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 ck BMW driving


    ahead of us.


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


    leave for the hospital.


    “Jack called to tell Liam Abigail was in an ident,” 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 ident. 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 iplete. 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 exined. He paused and nced 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 hairb,” 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’sptop 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 aplimentary stay at the Hamptons Suites,” Cristos exined. “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.” Property belongs to N?vel(D)r/ama.Org.


    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 twoe 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, aboutst 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 ce 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, ying 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 toe 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 ident.


    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 ying 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 nced 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 difort 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?


    Chapter Comments


    Luna-Mom


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


    home


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