haven

Chapter 3 - The Extraction in the Rain

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The restaurant was empty. Only the faint hum of the industrial kitchen refrigerators and the patter of rain against the glass remained.

Vincent walked over to Molly. He stood less than two feet away, looking down at her. He didn't say thank you. He didn't offer a polite platitude.

He gently reached out, took her uninjured hand, and lifted her burning wrist into the light of the chandelier.

The skin along her forearm was covered in raised, fiery red welts that were beginning to blister.

“Grant,” Vincent said without looking away. “Bring the medical kit from the SUV.”

“I’m fine, Mr. Hale,” Molly whispered, her voice trembling slightly. “I need to wash it with cold water and sodium bicarbonate to neutralize the acidity.”

Vincent’s pale gray eyes met hers. “You studied medicine.”

“Clinical pharmacology at Northwestern,” Molly replied, keeping her chin up despite the throbbing agony in her arm. “Before my father had a stroke and I had to take two jobs to pay for his hospice care.”

Vincent nodded once—a gesture of profound, silent respect.

Grant returned holding a trauma kit. Vincent took a sterile saline bottle and personally poured the cold liquid over Molly’s burn, washing away the residue of the toxic sauce before applying a soothing burn dressing with steady, practiced hands.

“You saved my life tonight, Molly Harper,” Vincent said quietly.

“I did my job,” she said.

“No,” Vincent countered, his gaze piercing through her. “Your job was bringing plates to the table. Saving a man from a bullet or a poison drop is something people usually demand millions for.”

Downstairs in the wine cellar, Arthur Bell was sitting on a wooden crate, his hands trembling as Grant’s men secured the exits.

Vincent walked down the stone steps, followed by Molly.

Arthur looked up with hollow, terrified eyes. “They gave me the vial at four o'clock today, Mr. Hale. A man in a dark trench coat met me behind the alley dumpster. He showed me a live video of Toby tied to a chair in a basement somewhere near the river. He said if you walked out of this restaurant alive tonight, Toby would be in Lake Michigan by sunrise.”

“Did he give you a name?” Vincent asked.

“No!” Arthur choked out. “He just said... ‘Tell Vincent the Vance family sends their regards.’”

Vincent went completely rigid. A cold, lethal stillness settled over his features.

May you like

“Julian Vance,” Vincent murmured.

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