Chapter 2 - The Cost of a Name

The fallout from discarding Yara Salcedo arrived on the fifth day.

Cormack was standing by the large window at the end of the ICU corridor, watching the Chicago rain batter the glass, when Royce jogged up to him. The bodyguard's hand rested casually over the bulge of the firearm beneath his jacket.

“Boss, we have a problem,” Royce murmured, scanning the hallway. “Aurelio Salcedo just sent three SUVs full of muscle to the front lobby. They’re demanding to see you. Aurelio is saying you disrespected his blood, and he wants compensation. Or he wants blood.”

Cormack’s jaw clenched. The Salcedo cartel controlled the southern distribution lines. A war with them would be bloody, expensive, and devastating. But bringing that violence to the hospital? To the place where Brin was fighting for her life and his son was sleeping in a plastic crib?

“Lock down the floor,” Cormack ordered, his voice dropping to a lethal octave. “No one gets past the elevators. Call the boys from the docks. I want this hospital surrounded by our people in ten minutes.”

“Cormack, if we barricade a hospital, the feds will be here by midnight,” Royce warned.

“I don’t care if the National Guard shows up,” Cormack snarled. “No one gets near her room.”

He walked toward the elevator banks just as the heavy metal doors slid open. Four of Salcedo’s enforcers stepped out, their jackets hanging heavy with concealed weapons. At the center of them stood Aurelio Salcedo himself, an older, ruthless man with a silver cane and eyes like dead coal.

“Cormack,” Aurelio greeted, his voice raspy. “You embarrassed my daughter. You broke a highly profitable alliance. And for what? A bartender who is already halfway in the grave?”

Cormack didn’t pull a weapon. He didn’t raise his voice. He walked until he was inches from Aurelio’s face, looking down at the cartel boss with the cold, dead eyes of the apex predator that ruled Chicago.

“That woman is the mother of my son,” Cormack said, every word dripping with venom. “And if you or your dogs take one more step down this hallway, I won't just kill you. I will dismantle your entire family tree, burn your businesses to ash, and salt the earth where your house stands. Test me, Aurelio.”

The tension in the air was thick enough to choke on. Aurelio stared into Cormack’s eyes, looking for a bluff, looking for a crack in the armor.