Chapter 5 - THE HIDDEN BRACELET
“Call the doctor! Now!”
Alessandro’s voice tore through the estate like a thunderclap.
He didn’t wait for an answer. He gathered Lily’s small, limp body against his chest, his large hands cradling her fragile head. He sprinted toward the estate’s private elevator, bypassing the grand staircase entirely. Rosa scrambled to her feet and ran after him, her heart trapped in her throat.
The medical wing of the Moretti estate was located in the basement, a fully equipped trauma center designed to handle gunshot wounds and emergencies the family couldn't afford to take to a public hospital.
Alessandro kicked the double doors open.
Dr. Evans, a retired combat surgeon who had been on the Moretti payroll for ten years, was already washing his hands at the scrub sink. Mr. Bruno’s radio call had reached him seconds earlier.
“Put her on the center bed,” Dr. Evans ordered, snapping on a pair of latex gloves. “What happened?”
“She fainted,” Rosa sobbed, hovering terrified at the edge of the bed as Alessandro gently laid their daughter down. “She has a congenital blood anomaly. She’s due for a transfusion next week. The stress—the yelling—it must have triggered a drop in her pressure!”
Dr. Evans moved swiftly, attaching pediatric sensors to Lily’s chest and slipping a tiny blood pressure cuff around her arm. The monitor beeped rapidly, filling the sterile white room with the sound of the little girl’s frantic heartbeat.
Alessandro stood rigidly at the foot of the bed. His hands were coated in a cold sweat. He had stared down the barrels of rival guns without blinking, but watching this tiny, helpless child—his child—fighting for breath terrified him in a way he had never known.
“Her pressure is bottoming out,” Dr. Evans said grimly, prepping an IV line. “I need to push fluids and stabilize her iron levels. Rosa, I need you to hold her arm steady.”
Rosa didn’t hesitate. She stepped forward, her maternal instincts overriding her panic. She held Lily’s small, pale arm, whispering softly in Spanish to soothe her even as the child remained unconscious.
Alessandro watched them. The fierce, undeniable bond between mother and daughter. He felt a profound, crushing guilt that he had been absent for the first three years of her life, even if he hadn’t known she existed.
Suddenly, the heavy metal doors of the medical wing hissed open.
Mr. Bruno rushed in. His usual composure was severely strained. In his gloved hands, he held the stuffed rabbit, Bun, and the heavy gold bracelet that had fallen from it.
“Boss,” Mr. Bruno said urgently, stepping away from the medical bed to speak quietly. “You need to see this.”
Alessandro tore his eyes away from Lily and stepped into the corridor with the butler.
He took the heavy gold bracelet. It was undeniably Vincent Romano’s. He had seen the Chicago boss wearing it at the engagement dinner.
“Rosa said Lily found this in the gardens three weeks ago,” Alessandro muttered, turning the heavy jewelry over in his palm. “How did Romano drop this on my property without my men seeing him?”
“He didn’t drop it, Boss,” Mr. Bruno said softly.
The butler reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of silver tweezers. He gently pried open the thick clasp of the gold bracelet.
Hidden inside the hollowed-out metal was a microscopic black square, no larger than a grain of rice. A tiny red light blinked rhythmically on its surface.
Alessandro’s blood turned to ice.
“A GPS transmitter,” Alessandro realized, his voice a dangerous hiss. “Coupled with an audio bug.”
“Yes, Boss,” Mr. Bruno confirmed. “Miss Isabella must have planted it inside the child’s toy. They haven't just been tracking the girl. They’ve been listening to everything she hears. Every conversation in the kitchen, the hallways, the gardens.”
Alessandro crushed the bracelet in his fist, the sharp edges of the gold biting into his palm.
Isabella hadn't just been a cruel fiancée. She had turned his own daughter into a walking surveillance device. The Romanos knew the estate’s security patrol routes. They knew the blind spots. They knew exactly how many men were currently guarding the perimeter.
And because of the bug, they knew Alessandro had just discovered the truth.
A sudden, deafening explosion rocked the estate.
The concrete walls of the basement shuddered, sending dust raining down from the fluorescent lights. The lights flickered, died, and were instantly replaced by the eerie red glow of the emergency backup generators.
“They breached the front gate,” Mr. Bruno said, his voice flat, devoid of fear.
Alessandro drew the heavy automatic pistol from his shoulder holster. His face became a mask of pure, unadulterated violence. The Don of the Moretti family had returned.
“Lock the medical wing,” Alessandro ordered. “Do not open this door for anyone except me.”
Before Mr. Bruno could move to the reinforced steel doors, the intercom on the wall crackled to life in a burst of static.
Gunfire echoed faintly through the speaker, followed by the sound of breaking glass.
Then, a voice spoke. It was smooth, dark, and filled with a terrifying amusement.
“Alessandro,” Vincent Romano’s voice echoed through the medical wing. “I’m disappointed. You canceled the wedding without even calling me. I had to come all the way from Chicago to see what the problem was.”
Alessandro stepped up to the intercom, pressing the talk button.
“You are a dead man, Vincent. You stepped onto my property.”
“Your property currently has fifty of my men walking through the front door,” Vincent replied smoothly. “But I didn't come here to kill you, Alessandro. We can still salvage this alliance.”
“There is no alliance.”
“There is,” Vincent corrected. “If you give me the girl.”
Rosa, who had been listening from Lily’s bedside, let out a sharp gasp. She pulled her daughter closer, her eyes wide with terror.
“She is the heir to your empire, Alessandro,” Vincent continued through the static. “If I take her, my family controls your legacy. Hand her over, and I’ll leave you and the maid alive.”
“Come down here and try to take her,” Alessandro growled.
“I don't need to come down there,” Vincent laughed darkly. “I already have someone on the inside.”
Alessandro’s head snapped toward the double doors.
The heavy steel doors to the medical wing suddenly burst open.
Standing in the doorway, breathless and desperate, was Isabella. She had broken out of the guest quarters.
May you like
In her shaking hands, she held a silver, snub-nosed revolver.
And she was pointing it directly at Rosa.
