The transition from the cold, ruthless world of the Vanderbilts to the sterile, quiet hope of the Memorial hospital felt like stepping between dimensions.
Alex parked the car, but he didn't get out immediately. His hands stayed gripped on the steering wheel, his knuckles white. He took a slow, deliberate breath, steadying the roar of his pulse before calling out to the one presence that never left him.
'Lilith,' he thought, his mental voice hard as flint. 'I hope you don't have an excuse left now. No more jurisdiction talk. No more safety protocols. I'm done watching them suffer while I sit on the resource of this entire system.'
There was a brief, shimmering pause in his mind before her voice drifted back... not with its usual mocking edge, but with a rare, clinical sobriety.
