Chapter 6 - THE WATCH FROM THE NIGHT OF THE CRASH
The emergency lights cast long, terrifying shadows across the infirmary.
"Where did you get that watch, Evelyn?" Marcus Bellini demanded, his voice dropping into a panicked hiss.
My mother held the tarnished silver timepiece up by its broken chain.
"I was an ER nurse ten years ago, Marcus," my mother said, her voice echoing with decades of hidden strength. "I was on shift the night Clara Moretti was brought in after her car crash. The night you bribed the chief of surgery to tell Luca his wife and baby died."
Luca’s chest heaved. He stared at my mother, the pieces finally falling into place.
"You knew," Luca whispered.
"I didn't just know," my mother said, tears in her eyes. "I saved Leo. Marcus’s men were supposed to inject the baby with a lethal toxin to make it look like a stillbirth. I swapped the syringe. I kept him breathing. And when Marcus realized the boy was alive, he stole him to use as leverage."
"Shut up!" Marcus roared, raising the gun again.
"I won't shut up!" my mother yelled back. "You thought you covered your tracks, Marcus. You thought nobody saw you run Clara’s car off the road that night!"
She pointed the silver watch at him like a weapon.
"But you dropped this in the wreckage," my mother said fiercely. "Clara’s hand was clutching it when the paramedics pulled her out. It has your initials on the back, Marcus. It has your DNA on the latch. It’s the proof that Clara’s death wasn't an accident. It was murder."
The silence in the room was absolute.
Luca didn't move. He didn't breathe. The realization that the man standing in front of him had personally murdered the love of his life and stolen his child eclipsed all human emotion.
Luca became something entirely different. A predator unchained.
"You killed my wife," Luca whispered.
Marcus took a step backward, genuine terror finally breaking through his arrogance. "Luca, be reasonable. It was business. We can still—"
Marcus didn't get to finish the sentence.
Luca lunged forward with terrifying speed. He didn't use his gun. He grabbed Marcus by the throat, slamming the older man against the concrete wall so hard the drywall shattered.
Marcus dropped his pistol, gagging, grabbing desperately at Luca’s hands.
"You don't get to negotiate," Luca growled, his voice vibrating with pure, unadulterated hatred. "You don't get a trial. You don't get to breathe the same air as my son."
"Luca, stop!" I screamed, running forward and grabbing his arm. "If you kill him like this, you're no better than he is! Leo is watching! Don't let your son's first memory of you be a murder!"
Luca froze.
He looked over his shoulder.
Leo was watching from the gurney, his small eyes wide with fear, clutching my mother’s hand.
Luca closed his eyes. The tension slowly drained from his massive shoulders. He dropped Marcus to the floor. The mafia boss gasped for air, coughing violently.
"Daniel," Luca ordered, his voice cold and dead. "Take him. Hand him over to the Commission. Give them the watch. Let the families execute him."
Daniel and two guards hauled Marcus to his feet, dragging the broken man out of the room.
Luca walked back to the gurney. He fell to his knees again, taking Leo’s hand.
"I'm sorry you had to see that, buddy," Luca whispered.
Leo didn't pull away. He looked at Luca, then at me.
"Is the bad man gone?" Leo asked weakly.
"He's gone forever," I promised, brushing the sweaty hair from his forehead.
But as I touched him, a terrifying alarm began to blare from the battery-powered heart monitor.
Leo’s eyes rolled back. His body convulsed violently.
"Mom!" I panicked, grabbing his shoulders. "What's happening?!"
"His heart is failing!" my mother yelled, frantically checking the IV lines. "The medication Marcus was giving him wasn't treatment, Sophie. It was a suppressive toxin! He was keeping the boy sick so he couldn't run away! And now he's going into cardiac arrest!"
Luca backed away, his hands in his hair, a sound of pure agony tearing from his throat. "Do something! Save him!"
"I can't!" my mother cried, performing chest compressions. "He needs the antidote, or his heart will stop in three minutes!"
We were in an abandoned school. The antidote was hours away.
Leo was dying on the table.
And then, from the doorway, a voice spoke.
May you like
"I have the antidote."
TITLE: THE CURE IN THE FIANCÉE'S PURSE
