Chapter 1 - The Call at 2:07 A.M.“I’m not Marcus… but if you’re really scared, I’ll come.”
Daniel Hayes never imagined he would say those words at 2:07 in the morning.
He was sitting on the faded sofa of his small apartment in South Boston, still wearing his work boots, his hands stained with grease from a twelve-hour shift as an industrial electrician.
The city outside was almost completely silent.
His daughter, Lily, was sleeping at a classmate’s house.
For once, Daniel had no reason to be awake.
Then his phone chimed.
“Marcus… please.”
The woman's voice was weak.
“I’m at Massachusetts General. Room 608. I don't want to be alone.”
Daniel frowned.
“I think you have the wrong number.”
Silence.
Then came a broken sob.
“Marcus?”
“No. My name is Daniel.”
“I’m sorry.”
Her breathing became uneven.
Daniel closed his eyes.
He knew that sound.
He had heard it four years earlier.
When Sarah had been dying.
When she had looked at him from a hospital bed and asked whether he was afraid.
He had lied.
He had said no.
Now, listening to a stranger breathe through terror, Daniel felt something inside him move.
“Listen to me,” he said.
“I’m not Marcus.”
“I know.”
“But I can come.”
“You don't have to.”
“I know.”
He grabbed his keys.
“Just hold on.”
Twenty minutes later, Daniel parked outside Massachusetts General Hospital.
The automatic doors opened.
The smell of antiseptic hit him.
He almost turned around.
He hadn't been inside a hospital since Sarah died.
But then he remembered the woman's voice.
I don't want to be alone.
He took the elevator to the sixth floor.
Room 608 was dim.
A woman lay beneath white blankets.
She looked younger than he expected.
Maybe thirty-two.
Pale.
Exhausted.
A scarf covered most of her hair.
She looked at him.
“You're not Marcus.”
Daniel gave her a tired smile.
“Told you I wasn't.”
A weak laugh escaped her.
“Then I am officially the most pathetic woman in Boston.”
She paused.
“I'm Renee Sterling.”
Daniel stopped.
Sterling.
Sterling Global Technologies.
One of the largest defense and satellite communications companies in America.
Renee was the only daughter of billionaire Arthur Sterling.
Daniel suddenly felt as if he had walked into the wrong room.
Renee noticed.
“Don't worry.”
“I don't bite.”
“I wasn't thinking that.”
“You were thinking I'm rich.”
“No.”
“What were you thinking?”
“That you're alone.”
Her expression changed.
“Yeah.”
She looked toward the window.
“Marcus was my boyfriend.”
“What happened?”
“We broke up.”
“When?”
“Two weeks after my diagnosis.”
Daniel didn't need to ask why.
“He left?”
Renee nodded.
“He said he couldn't watch me die.”
Daniel looked at the floor.
“My wife died four years ago.”
Renee looked at him.
“I'm sorry.”
“She was my whole world.”
Renee swallowed.
“So was Marcus.”
Daniel pulled the visitor's chair closer.
“You don't have to be alone tonight.”
She stared at him.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because someone did it for my wife once.”
“Who?”
“Myself.”
Renee smiled sadly.
“Then you're better than most people.”
They talked until sunrise.
Renee told him about her father.
Her company.
Her employees.
The board of directors.
The lawsuits.
The power struggle.
Daniel told her about Lily.
Her drawings.
Her obsession with electricity.
Her belief that every broken appliance could be fixed.
At 6:11 a.m., Dr. Elena Vance entered.
She examined Renee.
Then stepped into the hallway with Daniel.
“She has severe aplastic anemia.”
Daniel listened.
“Her bone marrow has nearly stopped producing blood cells.”
“How serious?”
“Very.”
“Can she recover?”
“She needs a stem cell transplant.”
“And the infection?”
“That's what scares me tonight.”
Daniel looked through the glass.
Renee was staring at the ceiling.
“She asked for me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Dr. Vance hesitated.
“Because she trusts you.”
Daniel looked surprised.
“She met me four hours ago.”
“Sometimes four hours is enough.”
Daniel returned to the room.
Renee looked at him.
“Will you come back?”
He smiled.
“If you want me to.”
“I do.”
He gave her his number.
Then he left.
He thought that would be the end.
He was wrong.
Three days later, a black Lincoln Navigator stopped outside his electrical repair shop.
A man in a tailored suit stepped out.
“Mr. Hayes?”
“Yes.”
He handed Daniel a cream-colored envelope.
“Ms. Sterling requests your presence.”
Daniel opened it.
An invitation.
Beacon Hill.
The following afternoon, he sat across from Renee in a sunlit drawing room overlooking Boston Public Garden.
She looked stronger.
But only slightly.
“I need a favor,” she said.
“What kind?”
“I want to hire you.”
“For what?”
“To be my partner.”
Daniel stared.
Then laughed.
Renee didn't.
“I'll pay you twelve million dollars.”
Daniel's laughter stopped.
“What?”
“Twelve million.”
“For pretending to be your boyfriend?”
“For six months.”
“Why?”
“Because the board is trying to remove me as CEO.”
Daniel leaned back.
“Why would pretending to have a boyfriend stop that?”
“Because my father created a succession clause.”
She slid a document across the table.
“If I become medically incapacitated while unmarried and without a designated family representative, voting control temporarily transfers to the executive board.”
Daniel stared at the document.
“So they want you gone.”
“They want my company.”
“Who?”
Renee's expression hardened.
“My uncle.”
“Why?”
“Because my father left him almost nothing.”
Daniel looked at her.
“And what do you want me to do?”
“Stand beside me.”
“That's it?”
“No.”
She lowered her voice.
“I need someone the board can't buy.”
Daniel almost smiled.
“You think twelve million won't buy me?”
Renee met his eyes.
“I think you're the only man I know who came to a dying stranger's hospital room without asking who she was.”
Daniel didn't know what to say.
Then Renee added:
“There's one more thing.”
“What?”
“My father's death wasn't natural.”
Daniel froze.
May you like
Renee's eyes filled with fear.
“I think someone is trying to kill me.”
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