Chapter 1 - The Gray Veil of St. Jude’s
The rain hammered against the roof of Dominic's inconspicuous sedan as he maintained a disciplined, two-block distance from Linda. His eyes, cold and calculating, tracked her every move through the blurred, water-streaked windshield. She walked with her head down, clutching the heavy envelope of cash inside her coat as if it were a fragile lifeline.
She turned sharply through the wrought-iron gates of St. Jude's Memorial Hospital—a towering, monolithic institution of sterile white brick and soot-stained concrete. Dominic killed the engine, let the gray car coast into a vacant slot near the emergency bay, and adjusted the collar of his heavy wool coat. He didn't believe in coincidences, and he certainly didn't believe in maids visiting massive public hospitals on a Tuesday afternoon unless there was a leak, a trap, or a betrayal waiting to be sprung.
He followed her inside, blending effortlessly into the chaotic, disinfectant-heavy rush of the lobby. Linda didn't stop at the main reception desk. She hurried past the elevators, navigating the sterile corridors with a familiarity that suggested she had walked them many times before. Dominic kept his distance, a shadow moving silently against the pale walls, his senses razor-sharp. If she was meeting a rival syndicate contact or handing over a ledger of his illicit dock operations, he was about to catch her red-handed.
