Chapter 9 - The Longest NightMount Sinai Hospital went into lockdown at 12:47 a.m.
Dominic reached the building six minutes later.
Harper remained at The Obsidian with Elias, two cybersecurity specialists, and enough armed security to invade a small country.
She hated every second of separation.
But she had promised to remain where she could be useful.
The medical-record breach had provided a trail.
Matteo’s people had tunneled through a third-party healthcare contractor.
Elias’s team was following server access through New Jersey, Quebec, Iceland, and finally a private data center in Brooklyn.
“Can you locate him?” Harper asked.
“One device is transmitting from Red Hook.”
“Matteo?”
“Possibly.”
“Possibly is not good enough.”
Elias looked at her.
“You are beginning to sound exactly like your husband.”
“I’ll apologize later.”
Her phone rang.
Dominic.
She answered immediately.
“Madison?”
“Safe.”
Harper’s knees nearly weakened.
“What happened?”
“The man in medical scrubs was one of ours.”
She stared.
“What?”
“Matteo hacked the camera system but misunderstood the security rotation.”
Relief turned into disbelief.
“So Madison was never taken?”
“No.”
Harper closed her eyes.
“Dominic, I am going to kill you.”
“That seems unfair.”
“You left here believing she might be kidnapped.”
“So did you.”
“That does not improve your argument.”
His voice softened.
“She is safe.”
Harper breathed.
“Good.”
“Harper.”
“Yes?”
“Leave The Obsidian.”
She became still.
“Why?”
“We captured one of Matteo’s men outside the hospital.”
“And?”
“He talked.”
Something in Dominic’s voice frightened her.
“Matteo’s Red Hook signal is a decoy.”
Elias heard.
He turned.
“Where is he?”
Dominic answered through speaker.
“The Obsidian.”
Everyone froze.
Harper looked toward the ceiling.
The private club occupied six floors of a heavily protected Tribeca building.
“How?”
Elias demanded.
“Service tunnels from the neighboring property.”
Harper almost laughed from shock.
“Another tunnel?”
“Apparently my family has a tunnel problem.”
A distant explosion shook the building.
Lights flickered.
Then darkness.
Emergency lamps activated.
Elias drew his weapon.
“Move.”
Security surrounded Harper.
Gunfire sounded below.
The commission room erupted into shouting.
Several elderly crime bosses demonstrated remarkable speed when motivated.
Harper was rushed toward the private elevator.
It did not respond.
“Stairs.”
They entered a reinforced corridor.
Another explosion.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Harper covered her stomach.
The baby moved violently.
“I know,” she whispered. “I dislike this too.”
They reached the emergency stairwell.
Men were coming upward.
Elias raised his weapon.
“Russo!”
A voice shouted from below.
Friendly.
Three Russo soldiers appeared.
“Garage compromised.”
“Roof?”
“Possible extraction.”
Elias turned to Harper.
“We go up.”
They climbed.
Five floors.
Six.
Harper’s breathing became difficult.
Pregnancy had changed her body more rapidly than she expected.
Halfway to the roof, pain tightened suddenly across her abdomen.
She stopped.
Elias looked back.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Mrs. Russo.”
“Do not call Dominic.”
“Is something wrong?”
“No.”
Another cramp.
Stronger.
Harper gripped the railing.
Elias became pale.
“I am calling him.”
“Elias.”
He was already dialing.
Dominic answered instantly.
“What happened?”
Elias looked terrified in a way Harper had never seen.
“I believe your wife may be in labor.”
Silence.
Then Dominic’s voice became dangerously calm.
“She is twenty-nine weeks pregnant.”
“I am aware.”
Harper grabbed the phone.
“I am not in labor.”
Pain tightened again.
She closed her eyes.
Dominic heard her breathing.
“Harper.”
“It is probably stress.”
“Are contractions regular?”
“How would I know?”
“Time them.”
“Dominic, people are shooting downstairs.”
“I am coming.”
“No.”
“Do not tell me no.”
“Madison needs you.”
“She has twenty guards.”
“So do I.”
“I am coming.”
The call ended.
Elias looked at Harper.
“He sounded upset.”
“That was upset?”
“For him.”
They reached the roof.
A helicopter approached from the east.
Then gunfire erupted from an adjacent building.
The pilot pulled away.
“Down!” Elias shouted.
Harper dropped behind a ventilation structure.
Bullets struck concrete.
Russo guards returned fire.
Harper’s heart raced.
A second contraction began.
This one unmistakably stronger.
“No.”
She pressed her hand against her stomach.
“Not tonight.”
Elias crouched beside her.
“How long since the last?”
“I hate you.”
“Approximately four minutes?”
“Maybe.”
His face lost color.
Harper almost felt sorry for him.
“Do not faint.”
“I have been shot twice.”
“Childbirth is frightening you?”
“Profoundly.”
A door slammed open.
Matteo stepped onto the roof.
Two men stood beside him.
Everyone aimed weapons.
“Drop them,” Elias said.
Matteo smiled.
“You first.”
Harper stared.
He looked too calm.
Too confident.
Then she understood.
A third man stood behind them holding Carmine Falco’s remote security liaison at gunpoint.
Matteo had not entered The Obsidian merely to reach Harper.
He wanted the commission physically trapped.
“Harper,” Matteo said.
“Wonderful timing.”
She slowly stood behind Elias.
“You really enjoy dramatic entrances.”
“I learned from my father.”
“Vittorio?”
Matteo’s expression sharpened.
“Do not.”
There.
Again.
Harper understood that Matteo’s obsession was not truly about power.
It was about rejection.
Vittorio had chosen Dominic.
