Chapter 7 - The Protection of the Vance Name
"What?" Lou yelled, his voice cracking. "You can't close my diner!"
Bishop stepped through the front door, holding a signed legal document. He laid it on the counter. "Notice of immediate commercial foreclosure due to health violations and structural non-compliance. The building belongs to Vance Real Estate Holdings. Leave now, or you will be removed by force."
Lou looked at the document, then at Caleb’s cold, unyielding face, and realized he had zero power. He grabbed his jacket from behind the register and scrambled out the back door without another word.
Dileia stood frozen behind the counter, staring at Caleb in utter shock. "You... you just closed my job? How am I supposed to feed my daughter?!"
"You will never have to work in a place like this again, Dileia," Caleb said, looking at her with a gentle respect he had never shown another person outside his immediate family.
"I don't want your charity!" Dileia cried out, her eyes filling with fierce tears. "I work for my money! I don't need a powerful man coming into my life and destroying my job under the excuse of thanking me!"
Caleb did not get angry. Instead, his respect for her deepened tenfold. She was standing up to the most feared man in Chicago without a single trace of fear, defending her independence.
"It is not charity, Dileia," Caleb said softly. "It is a debt of honor. The Vance family always pays its debts."
He pulled a sleek black card from his jacket and placed it on the counter alongside a medical file.
"Your daughter, Posie, suffers from severe asthma," Caleb stated quietly. "Her medication is running out. Right now, a team of pediatric pulmonary specialists is waiting for her at St. Jude's Private Hospital. They have reserve medication that can cure her recurring lung inflammation permanently."
Dileia’s breath hitched in her throat. She looked from the card to the medical file. Her heart hammered against her ribs.
"How... how do you know about Posie?" she whispered.
"Because I protect those who protect my family," Caleb answered. "My mother wants to see you again. She wants to thank you properly. Will you allow me to drive you to collect your daughter and take her to the hospital?"
Dileia looked into Caleb’s eyes. Behind the cold, dangerous aura that made grown men tremble, she saw absolute sincerity. She saw a son who adored his mother, and a man who was offering her a lifeline for her child.
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She thought of Posie’s gasping breaths in the middle of the night. She thought of the empty medication bottle. Her pride was strong, but her love for her child was absolute.
"Okay," Dileia whispered, tears finally escaping down her cheeks. "Take us to my daughter."
