Chapter 15 - The Clinic
Nathan answered his phone on the first ring.
“I’m fine,” he said before Valerio could speak.
“Get out of the building.”
“I’m with a patient.”
“Nathan.”
The line went dead.
By the time they reached the clinic, police had surrounded the rear entrance.
Veronica’s car sat empty by the alley.
Nathan stood inside the lobby with blood on his collar.
Alessia’s heart stopped.
He lifted both hands.
“Not mine.”
A security guard had been struck unconscious near the service stairs.
Veronica had entered wearing scrubs and used a copied access badge.
“She went to the records room,” Nathan said. “She wasn’t here for me.”
Alessia understood.
“My rehab records.”
The folder was gone.
Those records documented Alessia’s recovery before the blue capsules began. Without them, Cesare’s lawyers could argue her decline had been natural.
Nathan smiled grimly.
“I keep encrypted backups.”
Valerio exhaled.
Then an alarm sounded.
Smoke rolled from the records wing.
“Fire!” someone shouted.
The sprinklers activated.
Patients began moving toward the exits.
Alessia saw a woman in blue scrubs disappear through a service door.
Red shoes beneath the pants.
“Veronica!”
She moved before anyone could stop her.
Her cane struck tile. Pain burned through her leg. She kept going.
Veronica looked back.
For the first time, her confidence broke.
She ran.
Alessia followed into the stairwell and nearly fell on the first landing.
Veronica stopped one flight below.
“You never know when to stay down.”
Alessia gripped the railing.
“That seems to bother you.”
“You think Valerio loves you because he protects you now? He knew his family tried to destroy you and still let you sleep under their roof.”
“I know.”
Veronica blinked.
“And I’ll deal with him after I deal with you.”
Veronica laughed.
Then she pulled a small pistol from beneath the scrub top.
Alessia froze.
Footsteps thundered above.
Veronica aimed the gun.
“You should have stayed in the chair.”
A shot cracked through the stairwell.
Alessia dropped.
The bullet struck concrete above her.
Valerio appeared on the landing.
His own weapon was already raised.
Veronica smiled at him.
“Go ahead.”
May you like
Then she stepped backward through the fire door and locked it from the other side.
A second later, Valerio smelled gasoline.
