Chapter 87 Red Dots

Chapter 87 Red Dots
Benjamin's POV

The moment I heard about the accident, I dropped everything and rushed straight to the hospital, my driver breaking every speed limit along the way without needing to be asked.

My mind kept replaying the words that had come through the phone. Bad accident… Serious injuries.

My daughter, somewhere on an operating table right now, fighting for her life while I sat helplessly outside, unable to do a single thing to change the outcome.

When I arrived, the nurses informed me that Eva was already in the emergency room, currently undergoing surgery. There was nothing left for me to do but wait outside, pacing the sterile hallway while every possible outcome ran through my mind, each one worse than the last, each one refusing to let me settle into any single seat for longer than a few seconds.

I had no choice but to stand outside that door, staring at it like it might open at any moment with answers I desperately needed, my usual composure fraying at the edges with every passing minute.

"Marcus," I said, my voice tighter than I intended. "Go investigate the accident. I want to know exactly what happened, and I want to know now. Was it truly an accident, or did someone finally decide to make a move against us before we could make ours?"

Marcus nodded once and disappeared down the corridor without questioning me, already pulling out his phone to make calls before he was even out of sight.

Once he was gone, I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples, frustration building steadily behind them. Everything I had planned, every careful step toward securing THE FIRM's dominance over this city, depended heavily on Eva's cooperation. Without her, certain pieces of the operation would need to be delayed indefinitely, and time was already working against me, slipping through my fingers faster than I could account for.

I couldn't afford delays. Not now, not with Ethan already reeling from the loss of his recruits, weakened and vulnerable in a way I hadn't seen him before, an opportunity I had planned to exploit fully once Eva was firmly on my side.

The sound of rushed footsteps pulled me out of my thoughts.

I opened my eyes and turned toward the noise, and found myself staring directly into Ethan Valente's cold, unforgiving gaze, his expression giving away absolutely nothing about what he might be thinking.

I rose to my feet immediately, and the two guards stationed beside me swung their weapons up in unison, aiming straight at him without waiting for my order.

Ethan didn't so much as flinch. He walked past them like they weren't even there, positioning himself directly outside the emergency room door without uttering a single word, his shoulders squared, his expression unreadable.

The sheer disrespect of it made something ugly twist inside my chest. My dislike for this man, already substantial, deepened even further in that moment, hardening into something closer to genuine hatred.

"You have no right to be here," I said, my voice sharp with contained fury. "Leave. Now, before I lose what little patience I have left with you."

Ethan turned his head slowly to look at me, an expression of pure contempt settling over his features, his eyes never once wavering from mine.

"What gives you the audacity," he said, his voice low and cutting, "to talk about rights? You haven't been a part of Bella's life for twenty six years, Benjamin. Twenty six years of silence, of abandonment, of letting other people raise the daughter you claim to love so much, people who abused and neglected her while you sent money and called it enough. And now, suddenly, you want to play the doting father?"

Every word landed like a blow, each one striking exactly where it was meant to hurt the most.

My composure cracked instantly, rage flooding through me faster than I could control it, faster than I had felt in years.

"Get out," I snarled, stepping closer to him, my hands curling into fists at my sides, "or forget about ever walking out of this hospital alive."

Ethan met my threat with nothing but a mocking glance, unbothered, almost amused by my anger, like a man who had already accounted for every possible reaction I might have.

"You can't do anything," he said calmly. "You're the one on the losing side right now, Benjamin. Not me. You might want to think carefully about your next move before you make it."

I frowned, confusion mixing with my anger at his sudden confidence, an unfamiliar unease creeping into my chest despite myself.

Then I heard a metallic clatter hitting the floor, followed by another almost immediately after.

I turned sharply toward my two guards, expecting to reprimand them for whatever careless mistake had just occurred, my anger already redirecting itself toward easier targets.

The reprimand died on my lips instantly, the words I had already prepared vanishing completely from my mind.

Both of their guns lay abandoned on the ground, dropped from hands that had gone completely still. Their faces had drained of color, their eyes wide with a fear I hadn't seen from either of them before, not even during the most dangerous missions I had ever sent them on throughout the years.

I followed their frozen gazes upward, scanning the hallway, the windows, the shadows beyond the glass, my heartbeat picking up speed with every single second that passed in tense silence.

That's when I saw it.

Two small red dots hovering steadily against each of my guards' foreheads, it was precise, the kind of stillness that only came from a trained marksman waiting for nothing more than a single word to pull the trigger and end everything instantly.

My blood turned cold instantly, a fear I hadn't felt in years settling deep into my chest.

Snipers. Positioned somewhere outside, with a clear line of sight through the hospital windows, tracking my men's every movement with lethal accuracy, waiting patiently for nothing more than a single signal from the man standing calmly in front of me.

I looked back at Ethan, and finally understood why he looked so confident that I wouldn't be able to touch him.

He hadn't come here unprepared. He hadn't come here vulnerable or desperate, the way I had assumed the moment I saw him walk through those doors alone, without any visible backup of his own.

He had come here with an entire plan already in motion, prepared for exactly this kind of confrontation before it even began, and calculated every possible outcome long before he even set foot inside this building.

He really came prepared.