Chapter 5 - THE WOLF IN THE WARD
The words hung in the crimson-lit hallway, heavy and suffocating.
Victor says hello to your wife.
Leo Rossi, a man who had killed without hesitation to protect the Russo name, froze. The barrel of his own gun dipped a fraction of an inch. His eyes widened, the cold, impenetrable mask of the underboss shattering to reveal a terrified husband.
“Sarah,” Leo breathed, his voice cracking. “David, what did he do to Sarah?”
David’s hand trembled slightly as he kept the silenced pistol aimed squarely at Leo’s heart. “Victor took her two days ago, Leo. While you were busy preparing for the IPO drop. He told me if I didn't deliver the flash drive and trigger the poison on the boss's wife, Sarah would be mailed back to you in pieces.”
Dominic stood perfectly still. The betrayal was no longer just a business transaction; it was a psychological vivisection. Victor Romano was using the men Dominic loved to destroy the woman he worshipped.
“Put the gun down, David,” Dominic commanded. His voice was not loud, but it resonated with a terrifying, absolute authority. “Victor is playing you. If you pull that trigger, Sarah is dead anyway. You know how this world works. He leaves no loose ends.”
“I have no choice!” David shouted, a desperate, hysterical edge bleeding into his voice. “Victor is watching the security feeds! He hacked the hospital grid. He said I have to put a bullet in Leo to prove I’m not playing a double game, or he makes the call to kill Sarah!”
Dominic glanced up. In the corner of the ceiling, the small red light of a security camera blinked steadily, powered by the backup generator.
Victor was watching. This was a sick theater, designed to make Dominic watch his empire tear itself apart from the inside.
“David, listen to me,” Leo pleaded, taking a slow step forward, completely ignoring the gun pointed at him. “We can find her. We can get Sarah back. Don't do this. You've been my brother for ten years.”
“I’m sorry, Leo,” David sobbed, his finger whitening on the trigger. “I really am.”
He squeezed the trigger.
Dominic moved.
He didn't dive for cover. He didn't draw his own weapon. He threw his entire body weight laterally, slamming into Leo’s side a fraction of a second before the silenced pistol coughed.
The bullet tore through the air where Leo’s chest had been, shattering the reinforced glass of the fire extinguisher case on the wall behind them.
Dominic and Leo hit the linoleum floor hard. Before David could adjust his aim, Dominic pushed off the ground with terrifying speed, closing the distance in two massive strides.
He didn't throw a punch. He didn't try to wrestle the gun away.
Dominic grabbed David by the throat with his left hand, lifting the larger man three inches off the floor and slamming him backward into the cinderblock wall. The impact knocked the breath from David’s lungs, making him drop the pistol, which clattered harmlessly to the ground.
“You touched my wife,” Dominic snarled, his voice a demonic rasp in the red light. His hand tightened around David’s windpipe, crushing the cartilage. “You poisoned the mother of my child.”
David gagged, his hands clawing uselessly at Dominic’s iron grip. His eyes rolled back in his head.
“Dom, stop!” Leo yelled, scrambling to his feet. He grabbed Dominic’s shoulder. “Stop! If you kill him, I lose Sarah! He’s our only link to where she is!”
Dominic didn't let go. His eyes were completely black, devoid of anything human. The ghost of his father, Carlo Russo—the monster who killed children in the snow—stared out through Dominic’s face.
“Please, boss,” Leo begged, his voice breaking. “Please. For Sarah.”
Dominic held David there for three agonizing seconds. The man’s face was turning a deep, mottled purple.
With a roar of frustration, Dominic threw David to the floor.
David collapsed, gasping and coughing violently, clutching his bruised throat.
Dominic stood over him, breathing heavily, adjusting his blood-stained cuffs. “Where is she?”
David coughed up a speck of blood, leaning against the wall. “The... the old meatpacking plant. Over in the meat market district. Victor has her chained to a radiator in the basement. He’s got ten men on her.”
Leo didn't waste a second. He scooped up his gun, his face hardening back into stone. He looked at Dominic. “I have to go.”
“Go,” Dominic ordered. “Take the alpha strike team. Burn the building to the ground, but bring Sarah home.”
“Dom... Victor is coming here,” David gasped from the floor, looking up at them with terrified eyes. “The power outage wasn't just to let me in. It was to bypass the heavy biometric locks on the elevator shafts. Victor is in the building. He’s coming for the baby.”
The words hit Dominic like a physical blow.
He spun around, looking at the door to Room 4.
At that exact moment, a high-pitched, continuous alarm pierced the quiet hallway. It wasn't the building alarm.
It was the fetal monitor inside Amelia’s room.
Dominic abandoned David, sprinting the ten feet to the heavy door and shoving it open.
Inside, the red emergency lights cast deep shadows over the bed. Amelia was thrashing, the white sheets tangled around her legs. She was gripping the metal bedrails so hard her knuckles were bleeding.
“Amelia!” Dominic shouted, rushing to her side.
May you like
She looked up at him, her eyes wide with a pure, primal terror that made his blood run cold. The white sheets beneath her were stained with fresh, bright red blood.
“Dominic,” she screamed, her body arching in agony as a massive contraction seized her. She grabbed his hand with bone-crushing force. “The poison. It’s working. The baby... he’s coming. He’s coming right now.”
