Chapter 2 - The Enemy Within
The next evening, the atmosphere in the Lombardi estate was tense. Claire arrived to find the perimeter swarming with armed guards. Gabriel escorted her to the library, his face carved from stone.
"What's happening?" Claire asked, clutching her medical bag.
"Nothing that concerns a physical therapist," Gabriel muttered. But as he opened the door, she heard Sebastian shouting into a burner phone.
"If Marco Moretti thinks I'm too crippled to hold the South Side, remind him that my trigger finger works just fine!" Sebastian slammed the phone down onto the mahogany desk. He looked up, his chest heaving, his eyes burning with a violent fury.
Claire stepped in, unfazed. "Stress tightens the fascia, Mr. Lombardi. If you want to walk, you need to stop screaming."
Sebastian glared at her. "The Moretti family is making moves on my territory. They think I'm weak because I've been in this chair for two decades. They smell blood in the water."
"Then let's get you out of the chair," Claire said, opening her bag. "Take your shirt off."
As she began to work on his lower back, digging her thumbs into the hardened scar tissue, Sebastian didn't make a sound. He channeled his rage into enduring the excruciating pain.
"The Morettis have a mole in my organization," Sebastian said quietly, wincing as Claire hit a nerve. "Someone told them my health is declining."
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"Is it?" she asked, pressing harder.
"It was," he admitted, his voice dropping. "Until yesterday. If you can get me on my feet, Claire, I'll tear the Morettis apart. But if you fail... we're both dead."
