Chapter 5 - THE PRICE OF LOYALTY
Time stopped. The flame of the lighter cast dancing shadows across Sophia’s tear-streaked face. Below her, the drained pool reeked of fumes, a massive bomb waiting for a single spark.
Daniel let out a broken, strangled gasp. He wrenched himself out of my arms and hit the tiled floor running.
“Daniel, stop!” I screamed.
He didn't listen. He sprinted toward the edge of the pool, completely ignoring the gasoline fumes, and threw himself at his little sister. He didn't tackle her; he wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his face in her shoulder, holding her hand that clutched the lighter tight against his own chest so she couldn't drop it.
Sophia sobbed, leaning into him. “Danny...”
Luca moved. He closed the distance in three massive strides, enveloping both his children in his arms. With agonizing care, he pried the lighter from Sophia’s stiff fingers and snapped the lid shut.
The flame vanished. The darkness swallowed the room, save for the red emergency lights.
Luca collapsed backward against the tiled wall, pulling both children into his lap. He buried his face in Sophia’s dark curls, his massive shoulders shaking as a terrifying sob tore from his chest. The mafia king, utterly broken by the weight of the children he had almost lost.
I stood by the door, tears streaming down my face, giving them this sacred, fragile moment.
But the words Sophia had spoken echoed in my mind, sharp as broken glass.
Mommy will never wake up from the glass box.
“Sophia, sweetheart,” I stepped forward softly, kneeling beside Luca. “Where is your mommy? Where is the glass box?”
Sophia sniffled, wiping her nose on Luca’s expensive suit jacket. “Down the scary hall. Where the air goes hiss.”
My eyes widened. I looked at Luca. “The hyperbaric chamber. It’s in the advanced respiratory ward. Two floors down.”
Luca handed the lighter to me. He stood up, lifting Sophia in his left arm and gripping his pistol in his right. He looked down at Daniel. “Stay behind Emily. Hold her hand. Do not let go.”
Daniel nodded fiercely, grabbing my fingers with a grip that bruised.
We ran to the stairwell. The clinic was a tomb, entirely deserted by the night staff. Marco had clearly paid everyone off or threatened them into leaving.
We descended two flights, pushing open the heavy fire doors to Level B. The advanced respiratory ward.
It was freezing down here. The hum of massive generators vibrated through the floorboards. At the end of the long corridor was a reinforced glass room. Inside sat the hyperbaric chamber—a massive, clear acrylic tube resembling a submarine, used for severe tissue healing and oxygen therapy.
We sprinted toward it.
Inside the transparent tube lay a woman.
She was thin, her cheekbones hollow, her dark hair cropped short. Wires and IV tubes spider-webbed across her pale arms. A breathing mask covered her nose and mouth.
Luca slammed his hands against the thick acrylic. “Elena! Elena, wake up!”
She didn't stir.
I looked at the electronic control panel on the side of the chamber. My heart stopped.
The screen was shattered. Someone had taken a hammer to the motherboard. Red warning lights flashed wildly. The digital readout for internal oxygen levels was plummeting.
O2 SATURATION: 18%... 17%...
“She’s suffocating,” I panicked, grabbing a metal medical tray and slamming it against the acrylic glass. It bounced off without making a scratch. “Mr. Moretti, it’s sealed electronically! Without the panel, it’s a vacuum. We have to break the seal!”
Luca stepped back, raising his gun to shoot the lock, but before he could pull the trigger, a voice dripped from the shadows behind us.
“I wouldn't do that, Luca. The glass is bulletproof. The ricochet will kill your precious maid.”
We spun around.
Vanessa stepped out of the dark medical supply room. She had traded her champagne gown for a sleek, black trench coat. In one hand, she held a heavy iron wrench. In the other, she held a suppressed 9mm pistol, pointed directly at my chest.
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Beside her stood Marco, his weapon leveled at Luca’s head.
“She was supposed to die in childbirth, Luca,” Vanessa said, her voice trembling with a mixture of hatred and desperate sorrow. “She hemorrhaged. I paid the doctors to let her fade. I just wanted to take her place. I loved you so much. But she just wouldn't let go.”
