Chapter 45

CHAPTER 45 St. Elizabeth’s

Joy

Before entering the backseat of his car, Liam kissed me on the cheek and whispered, “Thank you. If I wasn’t so concerned about Abigail, I would have vomited the steak we had earlier.

Cristos and I climbed into his Range Rover and sped off following the black BMW driving

ahead of us.

“Virtue, what’s going on?” Cristos asked. He was coming out of the bathroom when I told him we had to leave for the hospital.

“Jack called to tell Liam Abigail was in an accident,” I answered. “Chip, I have this really bad. feeling it was because she told us about the CCTV cameras Liam wants installed in my store.” I scoffed angrily. “The Angels of Darkness just love bu tchery.” My hands were balled up into fists. I wanted to hurt whoever hurt Abigail…so very badly.

“Virtue, calm down. Jack said it was an accident. Let’s get the facts before we start making. conclusions, okay? But, yeah, you have a point. I wouldn’t kill someone for doing something like that, but the Angels of Darkness? They’d do it for far less atrocious reasons. Here’s my

he said, unlocking it before handing it to me. “Send Dom and Bo a message that aded to the hospital. Tell them Abigail is hurt.”

what he said and waited for their reply. “Bo says they’re already on their way to the hospital. They heard about Abigail through Nicole.” Cristos sighed.

“Tragedy always has a way of bringing everyone together,” Cristos mumbled darkly as he followed Liam’s car out of the estate and onto the main road.

“Abigail and her family are very close to the Cohens, Chip. She’s also someone Liam can’t afford to lose. I highly doubt if Liam sanctioned the hit,” I said. “Plus, you should have seen his face earlier when he got the news. I thought he was going to cry.”

“Associates killing associates…something that doesn’t usually happen, but is not unheard of,” Cristos muttered. “I need to call De Luca and ask him to rush the Angels of Darkness Mafia family tree. He keeps saying the list is incomplete. They had a major revamp once the former Big Boss’ sister became the ‘Boss of All Bosses’ after Bo killed their nephew. You know what?

F uck De Luca. I’ll have Lou do the tree for me.”

“I remember Bo telling me that story. How old were you guys when that happened?” I asked.

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CHAPTER 45 St. Elizabeth’s

“Young. It was one of our first sanctioned kills. Bo used a sn iper rifle and shot the underboss when he was throwing a party in his own backyard. It was a perfect shot,” Cristos recalled. “Bo should’ve just exterminated all of them including their associates. That would have meant one less Cohen in the world.” I heard the disdain in his voice.

“Uhm, but you left me to deal with a Cohen… all alone. I thought we were a team,” I whined.

“You know why I had to, Virtue. While you were distracting Liam on the view deck, I was able to hack into their router. So yes, we are a team,” Cristos explained. He paused and glanced at me, a puzzled expression on his face. “Virtue, what happened while I was gone?”

“Liam almost kissed me if it weren’t for that phone call, Chip.” I sighed. I sounded like a

child.

G od, Joy! Get it together!

Honestly, I felt so relieved when Liam’s phone rang, but sadly, it was at the expense of someone else’s pain and suffering.

“And how did that make you feel?” Cristos asked curiously.

“I wanted to stab him with my hair comb,” I answered truthfully.

ay…make sure to keep that thought in your head when you close your eyes. Passion

ets passion. These men want to f uck you while you want to kill them. Pour out all of your anger and you’ll find them begging you for more, Cristos coached. “Whatever we need you to do is difficult, but remember, our goal is to watch them burn.”

“Speaking of burn, what happened to the Sheriff’s house?” I asked, remembering the news from this morning.

“Bo stole the Sheriff’s laptop and sent it to Lou. He didn’t find the missing evidence of

your assault nor the initial evidence from the Joan Summers’ investigation. Unfortunately, we have to wait until Friday night to break into the coroner’s house. He won tickets to see the opera at Lisbon Opera House plus a complimentary stay at the Hamptons Suites,” Cristos explained. “If we can’t find anything at the coroner’s, best bet is Theodore Cohen has the evidence. I messaged Leo and Benny to find out where his safe is.”

“And what about Theodore’s cabin in the woods? Is it possible he has things hidden there?”

“F uck! I forgot to ping in his location,” Cristos uttered while shaking his head frustratedly. “I’m focusing too much on the renovations. I’ll get to that as soon as I get back to the pub.

