The Order

14

"He has a severe concussion and a few broken ribs. Other than that, the wounds he sustained will heal with time, the only other one that's somewhat serious would be a bullet wound in his arm." The doctor explained. I blinked a few times, pursing my lips for a moment as I took a deep breath as I attempted to stifle the smile threatening to emerge.

We were at James's primary residence in Venice. The Knight estate was massive and was composed of multiple buildings to form a compound. It had everything and anything you needed, so much so that you almost didn't even have to leave the house for anything. They had a medical wing, a training facility, housing for almost a hundred of their men and women, mechanics working in the garage, an artillery large enough to arm an army for war, and a separate area towards the back, where James and Liam resided.

"A bullet in his arm?" James asked as he crossed his arms and furrowed his eyebrows.

"Yes, but luckily it just grazed him. Nothing to worry about, he'll just needed a few stiches." The doctor explained. "Thankfully, whoever shot it had terrible aim and it missed anything that could kill him." The doctor said as he gave me a quick look before gazing down at his clipboard.

Yes. Quite lucky.

"I'm recommending that Liam takes the next few days relaxing, and avoiding anything that would require any high mental concentration. So no work for a bit." The doctor explained as he wrote something down on his clipboard.

"Thank you, Dr. Amari." James's said as he crossed his arms.

"Of course. If you need anything else, you know where to find me." He said as he gave us both a nod and quickly walked down the hallway.

"Mila, I'm about to visit Mario Esposito. Would you like to join me?" James's asked as he looked over at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Sure." I said as I shrugged.

"Walk with me." He said as he motioned for me to follow beside him. The Knight manor was massive, yet minimalistic. Each room was modern, and has accent colors of black, beige, and white, and light grey. It was plain, yet sophisticated.

"Please don't take offense to this, but I'm amazed you're alive." James's said with a smile as he looked over at me while we walked down the wide hallway.

"What do you mean?" I said as I looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"Liam usually kills his bodyguards. I'm just surprised he didn't kill you." James said as we turned a corner.

"Not for lack of trying." I said as I looked in front of us. The bruising around my neck began to show, and the dark purple from Liams grip was prominent. 

"In order for me to complete my mission with your requested parameters, I did have to put that bullet in his arm. I hope you understand." I said as I glanced over at him.

"With the way he acts sometimes... I understand completely." He said as he looked over at me and shot me a small smile.

"There is something important I would like to talk to you about." James said.

"Yes?" I asked, tilting my head to look over at him.

"Under no circumstance should Liam know that you are associated with Corporate." James said after a moment. "If you couldn't tell he's... hot headed, but he means well. It would be simpler for all of us if that was our little secret." James said with a small smile.

"Of course." I said with a small nod.

We continued walking down the hallway until we reached a large, black door with two armed guards stationed outside of it. They were holding onto their automatic rifles as the quickly looked at James and nodded.