Chapter 2 - The Mask of the Predator
Julian’s boots halted against the marble, echoing like hammer strikes against an anvil. He did not turn fully, keeping Lois shielded behind the broad frame of his shoulders. Lois buried her face into Julian’s lapel, her entire body seizing with a shudder so fierce Julian felt the vibration deep in his ribs.
""One more step, Burke,"" Julian said, his baritone dropping to a frequency that made the nearby medical cart rattle, ""and your surgical career ends before you reach this elevator.""
Christian laughed, a wet, theatrical sound that dripped with condescension. ""You’re letting personal sentiment cloud your judgment, Julian. Lois had a psychotic break in surgical suite four. She destroyed two vials of fentanyl, attacked an orderly, and inflicted those abrasions upon herself. Isn't that right, Eleanor?""
Eleanor stepped out from the shadows, her ivory skirt rustling. Her face was pale, but her aristocratic eyes darted between Christian and Julian with frantic urgency. ""Julian, please. The board is meeting downstairs. The press is outside covering the endowment gala. We cannot have a scene.""
""This isn't a scene, Mother. This is a reckoning,"" Julian replied without looking back.
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He pressed the biometric sensor beside the elevator doors. The light flared green with a sharp chime. But before the stainless-steel doors could slide shut, Christian slipped a silver surgical pen between the sensors, jamming the mechanism.
Christian leaned in close, his hazel eyes gleaming with cold triumph as he whispered toward Lois, ""Run while you can, little nurse. Because the moment Julian looks away, I’m paying a visit to your little sister’s hospice bed.""
