Hayden pushed her damaged Porsche to its absolute limit.
The engine screamed as she tore down the FDR Drive. The city lights blurred into streaks of neon. She gripped the steering wheel so hard her fingers cramped, her foot pinning the gas pedal to the floor. She blew through two red lights, the blaring horns of other cars fading into the background noise of her own racing heartbeat.
She slammed the brakes in front of the Mount Sinai emergency room entrance. She didn't bother parking. She left the keys in the ignition, threw the door open, and sprinted toward the sliding glass doors.
The smell of clinical antiseptic hit her like a physical blow.
She ran past the security desk, her heels clicking frantically against the linoleum floor. She took the stairs to the third floor, her lungs burning with every breath.
She burst through the heavy double doors of the hospice wing.
She found Room 312.
The moment she stepped inside, a high-pitched, frantic beeping assaulted her ears.
Her grandmother lay in the center of the bed. She looked incredibly small. Her skin was the color of old parchment, stretched tight over her cheekbones. An oxygen mask covered her nose and mouth, fogging slightly with shallow, agonizingly slow breaths.
Hayden's knees gave out.
She collapsed beside the bed, hitting the floor hard. She reached through the metal bedrails and grabbed her grandmother's hand. It was ice cold.
"Nana," Hayden choked out, tears pouring down her face, dripping onto the pristine white sheets. "I'm here. I'm right here."
She needed Bernhard. Not for herself, but because her grandmother's dying wish had been to see the man she believed was Hayden's protector one last time. This call wasn't a moment of weakness; it was an agonizing attempt to fulfill an old woman's final request.
With trembling, slippery fingers, Hayden pulled her phone from her pocket. She went to her blocked list, unblocked Bernhard's number, and hit dial.
She held the phone to her ear.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
The sound was hollow and agonizing. It went to voicemail.
She hung up and dialed again.
Ring. Ring. Ring. Voicemail.
She dialed a third time. She dialed a fourth time. Her chest heaved with desperate, jagged sobs.
On the fifth ring, the line clicked open.
"Hello?"
It wasn't Bernhard.
It was Brielle. Her voice was breathy, annoyed, and dripping with entitlement.
"Bernhard is in the shower," Brielle whined into the receiver. "Why are you calling him in the middle of the night? You're so obsessed."
In the background, Hayden could hear the sound of water running. She heard Bernhard's muffled voice call out, Who is it, babe?
The world stopped spinning.
The tears in Hayden's eyes instantly dried up. The blood in her veins turned to absolute, freezing liquid nitrogen. The pain in her chest vanished, replaced by a hollow, echoing void.
She didn't say a single word. She pulled the phone away from her ear and pressed end.
On the bed, her grandmother's fingers twitched.
Hayden dropped the phone and gripped the frail hand with both of hers.
Her grandmother's eyes slowly fluttered open. They were cloudy, losing focus, but they found Hayden's face. There was no fear in those eyes. Only a deep, profound sorrow for the granddaughter she was leaving behind.
Her grandmother squeezed Hayden's hand. It was the weakest pressure, but it felt like an anchor.
Then, the grip went slack.
The frantic beeping of the heart monitor suddenly flatlined into one continuous, piercing tone.
BEEEEEEEEEP.
A straight green line cut across the black screen.
Doctors and nurses rushed into the room. Hands grabbed Hayden's shoulders, pulling her away from the bed. She was shoved into the corner of the room.
She stood there, her back pressed against the cold plaster wall. She watched as the doctor charged the defibrillator paddles. She watched her grandmother's frail body jolt off the mattress.
Once. Twice.
"Time of death, 2:14 AM," the doctor said quietly.
A nurse reached over and pulled the white sheet over her grandmother's face.
Hayden didn't scream. She didn't cry.
Something inside her-the soft, compromising, forgiving part of Hayden Carter-snapped. It died right there in the room with her grandmother.
For the next hour, she sat on a plastic chair in the hallway. She signed the death certificate. She arranged for the funeral home to collect the body. Her hand didn't shake once.
At 3:30 AM, she walked out of the hospital doors.
The biting night wind whipped her hair around her face. She pulled her phone out of her pocket. She looked at the screen. There were no missed calls from Bernhard.
She walked over to a metal trash can on the sidewalk. She dropped the iPhone inside.
She reached into the hidden lining of her designer coat. She pulled out the thick, heavy, black satellite phone she had verified under the false bottom of her jewelry box days ago. She hadn't turned it on in two years.
She powered it up. The screen glowed an angry red. She typed in a sixteen-digit alphanumeric passcode.
She dialed a number with a Swiss country code.
It rang exactly once.
"Boss," a crisp, professional male voice answered.
Hayden stared out at the dark, sleeping skyline of Manhattan. Her eyes were pitch black, devoid of mercy.
"Initiate the Phoenix protocol," she said. Her voice was unrecognizable. It was the voice of a predator.
The man on the other end sucked in a sharp breath. "Understood. Shall I notify the international architectural board?"
The corner of Hayden's mouth curled up into a terrifying, bloodthirsty smile.
"Tell them the L Studio is preparing to take on a massive new project. We are stepping out of the shadows."
She hit end. She slipped the phone back into her coat, turned, and walked into the night.
