Chapter 8 - SINS OF THE FATHER
The silence in the recovery room was deafening. The heart monitor beside Sebastian’s bed seemed to beep a little faster, a digital manifestation of the tension flooding the space. Sebastian opened his eyes, the vulnerability of the injured man instantly vanishing, replaced by the cold, calculating gaze of the crime boss.
"Put it on speaker," Sebastian ordered, his voice raspy but firm.
Dante tapped the screen and placed the phone on the tray table. "Volkov. You’re on with the Boss."
"Moretti," a heavily accented, deeply gravelly voice echoed from the speaker. Alexei Volkov sounded older, tired, but laced with a dangerous, aristocratic arrogance. "You have caused me a great deal of trouble tonight. My men are dead. My son's... indiscretion... is still breathing. And you have declared war on my syndicate for a street rat."
"That 'street rat' is under my protection, Alexei," Sebastian replied, his tone ice-cold. "Your men attacked a hospital. You crossed a line that even our kind don't cross. The blood on the floor tonight is on your hands."
"Spare me your sudden moral superiority, Sebastian," Volkov sneered. "We are monsters, you and I. We run this city through fear and blood. Do not pretend you care about one nameless bastard child. What do you want? Territory? Money? The docks? Name your price, hand over the child, and we can end this tonight before the streets run red with the blood of our soldiers."
I looked at Sebastian, my heart pounding in my throat. He was a criminal. A man who dealt in power and leverage. Volkov was offering him the keys to the city. Would he really turn down ultimate power for a premature baby?
Sebastian didn't even hesitate. "The child is not for sale, Alexei. And neither is my conscience. Not anymore."
Volkov laughed, a dry, humorless sound. "Then you are a fool, Moretti. If you will not sell him, I will take him. I have three hundred men mobilizing as we speak. I will tear this city down to its foundations. I will burn every business you own, kill every soldier loyal to you, and when you have nothing left, I will find that child and I will end his life in front of you."
"I’d like to see you try," Sebastian growled.
"Let us not waste men, Sebastian," Volkov said, his tone shifting to a dangerous, deceptive calm. "A parlay. A final sit-down. Just you and me, at the old shipyard on Pier 41. One hour. We settle this face-to-face, like the bosses we are. If you don't show, the war begins at dawn, and no one you care about will survive the week."
The line went dead.
Dante picked up the phone, his face pale. "Boss, it's a trap. Pier 41 is an abandoned labyrinth. He'll have snipers, heavy weapons. You can barely walk. If you go there, you die."
"If I don't go, he burns the city," Sebastian said, struggling to sit up. I immediately pushed him back down by his good shoulder.
"Are you insane?" I yelled. "You just had major surgery! You are heavily medicated and bleeding! You cannot go to a gangland shootout!"
"Clara," Sebastian said, looking up at me, his eyes softening. "Volkov is right about one thing. I am a monster. I have done terrible things to build this empire. Things I can never wash off my hands. But this child... he is innocent. He is a clean slate. If I have to trade my life, my empire, to ensure he gets to live a life free from this violence, then my life was worth something."
"No!" I cried, the tears spilling over. "You don't get to die! You just found a reason to live! You can't leave that baby—and you can't leave me—after everything we just survived!"
Sebastian reached up, his rough thumb gently wiping a tear from my cheek. The intimacy of the gesture in front of Dante was profound. "I'm not planning on dying, Clara. But I have to end this. Tonight." He looked at Dante. "Get me a combat vest. And get me adrenaline. I need to be on my feet in twenty minutes."
Dante looked torn, but his loyalty to Sebastian was absolute. "Yes, Boss."
Twenty minutes later, Sebastian was standing. It was a terrifying testament to sheer willpower. He was wearing black tactical pants, his chest wrapped in bandages and covered by a heavy Kevlar vest. He looked pale, but his eyes were burning with a lethal focus.
He walked down the hall to the NICU suite one last time. I stood beside him as he looked down at Baby Boy Miller.
"I'm going to finish this, Julian," Sebastian whispered, his hand resting on the plexiglass. "I promise you, you will wake up in a world where no one is hunting you."
He turned to me. "If I don't come back... Dante has instructions. The child will be provided for. And you... you take care of him, Clara. Promise me."
"Come back," I pleaded, grabbing the lapels of his vest, pulling him close. "Come back to us, Sebastian. Please."
May you like
He leaned down and pressed a soft, lingering kiss to my forehead. It felt like a vow. "I'll try."
He turned and walked out of the suite, Dante and a heavily armed crew following behind him. I watched the heavy steel doors of the Vanguard facility close, leaving me alone in the sterile silence, praying for a monster’s safe return.
