joanna saw the documents on the floor, her screech choked in her throat, and every drop of color drained from her face.
I transitioned under my pillow one last time, pulling out the divorce papers bearing my bold signature.
I slapped them right across Carl's face.
Forcing past the searing, ripping pain in my throat, I used my broken, raspy voice to spit out a single word with everything I had.
"Get out!"