Poison Rose

CH 50 - Wait for it

Liora was being treated at the hospital while Pearl woke from her unconscious state at Sinclair's mansion.

She turned to her right and saw Caspian slumped in the chair beside her, unaware of Liora's situation, his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm as he slept.

A small smile appeared on Pearl's face. The overdose hadn't killed her—she was alive, and Caspian was here.

After two months of silence and distance, she felt his focus back on her, and that thought warmed her heart. Gently, she raised her hand, feeling the tug of the IV in her arm, and reached out to wake him. Caspian stirred at her touch, waking up groggily, his eyes widening as they met hers.

"Pearl, you're awake," he said, "Thank God you're fine now! Let me call your parents and the nurse."

"No, Caspian," she replied, her voice soft but insistent. "I just want you to stay next to me. You can inform my parents tomorrow."

She gave him a tiny smile, patting the space beside her. "Come sleep next to me. The chair doesn't suit you."

He manoeuvred himself onto the bed, wrapping an arm around Pearl. Pearl closed her eyes, 'He and James are mine and only mine!'

At the hospital, Donovan watched over Liora as doctors drew her blood and conducted numerous tests as he had ordered doctors to do a thorough examination on her.

His mind churned in conflicted emotions, swirling with anger and worries. He needed answers about what had happened to her at the Twilight Zone club.

Donovan dialled David's number. Meanwhile, David, the club manager, sat in his office at gunpoint as he spoke with Donovan over the phone. Fear gripped him like a vice, tightening its hold.

"Will you be willing to tell me everything," Donovan's low and furious voice crackled through the phone.

David gulped nervously, and a bead of sweat rolled down on his neck. "Capo dei Capi, there's no need for violence here," David was trying to calm himself and Donovan.

"I have no patience to hear anything apart from what I want to hear, David," Donovan interrupted; his voice was as cold as the northern pole during winter.

"Ronnie... he's the son of one of the highest-ranking officials in defence," David submitted, recounting every detail, from Ronnie forcefully sitting beside Liora to her traumatized reaction.

"I have kept Ronnie in a separate room, and the bouncers are watching over him. Capo dei Capi," David added, hoping for a shred of mercy from Donovan.

Everyone knew that when Donovan became angry with someone, using his name was prohibited. It only made things worse.

"David, I spoke on your behalf to your father to let you open Twilight Zone because I liked your idea," Donovan said, looking at Liora.

"I thought older people are wiser. You tried to play middle ground for both parties in such a situation. You've greatly disappointed me." Donovan tried his best to control his fury.

His imaginative mind didn't help his situation as he began painting the scenes where Liora was troubled and traumatized. He shut his eyes tightly, clenching his jaw.

"The Twilight Zone will be closed forever. Instead of taking your life, I am taking your dream away," Donovan declared, invoking the ruthless reputation of the Triad company in the shadow world.

If you dared to cross them, they might spare your life but would take everything else you hold dear.

The Triad family did not just hold a grasp on business, politics, and the finance market in Europe. They were also one of the strongest Mafia organizations in Europe.