Chapter 9 - THE PRICE OF PROTECTION
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Rocco reached the guest wing in less than two minutes.
Two guards were already inside the corridor, and Elena stood outside the bedroom, shaking so violently that she could barely hold the door handle.
“Sophia is in there,” she cried. “Someone came through the window.”
Rocco pushed past her.
The room was empty.
The window stood open, curtains whipping in the cold air. Sophia's stuffed rabbit lay on the floor beside a broken glass.
On the bed was a folded piece of paper.
Rocco opened it.
Bring the baby to the old chapel by midnight. Come alone, or the girl disappears forever.
Dominic arrived behind him.
“This is a trap.”
“Obviously.”
“You cannot go alone.”
“I won't.”
Rocco turned to Elena.
“Your daughter is going to come home.”
Elena grabbed his sleeve.
“Please don't make promises you can't keep.”
He looked at her.
“I don't make promises I don't intend to keep.”
Within minutes, the mansion was sealed, every vehicle checked, and every guard questioned. Rocco ordered the baby moved to a secure medical facility under a false name.
But before the transfer could begin, the physician discovered that the child's blanket contained a hidden tracking device.
Someone had known exactly where the infant was being kept.
The realization sent a chill through the room.
The leak had come from inside.
Dominic checked the guard roster and identified a security officer who had recently received a large payment. The man vanished before he could be questioned.
Rocco sent a decoy vehicle toward the chapel while another team searched the roads around the estate.
At 11:47 p.m., a phone rang inside the abandoned chapel.
Rocco answered.
“Where is the girl?”
A man's voice replied.
“You have something I want.”
“The baby?”
“The truth.”
“Then tell me what you want.”
“Bring the child. Leave your men outside. If I see anyone else, the girl dies.”
The call ended.
Dominic studied the location map.
“There's an old service tunnel beneath the chapel. It connects to a disused maintenance road.”
Rocco handed him his coat.
“Secure both exits. Quietly.”
He entered the chapel alone, carrying an empty infant carrier. Moonlight passed through broken stained-glass windows, casting fractured colors across the floor.
Sophia sat in the front pew with her hands tied loosely in front of her. Claire Donovan stood behind her, holding a small knife.
Sophia's face was pale, but her eyes were dry.
“Mr. Moretti,” she whispered.
“I'm here.”
Claire raised the knife.
“Put the carrier down.”
Rocco obeyed.
“Let the girl go.”
“I can't.”
“Then you've made your final mistake.”
Claire laughed nervously.
“You still think you're in control. Victor Sterling owns half the officials in this city. If you expose him, he'll destroy you.”
“Maybe.”
“He'll destroy your wife, too.”
Rocco's expression hardened.
“Valentina has nothing to do with this.”
Claire looked startled.
“You really don't know?”
“Know what?”
Claire glanced at Sophia.
Then she whispered, “Your wife ordered the baby removed. But your father-in-law wasn't trying to kill the child. He was trying to keep it away from someone else.”
A sound came from the tunnel.
Claire turned.
That fraction of a second was enough.
Rocco crossed the distance, knocked the knife from her hand, and pulled Sophia behind him.
Dominic's men stormed through the side entrance.
Claire was restrained.
Sophia clung to Rocco's coat.
“Is the baby safe?”
“Yes.”
She began to cry.
Rocco held her carefully, awkwardly, like a man who had forgotten how to comfort anyone.
Then Claire looked up from the floor.
May you like
“Ask Valentina who the baby's mother really is,” she said.
“Because if you think this is about inheritance, you haven't understood anything.”
