Lisa bolted out of the clinic and ran toward the mouth of the dark alley. Her heels scraped loudly against the wet concrete.A convoy of black luxury cars screeched to a violent halt right in front of her. Doors flew open on every side at once.Well dressed men and women poured out rapidly, unloading heavy briefcases from an armored cash transport vehicle parked at the rear. They moved with extreme urgency toward the Cole Clinic.Lisa recognized Nathan Harlow instantly among them. The eldest son of the Harlow family's powerful second branch walked past her without even a glance.The Harlows were the most powerful clan in all of Chicago. Every businessman in the city knew that face.The truth crashed into her chest like a speeding truck. Victoria really was a Harlow. Lisa's career was not just damaged. It was buried six feet underground.She collapsed to the filthy alley ground and sobbed loudly into her trembling hands."Those filthy dogs dragged me into this," Lisa wailed. She cursed

Sophia raised her trembling hand and slapped herself hard across the face. The sound echoed through the small mourning hall.She hit herself again, and again, tears pouring freely down her swollen cheeks."Are you satisfied now?" Sophia sobbed. Her voice was raw and completely shattered.Ethan looked down at her without a single trace of pity in his dark eyes."Not even close," Ethan said. His tone was quiet and impossibly cold."Compared to what your family did to my mother, you have not even begun to pay back what you owe," Ethan continued. He stood over her like a man watching something he had already stopped caring about.Sophia's face crumpled entirely. She struck her own cheek again with a loud, wet smack."I am despicable," Sophia cried. She hit herself once more, harder this time."I am cruel and I deserve this," Sophia wailed. Her whole body shook with violent, ugly sobs as she kept slapping her own face over and over.Outside the clinic, Nathan Harlow and the group of well d

Victoria stood over the stretcher and stared down at her grandfather's gray, lifeless face. Her lower lip trembled violently and her eyes filled with hot tears she refused to let fall.She turned sharply to Nathan and the men standing behind him."Open every suitcase," Victoria commanded. Her voice cracked but her authority did not.Nathan and the Harlow associates dropped to their knees and unlatched the heavy briefcases one after another. Thick bundles of crisp cash spilled across the wooden floor in every direction.The money kept coming until it formed a glittering mountain in the center of the mourning hall. At least one hundred million dollars lay piled at Ethan's feet.Outside the sealed glass doors, Sophia pressed her face harder against the cold surface. She could not hear a single word but she could see everything perfectly.Tyler's jaw hung open so wide it looked like it might never close again."Why would anyone give that worthless stray dog this kind of money?" Tyler whis

The mourning hall erupted with sudden desperate hope. Nathan grabbed Mrs. Hayes by the arm and squeezed so hard his knuckles turned white. Victoria steadied herself and stared at the silver needle case in Ethan's hands with wide, burning eyes.Doctor James let out a loud, exaggerated snort from his wooden chair in the corner."If you can actually save that old man, I will call you my master for the rest of my miserable life," Doctor James announced. His smug face twisted into a mocking grin.Ethan did not even glance in his direction."I do not collect trash," Ethan said. His voice was flat and completely dismissive, like a man declining a piece of rotten fruit.He knelt beside the stretcher and began inserting thin silver needles into the old man's chest, one by one. Each placement was precise and deliberate. His fingers moved with the calm certainty of someone who had done this a thousand times before.As the fourth needle sank into the skin above the heart, Ethan's expression chang

The mourning hall exploded into chaos the instant Ethan's palm left the old man's face. Every voice in the room collided at once.Big Tony, the massive personal bodyguard who had stood silently by the stretcher all night, charged forward with murder in his eyes."You have no right to defile the patriarch's remains you filthy animal," Big Tony roared. His enormous fists shook at his sides and his thick neck flushed a deep, angry red.Doctor James rose from his chair with the satisfied grin of a man who had been waiting for exactly this moment."He has completely lost his mind," Doctor James sneered. "A rabid stray dog biting a dead man's face. This is what a hundred million dollars bought you."Nathan and Mrs. Hayes exchanged a long, worried look across the crowded room. Both of them understood what was at stake beyond this single moment.Victoria had wagered her entire position as heir on this unknown man from a back alley clinic. If he failed, she would be dragged down with him and n