Chapter 156
Chapter 156:
The driveway was in chaos. Two private ambulances with flashing lights sat at the grand entrance. Cole threw the car into park without cutting the engine, kicked the door open, and sprinted through the blinding rain, taking the marble steps three at a time.
He burst into the foyer. The head of the medical team — a gray-haired cardiologist — was walking out of the first-floor medical suite. Cole grabbed the man’s arm, fingers pressing into the white coat.
“My grandmother. Is she alive p>
The doctor nodded quickly, wincing at the grip. “She is stable, Mr. Compton. We administered clot-busting medication immediately. She is unconscious, but her vitals are holding. She requires absolute, uninterrupted rest. Any emotional stress could trigger a fatal secondary infarction p>
Cole released him. A long, shuddering breath left his lungs. The immediate terror receded, leaving a hollow, vibrating exhaustion in its place.
He needed air. He walked back out through the front doors and stood under the broad stone portico, sheltered from the rain but exposed to the howling wind. He drew a cigar from his silver case and lit it with unsteady hands, staring out into the dark, flooded courtyard.
Two blinding LED headlights pierced the curtain of rain.
A black Range Rover rolled smoothly into the circular driveway and stopped near the stone fountain, twenty yards from where Cole stood.
The driver’s door opened. Silas stepped out into the storm, shook open a large black golf umbrella, and walked around the front of the SUV to the passenger side. He pulled the door open.
𝘛𝗁o𝘶s𝗮ո𝗱s o𝖿 r𝗲а𝗱𝘦𝗿𝘴 𝗼n 𝗀а𝘭ոo𝘃еl𝘴.𝘤𝘰𝗺
June stepped out.
Silas tilted the umbrella fully over her head and shoulders, shielding her from the freezing downpour entirely. In doing so, he left his own right shoulder and back completely exposed. His jacket soaked through in seconds.
June looked up at him. The harsh security lights caught her face. She gave Silas a small, entirely genuine smile of quiet gratitude.
On the portico, the cigar slipped from Cole’s fingers and struck the wet marble.
The image — Silas absorbing the storm so June didn’t have to, and the expression of unguarded, trusting vulnerability on June’s face — poured directly onto the open fire of Cole’s jealousy. A violent roar detonated somewhere behind his eyes. His vision went red at the edges.
He came down the marble steps, ignoring the rain that drenched his shirt in seconds, and crossed the distance between them in a few long, furious strides. He stopped directly in their path, blocking the entrance.
“Vance.” His voice cut through the noise of the storm like something serrated. “Who gave you permission to bring your vehicle onto my private property p>
Silas held the umbrella steady over June and looked at Cole’s rain-soaked, unhinged face with absolute, unmoved contempt.
“Mr. Compton,” Silas said, his voice perfectly level. “If you were capable of providing basic safety for your own wife, I wouldn’t need to be here in the middle of a hurricane p>
The words struck Cole’s ego like a sledgehammer.
He let out a sound of pure rage and lunged forward, his hand reaching for June’s arm to drag her out from under the umbrella.