CHAPTER 7: THE WOMAN THEY STOLE
CHAPTER 7: THE WOMAN THEY STOLE
The note fluttered to the floor as Dominic picked it up.
For the first time since arriving at St. Anne's Medical Center, genuine fear crossed his face.
Not anger.
Not rage.
Fear.
His sister had survived a complicated emergency delivery only hours earlier. She was still weak, heavily medicated, and barely able to stand.
She couldn't have walked out of the room on her own.
Someone had taken her.
Detective Marcus Hale immediately secured the suite.
"No one touches anything!"
Crime scene technicians rushed inside.
The bed sheets were undisturbed except for a faint indentation where Sophia had been lying.
Her IV pump had been switched off manually.
There were no signs of a struggle.
Claire slowly walked toward the empty bed.
"She knew whoever came for her."
Marcus frowned.
"How can you tell?"
Claire pointed to the floor.
"If she'd been unconscious, they would've dragged her."
She knelt beside the bed.
"But look."
A pair of hospital slippers remained neatly aligned.
"No skid marks."
"No overturned table."
"No broken IV pole."
"She either trusted the person..."
"...or they convinced her they were part of her medical team."
Marcus nodded.
"Disguised."
Claire's eyes moved toward the discarded IV tubing.
Then she froze.
The tape securing the catheter had been removed with adhesive solvent.
Not torn off.
Removed gently.
She looked up.
"A nurse."
"What?"
"Or someone trained to work exactly like one."
Dominic turned toward his security chief.
"Lock down every ambulance."
"They've already been stopped," the guard replied.
"No unauthorized vehicles have left."
"Then she's still inside the hospital."
The search began immediately.
More than one hundred police officers and private security personnel spread through every floor.
Basements.
Operating rooms.
Storage areas.
Mechanical tunnels.
Parking garages.
No sign of Sophia.
Then...
One of Dominic's guards radioed in.
"Sub-level Two."
"We found blood."
Everyone raced downstairs.
The blood trail led through an old service corridor rarely used by staff.
At the end stood a rusted freight elevator.
Its doors were slightly open.
Marcus drew his pistol.
Dominic simply walked forward.
Inside the elevator...
A wheelchair sat alone.
Sophia's hospital blanket covered it.
Claire cautiously lifted the blanket.
Nothing underneath.
Only another envelope.
Inside was a hospital ultrasound photograph of baby Leonardo.
Across the picture, written in black marker, were six chilling words.
One heartbeat saved. Two remain.
Claire felt her stomach twist.
"This isn't about revenge."
Marcus looked at her.
"What do you mean?"
"If they wanted Dominic dead..."
"They've had dozens of chances."
She looked at the ultrasound.
"They're targeting his family."
"One by one."
Dominic slowly folded the photograph.
"My father."
Everyone looked at him.
"My father built this organization."
"They killed my nephew."
"They took my sister."
"If they're following the bloodline..."
His expression hardened.
"They'll come for my mother next."
At that very moment...
Across the city...
Maria Moretti, seventy years old, quietly watered roses in the greenhouse behind the family estate.
She had refused armed guards all her life.
She believed flowers grew better in peace than in fear.
She never saw the delivery truck pull through the open gate.
The driver wore a florist's uniform.
He carried a bouquet of white lilies.
"Delivery for Mrs. Moretti."
She smiled politely.
"I didn't order flowers."
"They're from your daughter."
Sophia.
Maria's face softened.
She reached for the bouquet.
Hidden beneath the flowers...
A tiny syringe snapped forward.
A needle pierced her wrist.
She gasped.
The delivery man caught her before she fell.
By the time the first bodyguard noticed something was wrong...
The truck had vanished.
Back at St. Anne's Hospital...
Dominic's phone rang.
He answered immediately.
His face became completely expressionless.
When the call ended...
He lowered the phone without speaking.
Marcus already knew.
"Your mother?"
Dominic nodded once.
"They took her."
Silence spread through the corridor.
Claire looked from Marcus to Dominic.
Whoever was orchestrating this wasn't simply eliminating witnesses.
May you like
They were dismantling an entire family.
And they were always one step ahead.
