Chapter 4 - Shadows in the Ward
"Get away from him," Julianna said. Her voice was no longer hysterical; it was cold, smooth, and laced with the quiet arrogance of a woman who had spent her entire life surrounded by men who killed on command.
She stepped into the room, her high heels clicking sharply against the linoleum floor. The two bodyguards followed her, positioning themselves on either side of the doorway, effectively blocking the exit.
Nia didn't move an inch from Daniel’s bedside. She calmly grabbed a bottle of hand sanitizer from the wall, squirted a dollop into her palms, and rubbed them together with slow, methodical precision.
"Visiting hours for the ICU ended an hour ago, Miss Vance," Nia said, her tone identical to the one she used with unruly family members in the waiting room. "And this room is restricted to medical personnel only."
"I don't give a damn about your visiting hours," Julianna snapped, walking up to the opposite side of Daniel’s bed. She looked down at Daniel, her eyes narrowing as she saw that he was conscious and his breathing had stabilized. "Daniel... darling. How are you feeling?"
Daniel didn't look at her with affection. His face hardened into stone. "Julianna. What are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here?" She let out a sharp, incredulous laugh. "Our wedding was ruined! Half the families in the city watched you collapse onto the floor! My father is frantic downstairs trying to handle the press and keep the police from launching a full homicide investigation!"
"Tell your father," Daniel said, his voice dripping with venom, "that I am very sorry to disappoint him by surviving."
Julianna’s eyes flicked sharply toward Daniel, then turned to lock onto Nia. "What is he talking about? What did you tell him, Doctor?"
"I told him the truth," Nia said, standing with her hands resting lightly in the pockets of her lab coat. "He was poisoned with a high concentration of cardiac glycosides. The toxicologist from the state lab is already on his way to collect the blood samples I pulled from his vein forty minutes ago."
Julianna went completely rigid. "Poisoned? That's ridiculous. It was a heart condition. Daniel has been working sixteen-hour days for months."
"I know the difference between a heart attack and a dose of Oleander toxin, Miss Vance," Nia said softly. "And so will the Chicago Police Department once the toxicology report is logged into the state database."
Julianna stepped closer to Nia, her blonde hair falling over her shoulders, her presence radiating a cold, calculated threat. "Dr. Bennett... is it? You seem very invested in my fiancé's medical condition. More invested than a standard ER attending ought to be."
"I am invested in keeping my patients alive," Nia replied without flinching. "It's a habit of mine."
"Is it?" Julianna smiled, a cruel, beautiful expression that didn't reach her eyes. "Or is it because four years ago, you were standing in a white dress at St. Jude’s waiting for the same man?"
The air in the room instantly plummeted.
Daniel pushed himself up on his elbows, his cardiac monitor beeping rapidly as his pulse spiked to ninety. "Julianna! That's enough!"
Julianna ignored him, keeping her eyes locked onto Nia’s face, searching for a twitch, a tear, a sign of weakness. "Did you really think I didn't know who you were, Nia? Did you think Daniel kept you a secret? I know every detail of the little house you rented together in Lincoln Park. I know about the ring he bought you—the one he left on his desk when my father offered him the northern distribution routes in exchange for my hand."
Nia felt a sudden, sharp pressure behind her breastbone—a phantom memory of the day her world had shattered—but she refused to let her eyes blink. She had faced violent lunatics in the trauma bay, knife-wielding addicts, and corrupt hospital administrators. She was not going to let a mobster’s daughter shake her foundation.
"If you know so much about my past, Miss Vance," Nia said, her voice dropping into a register so quiet and deadly it stopped Julianna mid-breath, "then you should also know that I am the only person in this building who knows the exact dosage of antidote required to keep Daniel’s heart beating over the next twelve hours."
Nia stepped forward, forcing Julianna back half a pace.
"If you step into this ICU room again without my permission, if you harass my nursing staff, or if you bring armed men onto this floor, I will personally sign an order transferring Daniel to a military medical facility under federal guard," Nia continued, her eyes burning like dark cold fire. "And then you can explain to your father why he no longer has access to the man holding Han Holdings together."
Julianna stared at Nia, her lips parted in disbelief. For three long seconds, the woman who had grown up in the highest circles of Chicago’s criminal elite found herself completely silenced by a woman in a mud-splattered lab coat.
"Dominic!" Julianna hissed, turning toward the door.
Dominic Vane stepped into the room, his long dark coat open, revealing the polished leather holster beneath his arm. "Julianna. Come outside."
"Did you hear what she just said to me?" Julianna snarled.
"I heard," Dominic said calmly. He looked past her at Daniel, who was watching him with cold, calculating eyes, then turned his gaze to Nia. "Dr. Bennett is right. Daniel needs rest. And the police are downstairs with a search warrant for the reception hall. Your father needs you at the hotel, Julianna."
Julianna looked between Dominic, Daniel, and Nia. Her jaw tightened until a tiny muscle twitched near her ear. "This isn't over, Doctor."
"It never is with people like you," Nia said flatly.
Julianna spun on her heel and strode out of the room, her bodyguards falling in behind her like twin shadows. The heavy ICU door slammed shut with a quiet, pneumatic thud.
Dominic remained in the room for a moment longer. He looked at Daniel. "Vance’s men are setting up a perimeter around the block. They know he survived."
"Let them," Daniel said, his voice raspy but terrifyingly cold. "Call Frank. Tell him to pull the boys from the south side garages and bring them to the west parking structure."
"Daniel," Nia warned, her hands on her hips. "You are in no condition to orchestrate a gang war from a hospital bed."
Daniel didn't look at her; his eyes were fixed on Dominic. "Do it now, Dominic. Before Vance realizes I’m coherent enough to sign the asset freeze orders."
"Understood," Dominic said. He bowed his head slightly toward Nia. "Thank you for his life, Dr. Bennett." He turned and left the room, closing the door behind him.
The room fell into a heavy, suffocating silence, broken only by the steady rhythm of the heart monitor.
Nia stood by the IV pole, her hands trembling slightly as she checked the flow rate of the Digibind infusion. She felt Daniel’s eyes burning into the side of her face.
"Nia..." he said softly. "Look at me."
"No," she said, her voice dangerously thin. "I have work to do."
"Nia, look at me."
She snapped her head around, her dark eyes flashing with four years of buried rage. "What, Daniel? What do you want me to say? Want me to congratulate you on your lovely choice of bride? Or maybe offer my condolences that your father-in-law tried to murder you before you could cut the cake?"
"She was lying," Daniel whispered, his voice trembling with an emotion she had never heard from him before. "About the ring."
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Nia froze.
"She was lying," Daniel repeated, his dark eyes filling with an unbearable intensity as he reached out, his hand grasping the edge of her coat once again. "I didn't leave that ring on my desk for the Vance routes, Nia. I never gave that ring to anyone. It’s still sitting in the safe on Lake Shore Drive... where I put it four years ago when I realized that marrying you would have gotten you killed."
