Chapter 9 - The Night Hawthorne Ridge Went Dark
Kate screamed.
Luciano was already moving.
The incubator had been wheeled through the adjoining treatment room seconds earlier.
The neonatal nurse lay unconscious.
The baby was gone.
Luciano became something Kate had never seen.
Not angry.
Empty.
That frightened her more.
“Find my son.”
Every exit closed.
Marco checked cameras.
Matteo searched the east wing.
Luciano found a dropped neonatal blanket near the service stairs.
A smear of blood.
Not the baby's.
At the bottom of the staircase, a wounded attacker lay against the wall.
Luciano grabbed him.
“Where?”
The man laughed weakly.
“You're too late.”
Luciano nearly killed him.
Nearly.
Then he remembered Kate.
His son.
The future he claimed he wanted.
He released the man.
“Marco.”
Marco understood.
They handed him to police officers arriving outside.
A guard shouted from the garden.
Luciano ran.
Beyond the hedge, a vehicle accelerated toward the rear gate.
Matteo appeared driving another SUV.
“Get in!”
Luciano did.
They chased through the estate road.
Marco coordinated ahead.
The kidnappers reached the gate.
It did not open.
Calvin Reese stood inside the security booth.
He had manually disabled it.
The vehicle crashed through the barrier but lost speed.
Matteo pulled alongside.
Luciano saw Celia in the passenger seat.
She was fighting the driver.
Not helping him.
The SUV swerved.
Stopped.
Luciano ripped open the rear door.
A nurse held the baby.
She was crying.
“I didn't know. They told me we were moving him for safety.”
Luciano took his son.
So small.
Too small.
The portable oxygen unit was still attached.
The neonatal doctor arrived moments later.
“He needs the hospital now.”
A helicopter had landed on the lawn.
This time, Kate was stable enough to travel.
Mother and baby were transported together.
Luciano sat between them.
His hand held Kate's.
His other rested beside the incubator.
Nobody spoke.
At the hospital, the baby entered the NICU.
Kate was admitted nearby.
Luciano stood outside the glass.
His son weighed barely three pounds.
Machines breathed rhythmically around him.
“What do we call him?” Kate asked.
Luciano looked at her.
“You choose.”
“Why me?”
“You did everything else.”
She thought.
“Nicholas.”
Luciano smiled faintly.
“Nico.”
“Nico.”
Their son had a name.
Hours later, Matteo arrived.
Celia had survived.
She had turned against Vittorio at the final moment.
The kidnappers had orders to take Nico to the private clinic.
Vittorio was still missing.
But now federal investigators had the financial evidence Matteo provided.
The empire around Vittorio was collapsing.
Luciano should have felt victory.
Instead, he stared at a three-pound child through glass and understood how meaningless empires could be.
Kate joined him in a wheelchair.
“Touch him.”
“I already did.”
“Again.”
They entered the NICU.
Luciano placed his hand through the incubator opening.
Nico's fingers moved.
Luciano whispered, “I'm here.”
Kate heard.
It was not only a promise to the baby.
She wanted to believe it.
But belief had become expensive.
Three days passed.
Nico stabilized.
Kate recovered.
Luciano slept in chairs.
He answered business calls only when necessary.
On the fourth morning, he summoned Marco.
“Sell the weapons routes.”
Marco stared.
“All of them?”
“All.”
“Luciano—”
“Anything illegal ends.”
“That will create enemies.”
“I already have enemies.”
“It will cost millions.”
Luciano looked through the NICU glass.
“I have enough.”
Marco smiled.
“Kate did what bullets couldn't.”
“What?”
“Scared you straight.”
Luciano almost laughed.
But Matteo entered.
He held an envelope.
“For Kate.”
Kate opened it.
Inside was a copy of a birth certificate.
Not Nico's.
Thirty-three years old.
MATTEO ARURI.
Father: Alessandro Aruri.
Mother: Elena Aruri.
And beneath it was a handwritten note.
ONE BROTHER WAS HIDDEN.
THE OTHER WAS CHOSEN.
Luciano frowned.
“Chosen for what?”
Matteo turned the certificate over.
Another message.
ASK LUCIANO WHY HIS FATHER REALLY DIED.
Luciano stared.
“I was an infant.”
Kate noticed Matteo’s expression.
“You know something.”
Matteo did not answer.
“Matteo.”
“My adoptive mother told me a story.”
“What story?”
“That Alessandro Aruri didn't die in an accident.”
Luciano had always been told his parents died together in a car crash weeks after his birth.
Matteo shook his head.
“Elena died first.”
Luciano stared.
“Our mother?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I don't know.”
“And our father?”
“Three weeks later.”
Luciano felt the floor shift beneath his history.
“Who killed him?”
Matteo looked toward the hospital corridor.
Before he could answer, a man appeared at the far end.
Old.
Elegant.
Walking with a cane.
Luciano recognized him instantly.
Vittorio.
His uncle stopped outside the NICU.
He looked through the glass at Nico.
Then smiled.
Luciano stepped in front of him.
Vittorio raised both hands.
“I didn't come for the baby.”
“Then why are you here?”
“To tell you who killed your father.”
May you like
He leaned closer.
“And why Kate's mother helped cover it up.”
