Chapter 2
Gunfire erupted outside the delivery room.
Automatic weapons tore through the plaster walls.
Fragments of drywall scattered through the sterile air.
Mateo shoved a heavy titanium crash cart across the entrance and turned it sideways, creating a temporary barricade.
The 6 Romano enforcers positioned themselves around the room and returned fire in disciplined bursts.
Their suppressed weapons hissed against the heavier sound of Vincenzo’s assault rifles.
Alessandro remained beside Genevieve.
He bent over the surgical bed, using his own body to shield her from anything that might penetrate the walls.
His heart beat in time with the alarms coming from the fetal monitors.
The delivery room dissolved into chaos.
Nurses crouched beneath steel tables.
Alessandro remained beside Genevieve.
Glass containers shattered along the counters.
“Hold her steady,” Dr. Hayes shouted.
The surgeon did not flinch when another bullet pierced the outer wall.
His gloved hands moved rapidly and precisely.
“I’m entering the uterus.”
He looked toward the assisting nurse.
“Keep the suction clear.”
More rounds tore into the wall approximately 3 feet above the surgical lights.
White powder fell onto Alessandro’s custom suit.
He wiped debris from Genevieve’s face and repeatedly kissed her damp forehead.
The propofol had left her barely conscious.
Even so, her fingers still clutched his shirt.
Vincenzo’s voice came through the damaged door.
“Sandro.”
The words were distorted by gunfire but unmistakable.
“Give it up, my friend.”
There was amusement in his tone.
“You have nowhere to go.”
Another burst of automatic fire struck the corridor.
“Your men downstairs are already dead.”
Vincenzo continued.
“The police have been paid to ignore every call from this building for the next 20 minutes.”
He raised his voice.
“Give me the girl and step down.”
His final promise came through the smoke.
“I will make your death quick.”
Rage ignited inside Alessandro.
For 7 months, he had mourned Genevieve.
He had lived without sleep.
He had ripped his criminal empire apart searching for her while Vincenzo stood beside him pretending to share his grief.
Vincenzo had ordered Leo’s death.
He had created the false recordings that convinced Genevieve her husband had killed her brother.
He had turned Alessandro’s love into a weapon against him.
“Boss.”
Mateo changed magazines.
A red stain was spreading across his left shoulder where a ricochet had struck him.
He continued firing.
“We are running low.”
He glanced at the barricade.
“They have us pinned.”
Another burst hit the walls.
“We cannot hold that door much longer.”
Alessandro removed his damaged cashmere coat.
It fell onto the blood-covered floor.
He drew a customized matte-black tactical pistol and checked the chamber with mechanical calm.
“You only need to hold it for 3 more minutes.”
He looked toward Mateo.
“Aim for their knees.”
His voice remained cold.
“Let them bleed in the hallway.”
“Got her!”
Dr. Hayes’s shout cut through the gunfire.
Time seemed to stop.
Alessandro turned immediately.
The surgeon lifted a tiny body from Genevieve’s opened abdomen.
The infant was impossibly small.
She was covered in fluid.
She did not move.
She made no sound.
Panic closed around Alessandro’s throat.
“Why isn’t she crying?”
His voice broke.
“Doctor, why is she not making a sound?”
“Quiet.”
Dr. Hayes immediately reached for a suction bulb.
He began clearing the child’s airway.
The nurses moved toward him with heated blankets.
Dr. Hayes massaged the infant’s tiny chest.
Seconds lengthened.
The gunfire beyond the room became distant noise.
Alessandro could see nothing except the silent body of his child.
He had spent 7 months searching for Genevieve.
He had found her only hours before.
Now he faced the possibility of losing their child before she had taken a full breath.
Then the infant coughed.
A small, sputtering sound escaped her.
It was followed by a sharp, furious cry.
Alessandro closed his eyes.
It was the most beautiful sound he had heard in all 34 years of his life.
The newborn’s voice cut through the violence surrounding them.
“It’s a girl,” Dr. Hayes announced.
For the 1st time, the stern surgeon smiled.
“A healthy and extremely angry baby girl.”
He clamped and cut the umbilical cord.
“Wrap her and get her into the transport incubator.”
Tears moved down Alessandro’s face, cutting paths through the dust and grime.
He bent close to Genevieve’s ear.
“Evie.”
His voice shook.
“You did it.”
He tried to breathe.
“She’s perfect.”
A smile broke through his tears.
“We have a daughter.”
Genevieve’s eyelids opened slightly.
Her unfocused eyes found him.
A weak smile touched her mouth.
Then the anesthesia pulled her fully into unconsciousness.
Alessandro slowly stood.
