Chapter 8 - The Morning After
The morning sun returned to Las Vegas, casting a soft, pink hue across the mountains. Inside the VIP suite at St. Jude Memorial Hospital, the air was warm and peaceful.
Maya was sitting up in bed, eating a breakfast tray of fresh fruit and eggs. Her color had returned, her eyes bright and clear. Sitting on the edge of her bed was Eli, happily munching on a pancake.
The door opened quietly, and Cassius stepped inside. He had changed into a fresh white shirt and dark trousers, looking clean and rested despite having dismantled a rival syndicate overnight.
"Good morning, Mr. Wren," Maya said, offering him a genuine, warm smile.
"Miss Vance," Cassius acknowledged, bowing his head slightly. He looked at Eli. "Did you sleep?"
"Two hours," Eli said. "I waited for you."
Cassius walked over to the armchair and sat down. "Vane won't be bothering you anymore. He left the country this morning."
Maya paused, her fork hovering in mid-air. She looked at Cassius with a mix of awe and deep relief. "How did you... never mind. I don't think I want to know the details. Thank you, Mr. Wren."
"Call me Cassius," he said flatly. "And you are discharged today. The doctors say you can go home, but you need two weeks of bed rest before returning to work."
"Two weeks?" Maya panicked slightly. "Cassius, I can't take two weeks off! I need to—"
"You are no longer a dishwasher at the casino, Maya," Cassius interrupted smoothly. "As of this morning, you have been appointed as the Director of the newly established Wren Family Community Trust. Your job will be to manage educational scholarships for children of casino workers."
Maya’s jaw dropped. She looked at her brother, then back at Cassius. "I... I don't have a degree in administration! I don't know how to run a trust!"
"You kept an eight-year-old boy fed, clothed, and honest on six hundred dollars a week," Cassius said firmly. "You are more qualified than any Harvard graduate I've ever hired. The salary is one hundred and twenty thousand a year, with full health benefits and a housing allowance."
Maya covered her face with her hands, breaking into quiet, overwhelming tears of joy. Eli wrapped his small arms around his sister's shoulders, resting his head against her arm.
"Why are you doing this for us?" Maya sobbed softly through her fingers. "We're nobody."
Cassius stood up and walked over to the large window, looking out at the city below.
"Twenty-six years ago, my father was killed," Cassius said, his deep voice carrying a rare, raw vulnerability. "I was eight years old. I stood in a room full of men in suits who told me they would take care of me. They lied. They wanted my father's money and his empire. I had to learn how to fight, how to steal, and how to survive in the dark all by myself."
He turned back to face them, his dark eyes locked onto Eli.
"I promised myself that if I ever saw a child standing alone in that same dark, I wouldn't leave him there," Cassius said softly. "Eli didn't ask me for money on that roof. He asked me how to be brave. He reminded me of who I was before I became what I am."
Eli stepped away from his sister's bed and walked over to Cassius. He looked up at the tall man, pulling something from his pocket.
It was the drawing from yesterday—the one drawn with the heavy gold Montblanc ink.
"I finished it," Eli said, handing the paper to Cassius.
Cassius took the paper. The drawing of the tall adult now had a full face: sharp jawline, combed-back hair, and a distinct scar running along the left cheekbone. But around the figure's dark suit, Eli had drawn a bright yellow cloak with small gold stars.
"What is the cloak?" Cassius asked, a rare, faint twitch of a smile touching the corner of his lips.
"It's a shield," Eli explained. "So the dark can't touch you when you're helping other people."
May you like
Cassius carefully folded the paper and placed it into his inner breast pocket, right next to his heart.
"It's a good drawing," Cassius said.
