"I Can’t Do This Anymore," The Drunken Mafia Boss Knocked on My Door Saying He Needed Me.

But his attention had shifted to the phone.

“Daniel,” he said.

My father laughed without humor.

“You sound disappointed.”

“You were always difficult to kill.”

“You were always careless when you believed you had succeeded.”

Raphael’s gaze moved between Vittorio and me.

“Where is my daughter?”

“Lakeview Memorial,” Daniel answered. “The old pediatric ward.”

Raphael took one step toward the phone.

“Is she alive?”

“Yes.”

“Is she safe?”

“No.”

The single word changed the temperature of the room.

Raphael looked at Vittorio.

“What did you do?”

Vittorio’s fingers tightened around the weapon.

“I preserved this family.”

“You murdered my wife.”

“Cecilia chose sentiment over survival.”

Raphael’s face became empty.

I had learned enough about him to understand emptiness was more dangerous than rage.

“She discovered the program,” Vittorio continued. “She intended to give records to federal investigators. Do you know what would have happened? Every account frozen. Every alliance destroyed. Hundreds of families without protection.”

“You killed her to protect money.”

“I killed her because you were too weak to control her.”

Raphael moved so quickly Damian barely caught his arm.

Sabine cried out as Vittorio dragged her backward.

“Let him go,” she gasped. “He’ll kill me anyway.”

“No,” Raphael said.

His voice cracked on the word.

Vittorio smiled.

“There. That weakness again.”

I looked at Marco.

The security chief stood near the library wall, hands still raised. His eyes moved toward the service door.

He was waiting for something.

Or someone.

Outside, engines approached.

Not one vehicle.

Several.

Marco smiled.

“Your uncle brought reinforcements.”

Gunfire erupted in the courtyard.

The library windows shattered.

Men dropped behind furniture.

Vittorio pulled Sabine toward the side exit.

I seized the metal box and struck his wrist with it.

The gun fired into the ceiling.

Sabine twisted free.

Raphael crossed the room and drove Vittorio against the wall.

For one terrible second, his hand closed around his uncle’s throat.

Vittorio smiled through the pressure.

“Kill me, and you’ll never find the access code.”

“What code?”

“The one keeping your daughter alive.”

Raphael stopped.

Vittorio used the hesitation to slam his head forward.

Raphael staggered.

Marco fired toward Damian, then dragged Vittorio through the service doorway.

They disappeared into the gunfire outside.

Raphael recovered and turned toward me.

“Are you hurt?”

“No.”

“Sabine?”

“I’m fine,” she said, though blood ran from a cut near her temple.

Damian looked through the broken window.

“Vittorio’s men are closing the front drive.”

Raphael took command immediately.

“Evacuate the staff through the north tunnel. Lock down the east wing. Freddy, take Sabine.”

“I’m going with you,” Sabine said.

“No.”

“I spent three years believing Cecilia and the children were dead. You will not order me to wait in another room.”

Raphael’s expression softened for half a breath.

Then he looked at me.

“You stay with Freddy.”

“No.”

“Elena.”

“My father asked for both of us. Sofia may trust me because of my mother. Micah certainly will.”

“You are not trained for this.”

“I am trained to keep sick children breathing.”

That ended the argument.

We left through the underground garage in two vehicles.

Damian drove. Raphael sat beside him. I rode in the back with Sabine, the medical files spread across our knees.

Micah’s records revealed repeated treatments using an experimental drug identified only as V-17. Sofia’s file contained the same code.

“What is V-17?” Sabine asked.

“A gene-targeting compound,” I said. “It suppresses a specific immune response.”

“Why would Vittorio use it?”

“To make children medically dependent.”

Raphael turned from the front seat.

“Explain.”

“The compound may stabilize them temporarily, but withdrawal could cause organ failure. If Sofia has been receiving it for years, stopping suddenly could kill her.”

“The access code,” he said.

“Vittorio may control the dosage system.”

Damian accelerated.

Lakeview Memorial rose from the industrial district like a burned skeleton.

The neonatal wing had collapsed after the fire, but the central building remained standing behind chain-link fencing.

My father waited near a broken ambulance entrance.

Raphael exited first, weapon drawn.

Daniel raised his hands.

The scar near his ear was larger than it had appeared on camera.

“You took my son,” Raphael said.

“I saved him from Vittorio.”

“You kidnapped him from a hospital.”

“Because Marco’s men were already inside.”

“Where are the children?”

Daniel looked at me.

“Micah is downstairs. Sofia is on the fifth floor.”

“Why separate them?”

“Because Vittorio built this place to ensure no one could save both.”

A distant alarm began sounding.

Red lights flashed inside the hospital.

Daniel looked upward.

“He activated the purge protocol.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“The building seals. The medication lines stop. Oxygen shuts down in the lower ward.”

Micah.

Raphael moved toward the entrance.

Daniel blocked him.

“You have six minutes. The stairwell divides at the second floor. Left goes to Micah. Right goes to Sofia.”

“We split up,” Raphael said.

“No,” Daniel answered. “Vittorio’s system requires Raphael’s biometric scan on both floors. He designed it so one father would have to choose which child survived.”

Raphael stared at the burning red lights.

For three years, he had believed both children dead.

Now he had six minutes to decide which one to save.

He looked at me.

I saw the answer before he spoke.