Intimate Friends

Eight

Beep...beep...beep...

The constant beeping was the only sign he was still breathing, albeit weakly. His chest rose and fell with a soft wheeze as he laid in the bed barely clinging to life. They had filled the private hospital suite with family but once Hannibal came out of surgery; the doctors pulled his wives to tell them his status. Once outside they wasted no time asking the doctor what the damage was.

"Ladies, your husband is a very lucky man. Another day and he'd probably be dead. He suffered a dislocated jaw, mild concussion, multiple contusions, and some internal bleeding along with second-degree burns. We've put him in an induced coma for now so he can heal as peacefully as possible, but he should make a full recovery."

The three women exchanged looks between each other before thanking the doctor for the update. Once he turned to leave they sat down outside of the suite for a moment to collect their thoughts before having to face their children.

Meanwhile, in the room, the three young Lectors sat around their father quietly. Francois was in a chair by his left side with a sketchpad out as they quietly worked on some designs were on hold, Jonathan was sitting in a far corner of the room typing away on his laptop, and Amira was sitting on Hannibal's right side with her head in his lap while she idly texted Xavier for updates on the business deal he was working on. Once their mothers came back into the room three sets of eyes collectively looked at the door expectantly.

"Well, we talked to the doctor and your father will make a full recovery," Elisha spoke up first, making the three relax.

"Bad news is he'll be in a coma for up to two weeks of the recovery time," Pauline said with a sigh, her eyes falling on her husband as he breathed with the help of a ventilator.

That prompted everyone to look at Hannibal, a mixture of emotions in the room as Amira looked back to her phone for a moment. Her eyes widened at the text she'd gotten, prompting her to stand suddenly.

"I need to go handle something, I'll be back later. Let me know if you go back to the house?"

"I'll text you, honey," Diana said before sending her off with a hug.

...

Kenneth didn't think he'd end up here.

He thought was careful. He thought he was safe.

It wasn't the first time he'd stolen money by any means; he was a well-established thief.

It was, however, the first time he'd stolen from them.

Amira and Xavier had few rules for their illegal employees, their "Robin Hood training group" if you will.

The main one though, the cardinal rule? Don't steal from the ones that are paying you.

Kenneth tested his luck and broke that rule because he had questions, like how is it they do all the stealing but only get portions of what's collected? The truth is Amira and Xavier didn't even keep the money themselves. Not all of it, at least. They paid their workers handsomely and took a cut the same size to put into a bank account they shared. The rest went to charities, non-profits, and various investments. So when the couple's accountant called and said the number they gave him was lower than what he received there were questions. Wanting to give the benefit of the doubt, Xavier first checked to see if someone had the numbers wrong before looking for a thief within the ranks. What he found was that Kenneth had skimmed their money multiple times, but he'd gotten sloppy this time around. He normally changed the amounts before they got to the accountant (because he usually was the last one to handle the money) so it all made sense, but this time he was in a rush and forgot to change said numbers.