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CHAPTER 45 St. Elizabeth’s

You’re right. That cabin might be hiding secrets.

When we finally arrived at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, I looked up at the tall white building and remembered the two weeks of my stay as a patient. I had passed out in the backseat of my father’s car when he drove me to the hospital and when I became conscious, I found myself lying in a hospital bed, my arm and leg in a cast, my ribs and jaw broken, my face battered and a searing pain in my groin area from being ripped apart.

“Virtue, honey, everything okay at your end?” Cristos asked, taking my hand in his and squeezing it tightly. I swallowed back the tears and nodded my head.

“I’m okay. I just had another moment of weakness,” I croaked. I sniffed and looked at him. “When I’m finished with all of them, they won’t be seeing the inside of a hospital.”

“That’s my girl,” Cristos said, then pointed at someone entering the hospital. “Dan’s here. It’s time for me to get my groove on.” He ran his fingers through his hair.

“Well, that’s one man off the list of men I have to seduce,” I murmured. “Good for me, but bad for you.”

“I heard Dan is purchasing a new house at Hillcrest. He’s my ticket inside. Now, wipe your nose and let’s go. Abigail needs us.”

ixing myself, we exited the car and walked inside the hospital. To my surprise,

one in Liam’s inner circle was already seated in the waiting room… everyone except for Noah. Sebastian and Xavier were seated at the other end of the waiting room with Nicole.

1 clenched

my hands into fists to prevent myself from waving at them. I noticed Xavier nodded his head at Cristos while his eyes avoided mine.

“Virtue, oh my gosh, it’s so nice to see you,” Lisa rushed towards me and gave me a tight hug. “You look all dressed up. Where did you two come from?” She may have been worried about Abigail, but that didn’t stop her from gossiping.

“We had dinner with Liam,” I answered. From the corner of my eye, I saw everyone’s head turn towards Liam who was currently speaking to a doctor. “How’s Abigail?*

“She’s in surgery,” Jack, who was standing behind Lisa, answered for her. “Virtue, about last night, 1-”

“Undersheriff, it’s fine,” I said before he could say anything else. “Right now, let’s focus on Abigail. She needs our prayers. Do you know what happened, Jack?”

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CHAPTER 45 St. Elizabeth’s

Before Jack could answer me, Liam patted him on the back and took his place beside me.

While Lisa gave Liam a small smile, Jack’s smile turned into a scowl and his eyes narrowed at

Liam.

“It’s still an ongoing investigation,” Jack answered gruffly, tight-lipped, not willing to talk. Lisa snorted in response…stating the obvious. He was jealous.

“I see,” I replied, playing it c ooly. “Well, I better grab a seat then and wait.”

“Virtue, I have to do some paperwork for Abigail since I’m her ‘in case of an emergency contact person’. Her parents are out of town at the moment. Is it okay if I leave you?” Liam asked, politely.

I watched Lisa’s jaw drop. Liam is usually your typical a sshole, but right now, he was acting like a perfect gentleman.

If it weren’t for that wink he gave Jack, I would have actually believed he was a gentleman.

Sure, Liam,” I answered smiling. “I’ll be fine.”

Liam nudged Jack to come with him. If they weren’t going to have a man to man discussion about me, they were going to discuss the mystery behind Abigail’s accident.

istos had already taken a seat beside Dan and both of them were engaged in a serious onversation. I decided to sit next to Lisa and Cris.

Cris looked like he lost the election. He was playing with his phone with this sullen. expression on his face. Lisa, on the other hand, began discussing how hard it was for her to find something to do while the pub was undergoing renovations..

I pretended to listen to her, nodding my head at every mundane thing she said, while the memories of my stay in the hospital came rushing back.

I remembered my mother giving me a sponge bath, telling me over and over again that I would be okay. I remembered my father holding my hand while asking me to forgive him for being a failure. I remembered the tears I cried, knowing I would never be the same again.

I glanced surreptitiously at Lisa, fighting the urge to ask her why. Why did she lure me to the boy’s gym room that night? What did I do to her to make her hate me?

Why, Lisa? WHY?

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CHAPTER 45 St. Elizabeth’s

I coughed, hiding my discomfort and sat up straight. I suddenly heard Sebastian’s voice.

asking Nicole if she wanted some coffee. I moved my head to look at him and noticed Xavier

was gone.

Where did he go?

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Luna-Mom

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of course they tried to take Abigail out because she told Virtue about the cctv being. installed at her home

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