Crisis Mode
Jason’s POV
We arrived at the hospital, and I bolted straight to the guard’s room. He was hooked up to machines, his body motionless, the beeping the only sign of life.
“Shit...” I muttered, frustration coursing through me. I turned to Lucas, my voice tight with urgency. “Get me the doctor. Now.”
“What are you going to do?” Lucas asked, brows furrowed.
I didn’t have time for questions. “I said, get me the damn doctor!” I barked, anger simmering beneath my skin. Every second felt like it could be the difference between life and death.
A few tense moments passed before Lucas returned with the doctor, both of them wearing grim expressions.
“Don Russo?” The doctor’s voice was steady, but his eyes scanned me cautiously.
“Wake him up,” I growled, my voice low, commanding.
The doctor blinked, confused. “Wake who up?” His tone was too calm, considering the chaos building inside me.
I clenched my fists, every muscle taut with frustration. I didn’t have time for this. My baby girl was out there in danger, and I wasn’t about to wait any longer.
“Don’t play games with me,” I snapped, my patience nearly gone. “Wake him the hell up, now.”
I pointed at the unconscious guard, my finger trembling with rage. The doctor’s face drained of colour.
“I-I’m sorry, Don Russo,” he stammered, his voice shaking. “I can’t do that.”
I screamed, a raw, primal sound. My gun was in my hand before I even thought about it, pointing directly at the doctor’s head.
Lucas stepped forward, his hands raised, trying to defuse the situation. “Jason, think about what you’re doing!” he pleaded, his voice strained.
But Lucas’s words barely registered. The doctor was the only thing standing between me and the information I needed. My daughter’s life was on the line, and I wouldn’t let anything stop me.
“I’ll say it one more time,” I snarled, tightening my grip on the gun. “Wake him the hell up.”
The doctor hesitated, his eyes flicking between the guard and me. “Don... it might kill him,” he whispered, fear dripping from his words.
“Do you think I care?!” I roared. “Wake him up, now!”
But the doctor still hesitated, his fear palpable.
“Don…” the doctor began, but before he could finish, I pulled the trigger. The shot rang out, slamming into the floor and grazing his feet.
The doctor yelped, his pain slicing through the tension. Lucas immediately shouted, “Jason, stop this!”
I was beyond reasoning now. My anger blazed so hot I whipped around, gun still in hand. “Stay out of this,” I growled, my voice low and threatening.
Turning back to the doctor, I locked eyes with him, fury bubbling beneath the surface.
“Are you going to do as I said, or do you want me to kill you and find someone else who will?” I hissed. “I just need him awake long enough to talk.”
The doctor nodded, visibly trembling, and Lucas helped him over to the guard. As the doctor prepared the injection, my phone rang, its shrill sound cutting through the heavy silence.
I ignored it at first, but it kept buzzing, relentlessly. Frustration boiling over, I snatched it from my pocket without checking the caller ID.
“Speak!” I snapped, voice sharp and impatient.
“I know you missed me, Jason... Your life’s been pretty boring without me,” the voice sneered, dripping with arrogant satisfaction. I knew that voice anywhere.
“Marco freaking Marino,” I growled under my breath, anger surging through me.
“You are alive... What do you want?” I demanded, voice laced with cold fury.
“Relax…” Marco’s voice was oozing with mock amusement. “I’ve got something you want, your precious daughter.”
My blood froze, but I didn’t flinch. My grip on the phone tightened until my knuckles turned white.
Lucas stepped closer, brow furrowed, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the phone. The doctor had slipped away unnoticed in the chaos.
“You know,” Marco continued, his tone mocking, “I’ve been thinking about this moment for a long time. This was the perfect way to make my grand return.”
“Where is she?” I growled, barely able to control my fury, but I kept it contained, just barely.
Marco’s laughter echoed through the phone, hollow and cruel. “Now, now, Jason. Is that how you ask for a favour? If you want her back, you’ll have to play by my rules.”
Heat rose in me, but I pushed it down, digging deep for control. “What do you want?”
Marco’s laughter faded, replaced by a venomous calm. “The same thing I’ve always wanted, but you refused to give it to me.”
“You want the business, the power, the whole damn city? Take it. Take it all. Just give me back my daughter,” I spat, each word loaded with hate. His voice turned slow, deliberately mocking. “I still want everything… But what I want the most right now is her... I want Emily. She is mine, and you took her from me.”
The words hit me like a slap, and I fought to keep my composure. I could feel the fury boiling under my skin, but I couldn’t let him hear it.
“She was never yours,” I ground out, barely able to contain my anger. “You have no right to her. But I swear, Marco, if you lay a finger on her.”
“Oh, but it’s not about her anymore, is it?” Marco cut me off, his tone dripping with satisfaction. “It’s about you, Jason. The choice you have to make now. ''Your precious daughter... or the woman who was never yours to begin with.”
Every word he spoke was a knife to the heart. The weight of his taunts pressed down on me, suffocating.
Marco’s voice softened, dangerously calm. “I’ll give you time to think about it, Jason. But know this: the longer you wait, the less time your daughter has left.”
His words hit like a punch to the gut, and I felt my blood run cold.
Without thinking, the words slipped out, raw and desperate.
“Fine, you win... You can have her. I’ll give Emily back to you. I just need my daughter back.”
I could hear the shock in Marco’s voice, barely masked by his usual arrogance. “Wow... I thought I’d have to put up more of a fight,” Marco said, his tone laced with disbelief.
I swallowed the bitterness rising in my throat. “You told me to make a choice... Well, I just did.”