Chapter 8 - The Shadow of the Docks|
For five long seconds, no one in the room moved.
Michael Harrison stood six-foot-two, surrounded by two hundred armed men across the East Coast, holding judges and city councilmen in his back pocket. Daniel Brooks stood in a faded blue scrub top, holding a stainless-steel clipboard.
Yet Daniel didn't shift his weight. He didn't drop his gaze.
Michael let out a slow breath through his nose, his gray eyes flicking from Daniel back to Catherine.
"This isn't over, Catherine," Michael said quietly, stepping back toward the door. "You are my wife. You carry my name. By nightfall, you will realize how cold this city gets when you don't have my coat over your shoulders."
He turned on his heel and walked out, his two guards falling into step behind him as the heavy oak doors clicked shut.
Rachel let out a long, shuddering breath, sinking into the armchair as if her legs had given out. "God, Catherine... he's going to tear the city apart."
"Let him try," Catherine said, looking down at Claire, who had opened her tiny dark eyes, staring up at her mother with quiet curiosity.
Daniel stepped closer to the bed, checking the IV line attached to Catherine’s wrist.
"He's a dangerous man, Catherine," Daniel said softly, his voice low so it wouldn't carry through the closed door. "I know who he is. Everyone in this hospital knows who he is."
Catherine looked up at the doctor. "Then why did you stand up to him?"
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Daniel paused, his gray eyes reflecting the pale morning light from the window.
"Because inside these walls, I'm the one responsible for keeping people alive," Daniel said quietly. "And because no woman should ever have to face a man like that alone."