The nurse placed his screaming daughter into a reinforced transport incubator near the rear of the delivery room.
Genevieve’s chest continued rising and falling while Dr. Hayes began closing the surgical incisions.
Something changed inside Alessandro.
The frightened husband disappeared.
The leader of the Romano syndicate returned.
Vincenzo had brought his war into the 1 place Alessandro would never forgive.
He had endangered Genevieve.
He had endangered Alessandro’s newborn daughter.
“Mateo.”
Alessandro’s voice dropped.
“Take 2 men.”
He looked toward the adjoining room.
“Move the doctor and my family into the sterilization room.”
His expression was absolute.
“There is no hallway access from there.”
He stepped closer to Mateo.
“Nobody gets through.”
Mateo nodded.
“And you, boss?”
Alessandro pulled back the slide of his pistol.
“I am ending my period as a merciful man.”
Smoke filled the VIP corridor.
It hung low and bitter in the air.
Vincenzo’s mercenaries moved forward carefully, using the overturned reception desk and marble columns for cover.
They were heavily armed.
They were confident in their numbers.
They did not realize that Alessandro had stopped thinking defensively.
He did not leave through the delivery-room entrance.
Instead, he entered an adjoining supply closet.
Near the floor, he kicked through a ventilation grate leading into an electrical crawl space beside the main corridor.
He moved silently through the darkness.
The cries of his newborn daughter remained in his mind.
Alessandro emerged through a service panel behind the reception desk.
He had reached the rear of Vincenzo’s formation.
He did not issue a warning.
2 suppressed shots dropped the mercenaries at the back before either could turn around.
Alessandro moved forward.
His movements were controlled and fluid.
3 more men fell.
Weapons struck the linoleum.
The rest of Vincenzo’s soldiers began shouting as they realized the attack was coming from behind them.
Near the elevator bank, Vincenzo turned.
He held a customized revolver.
For the 1st time, fear entered his face.
He watched his force collapse around him while Alessandro advanced through the smoke.
“Kill him!”
Vincenzo grabbed 1 of his own men and forced him forward as a human shield.
“Shoot him!”
Bullets struck the walls.
Alessandro continued moving.
He calculated the direction of the fire, moved inside the reach of an approaching mercenary, and drove the butt of his pistol into the man’s jaw.
The impact broke it.
Alessandro used the falling body as temporary cover and fired into the remaining shooters.
Within moments, the corridor became quiet.
Only the groans of wounded men and the distant sound of approaching sirens remained.
Vincenzo stood alone.
His revolver trembled in his hand.
Sweat covered his face.
Dust and debris had ruined his expensive suit.
Alessandro stopped approximately 10 feet away.
He was unharmed.
His eyes regarded the man who had once mentored him with the detachment of an executioner.
“Sandro.”
Vincenzo stepped backward until his shoulders touched the elevator doors.
“Listen to me.”
He tried to control his breathing.
“We can solve this.”
Alessandro said nothing.
“I can give you the Costa territories.”
Vincenzo’s voice became more desperate.
“I can give you everything.”
He stared at Alessandro.
“The girl clouded your judgment.”
His breathing accelerated.
“A Don cannot rule through sentiment.”
“You killed Leo.”
Alessandro’s voice contained no emotion.
Vincenzo swallowed.
“Leo was a liability.”
He attempted to straighten.
“He was stealing from us.”
His old confidence briefly returned.
“I did what was necessary to protect the family.”
Vincenzo spread his free hand.
“Then I used his death to give us justification for destroying the Costas.”
His voice hardened.
“It was business.”
“You manufactured recordings that made my wife believe I murdered her own brother.”
Alessandro took 1 deliberate step closer.
“You forced my pregnant wife to run from her home believing I wanted her dead.”
Another step.
“You made her give birth inside a war zone.”
“I didn’t know she was pregnant.”
Vincenzo’s finger shook against the revolver’s trigger.
“I swear to God, Sandro.”
His voice cracked.
“I did not know.”
Alessandro stopped.
“God is not the person you answer to tonight.”
Vincenzo shouted and fired.
His hands were shaking too badly.
The bullet struck the ceiling.
Alessandro raised his pistol.
He fired once.
Vincenzo collapsed.
The revolver slipped from his hand.
He fell against the elevator doors with both hands clutching his chest.
Shock remained frozen across his face as his life ended in the smoke-filled corridor.
Alessandro lowered his weapon.
He stared at the man who had taught him how to rule.
There was no satisfaction.
There was no triumph.
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He wanted only to return to Genevieve and their daughter.
He turned his back on Vincenzo and walked toward the ruined delivery room.
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