Chapter 12 - Lily's Hope
While the chaos unfolded at the gala, miles away in a quiet Queens apartment, Lily Vance was sleeping peacefully. A private, top-tier nurse sat by her bedside, monitoring the state-of-the-art IV drip that Cassian’s money had procured within hours of Elara’s request.
The color was returning to Lily's cheeks. The relentless, agonizing pain that had plagued her for a year was finally subsiding.
Elara didn't know it in that moment, but the promise Cassian had made to her was being fulfilled. He was a ruthless syndicate head, a man capable of extreme violence, but he was a man of his word.
Back in the parking garage, Elara checked the safety on the compact 9mm Marcus had handed her. Her hands were shaking, not from cold, but from sheer terror and resolve.
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"I'm only doing this because if he dies, my sister loses her funding," Elara muttered, trying to convince herself it was purely transactional.
But as she re-entered the stairwell, she knew it was a lie. In three days, Cassian Thorne had looked at her not as collateral damage, but as an equal. He had protected her. And Elara Vance never left a debt unpaid.