Everything afterward had grown from that wound.
“You spent ten years trying to prove a dead man wrong.”
Matteo’s jaw tightened.
“Be quiet.”
“He chose Dominic.”
“I said be quiet.”
“Not because of blood.”
Matteo aimed his gun toward her.
Elias moved.
Harper raised one hand.
“He chose Dominic because you frightened him.”
Rage transformed Matteo’s face.
“You know nothing.”
“I know he removed you.”
“My birthright—”
“Was never yours.”
Matteo stepped forward.
Another contraction hit.
Harper gasped.
His eyes dropped toward her stomach.
Something almost delighted appeared in his face.
“The heir is impatient.”
“You will never go near my child.”
“He is a Russo.”
Harper smiled despite the pain.
“Maybe.”
Matteo frowned.
“What?”
“Did no one tell you?”
She was gambling.
Buying time.
Dominic was coming.
Harper needed Matteo focused on her words.
“The doctors have not confirmed whether the baby is a boy.”
Matteo hesitated.
It was tiny.
But enough.
Elias moved.
Gunfire exploded.
Harper dropped.
One of Matteo’s men fell.
The second fired.
Elias staggered.
“Elias!”
He remained upright.
“Vest.”
More Russo soldiers entered from the stairwell.
Matteo grabbed Harper.
A gun pressed against her side.
Everything stopped.
Harper’s blood became ice.
“Back.”
Matteo pulled her toward the roof edge.
Elias aimed directly at him.
“Release her.”
“No.”
Harper could feel Matteo breathing behind her.
“You see?” he whispered.
“Your husband built his entire life around being untouchable.”
His arm tightened.
“Then you arrived.”
Harper’s voice remained surprisingly calm.
“And?”
“And now he can be controlled.”
The roof door opened again.
Dominic appeared.
He stopped.
The world seemed to narrow around him.
Matteo smiled.
“There he is.”
Dominic’s eyes moved to Harper.
Then to the gun.
“Let her go.”
“Drop your weapon.”
Dominic placed his pistol on the roof.
Elias looked at him.
“Boss.”
“Do it.”
Every Russo man lowered his weapon.
Matteo laughed.
“Look at you.”
Dominic remained still.
“What do you want?”
“Kneel.”
Harper’s heart stopped.
Dominic did not move.
Matteo pressed the gun harder.
“Kneel.”
Dominic slowly lowered himself to one knee.
Harper felt something break inside her.
Not because he looked weak.
Because she finally understood how completely he loved her.
Matteo had spent his life believing dominance was power.
Yet Dominic was willing to surrender every symbol of authority without hesitation.
That was power Matteo would never understand.
Harper looked at Dominic.
His eyes met hers.
A communication passed between them.
Trust me.
She did.
Harper let her knees collapse.
Matteo was not prepared for the sudden weight.
His grip shifted.
Dominic moved.
Everything happened at once.
He surged forward.
Elias fired.
Matteo spun.
Harper rolled away.
A shot cracked.
Dominic tackled his brother.
The gun slid across the roof.
They fought brutally.
Not elegantly.
Not like crime bosses.
Like two brothers carrying decades of hatred.
Matteo struck Dominic.
Dominic drove him backward.
Matteo reached for the fallen gun.
Harper saw it first.
“Dominic!”
Dominic turned.
Matteo fired.
Dominic jerked.
Harper screamed.
Russo soldiers opened fire.
Matteo stumbled backward.
For one suspended second, he stood at the edge of the building.
He looked at Dominic.
Not afraid.
Almost confused.
Then the damaged ledge beneath him broke.
Matteo disappeared into darkness.
Harper crawled toward Dominic.
Blood covered his shoulder.
“No.”
“I’m okay.”
“You were shot.”
“Shoulder.”
Another contraction seized her.
Harper doubled over.
Dominic’s face transformed.
“The baby.”
“I think…”
Warm liquid spread beneath her dress.
Her eyes widened.
“Oh God.”
Dominic stared.
Harper almost laughed hysterically.
“My water broke.”
The feared ruler of New York’s underworld looked genuinely panicked.
“Elias!”
Elias pressed one hand against his bruised vest.
“Yes.”
“Helicopter.”
“Still under fire risk.”
“Then ambulance.”
“Roads blocked.”
Dominic lifted Harper into his arms.
“Dominic, your shoulder.”
“I have another one.”
Despite everything, she laughed.
He carried her toward the stairs.
Behind them, men searched the roof edge for Matteo.
No body was immediately visible.
Harper knew what that meant.
Another Russo disappearing without certainty.
But she could not think about Matteo.
Not now.
Their baby was coming eleven weeks too early.
Dominic carried her through smoke-filled corridors while emergency lights flashed red across the walls.
Harper gripped his shirt.
“I’m scared.”
He looked down.
So was he.
“I know.”
“What if the baby—”
“No.”
“Dominic.”
“No.”
His voice broke.
“Our child survives.”
“You cannot command biology.”
“I command everything else.”
She almost smiled.
He pressed his forehead briefly against hers.
“Stay with me.”
“I am.”
Sirens sounded below.
The building doors opened.
Paramedics rushed toward them.
As Harper was transferred to a stretcher, she refused to release Dominic’s hand.
Neither of them noticed the security camera above the entrance.
Its red indicator light blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Then stopped.
Across the river, inside an empty apartment overlooking Manhattan, a laptop displayed that camera feed.
A man with blood on his shirt watched Harper’s ambulance disappear into the rain.
Matteo Russo touched the wound along his ribs.
Then he smiled.
May you like
The fall had not killed him.
And neither brother yet understood that the final battle had only begun.
