Chapter 3 - The Enemy Inside the Hospital
The first thing Damian Costa learned that night was that money could buy almost anything.
Security.
Silence.
Loyalty.
But it could not buy back the seconds he had almost lost with his son.
Standing beside Leo’s hospital bed, Damian watched the monitor.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Every sound was a reminder.
His son was still here.
But someone had tried to take him away.
And Damian needed answers.
Outside the room, the hospital had transformed into a battlefield.
Police officers filled the hallway.
Hospital administrators whispered nervously.
Damian’s men secured every entrance.
Nobody moved without being noticed.
Nobody entered without being questioned.
But Damian knew something.
The person who attacked Leo was not a stranger.
A stranger could not have walked into a pediatric ICU carrying a fake doctor’s coat.
A stranger could not have known Leo’s room number.
A stranger could not have bypassed security.
Someone inside the hospital had helped him.
Or someone inside his own world had betrayed him.
Damian looked at Elias.
"Find every person who accessed this floor tonight."
Elias nodded.
"Already started."
"And?"
The bodyguard hesitated.
That hesitation told Damian everything.
"Speak."
Elias lowered his voice.
"There were too many access points."
Damian's eyes narrowed.
"Explain."
"Someone deleted parts of the security footage."
A cold silence filled the room.
Maya, sitting near Leo's bed, looked up.
"They knew exactly what they were doing."
Damian looked at her.
She was still pale.
Still injured.
Yet she was paying attention to details that everyone else missed.
"You noticed something else."
Maya looked uncomfortable.
"I don't know."
"Tell me."
She stared at Leo.
"The man who came in..."
She paused.
"He wasn't nervous."
Damian listened.
"Most people who pretend to be doctors would be afraid of being caught."
She looked at the hallway.
"He wasn't."
Her voice became quieter.
"He walked like he belonged there."
That sentence hit Damian harder than expected.
Because he knew exactly what it meant.
The man wasn't pretending.
He had confidence.
Experience.
Preparation.
This wasn't an amateur attack.
Someone had planned this.
"Did you see his face?"
Maya shook her head.
"Not clearly."
"Anything?"
She closed her eyes, searching her memory.
"Gray eyes."
A pause.
"And a scar."
"Where?"
"Near his left ear."
Damian immediately turned to Elias.
"Find him."
Elias nodded.
Then stopped.
"Boss."
Damian looked over.
"The police want to question everyone."
Damian glanced toward the hallway.
"Not now."
"They're already asking questions."
"Then they can wait."
Elias hesitated.
Normally, nobody questioned Damian Costa.
But this was different.
This was a hospital.
A child was involved.
And Damian knew that if he handled this the wrong way, everything could collapse.
He had enemies.
Many of them.
But tonight he couldn't think like a man protecting an empire.
He had to think like a father protecting his child.
---
Two hours later, a doctor finally entered Leo's room.
Dr. Michael Reed was one of the top pediatric cardiologists in the hospital.
He examined Leo carefully.
The room was silent.
Damian stood beside the bed.
Maya stood on the other side.
The doctor looked at the monitor.
Then at the IV.
Then at the medication chart.
His expression changed.
Damian noticed immediately.
"What?"
The doctor looked uncomfortable.
"Mr. Costa..."
"Tell me."
The doctor swallowed.
"There is something unusual."
Damian's eyes hardened.
"What?"
"The medication Leo received before arriving here."
Maya immediately stepped closer.
"What about it?"
The doctor looked at her.
"You are the cleaner?"
Damian interrupted.
"Answer her."
The doctor looked back at Leo.
"The dosage was wrong."
The room went silent.
"Wrong how?" Damian asked.
"Too high."
Damian felt his chest tighten.
"Could it have killed him?"
The doctor didn't answer immediately.
That was answer enough.
Maya closed her eyes.
She already knew.
Damian looked at his son.
A five-year-old boy.
A child who trusted the world.
A child who had done nothing wrong.
Someone had looked at him and decided his life was disposable.
The anger came.
Slowly.
Quietly.
The most dangerous kind.
"Who ordered the medication?"
The doctor looked uncomfortable.
"Mr. Costa..."
"Who?"
The doctor lowered his voice.
"The order came through the electronic system."
Damian stared.
"From whose account?"
The doctor hesitated.
Then said:
"Dr. Victor Hale."
The name meant nothing to Damian.
But Elias immediately reacted.
"Victor Hale?"
Damian looked at him.
"You know him?"
Elias nodded slowly.
"He worked with your old medical team two years ago."
Damian's expression changed.
Old medical team.
People who knew Leo.
People who knew his condition.
People who knew exactly how vulnerable he was.
"Where is he?"
The doctor looked confused.
"He isn't here."
Damian's eyes became colder.
"Find him."
---
Meanwhile, Maya sat alone beside Leo.
For the first time that night, the adrenaline was disappearing.
And the pain returned.
Her hands shook.
Her head throbbed.
The cut on her forehead burned.
Damian noticed.
"You need treatment."
She looked up.
"I'm fine."
"No, you're not."
Maya almost smiled.
"That's something rich people say when they think money fixes everything."
Damian stared at her.
Most people would never speak to him that way.
But Maya wasn't trying to impress him.
She was just honest.
"When was the last time someone asked if you were okay?"
The question surprised him.
Damian didn't answer.
Because he didn't know.
Not honestly.
Maya looked back at Leo.
"You love him."
It wasn't a question.
Damian remained silent.
Then finally said:
"He's the only thing I did right."
Maya looked at him.
The sentence revealed more than he intended.
Because behind the expensive suit...
behind the reputation...
behind the fear everyone had of him...
was a man carrying regret.
A man who knew he had missed too many moments.
Too many birthdays.
Too many bedtime stories.
Too many chances.
Maya quietly said:
"Then don't lose another one."
Damian looked at her.
And for the first time...
he didn't see a hospital cleaner.
He saw someone who had saved his family.
---
Near midnight, Elias returned.
His expression was serious.
Damian knew immediately.
"What happened?"
"We found Dr. Victor Hale."
"Where?"
Elias looked down.
"He left the hospital twenty minutes after Leo was admitted."
Damian's face remained calm.
Too calm.
"Where is he now?"
Elias hesitated.
"Dead."
The room froze.
Maya looked up.
"What?"
Elias continued.
"His car was found abandoned outside the city."
Damian understood.
Someone was cleaning up.
The person behind this wasn't just trying to hurt Leo.
They were removing evidence.
Removing witnesses.
And now Damian knew something terrifying.
The enemy wasn't outside his world.
The enemy was already inside it.
Damian looked at Leo.
Then at Maya.
Then toward the dark hospital hallway.
Someone had started a war.
But they had made one mistake.
They touched his son.
And Damian Costa was no longer fighting for an empire.
He was fighting for justice.
May you like
---
End of Chapter 3.
