Chapter 3 – THE FORGED SIGNATURE

“Emma!”

Leonardo rushed to my side, catching me as my knees buckled.

He eased me back into the chair.

The pain radiated through my lower back, gripping my abdomen like a vice.

“Breathe,” Leonardo commanded softly, his hand resting on my shoulder. “Look at me, Emma. Breathe.”

I gasped, gripping his wrist.

“My baby… it’s too early…”

“I know.” He looked up, his dark eyes snapping to Dr. Thorne. “What did you do to her?”

Dr. Thorne checked his watch, looking entirely unbothered.

“Nothing. But the stress of this evening seems to have accelerated the timeline. Which works out perfectly.”

Thorne looked at Richard.

“Call the clinic. Tell the surgical team to prep the private suite. We’ll take her in my car.”

“Nobody is taking her anywhere!” Leonardo roared.

He stepped in front of me, shielding my body with his own.

“Anthony forged my signature. That document is void.”

Anthony scoffed from across the room.

“Try proving that in family court, Leonardo. By the time the ink dries on the injunction, the baby will already be in Bianca’s arms.”

Bianca wiped her tears, a cruel, triumphant smile returning to her face.

“It’s over, Leonardo. Let her go. You’ll still get to be an uncle.”

Another contraction hit me.

It was stronger this time. I doubled over, burying my face in my hands.

“Sir,” I sobbed. “Please… don’t let them take my baby.”

Leonardo knelt beside me.

He took my shaking hands in his.

“They are never touching you, Emma. I swear it on my brother’s life.”

He stood up, turning to face the four people who had conspired to destroy his family.

He didn’t reach for his phone. He didn’t call for his guards.

He simply reached into his vest pocket.

He pulled out a heavy gold pocket watch.

I recognized it instantly. It was the watch Matteo wore on our wedding day.

Leonardo flipped the lid open.

He didn’t check the time. He pressed a small button on the side.

A high-pitched beep echoed through the dining room.

Richard frowned. “What did you just do?”

Leonardo closed the watch.

“Matteo knew he was being followed before he died. He knew he couldn’t trust his own attorney. He knew the clinic was compromised.”

Leonardo looked at Dr. Thorne.

“But Matteo wasn’t just a romantic fool. He was a Moretti.”

Heavy footsteps echoed in the hallway outside the dining room.

Not the sound of Leonardo’s security guards.

The sound of dozens of boots hitting the marble floor in unison.

The grand doors swung open violently.

Fifteen men in dark suits stepped into the room. They weren’t armed with handguns. They carried automatic rifles.

At the front of the group was an older man with silver hair and a deep scar across his cheek.

Don Carmine. The head of the Chicago Commission.

Richard Romano collapsed into his chair.

Dr. Thorne dropped the velvet box.

Anthony dropped his briefcase.

“Leonardo,” Don Carmine said, his voice like gravel. “We received the signal.”

Leonardo nodded respectfully.

“Don Carmine. Thank you for coming.”

Carmine looked at the terrified people in the room.

“Your brother came to me three days before his accident,” Carmine said, addressing the room. “He provided proof that Richard Romano was embezzling from the Commission’s pension funds to finance an illegal trafficking clinic.”

Carmine’s cold eyes locked onto Richard.

“You stole from the families, Richard.”

Richard fell to his knees.

“Carmine, please! I can explain! The merger—”

“The merger is dead,” Carmine interrupted.

He looked at Leonardo.

“The Commission demands a life for a life. Matteo was taken from us. Who pays the debt?”

Leonardo looked at Bianca. Then at Richard.

Then he pointed at Dr. Thorne.

“He does. But first, he’s going to tell us where my brother’s first child is.”

Dr. Thorne backed away, his arrogant smile completely gone.

“I don’t know! The records are encrypted!”

Carmine nodded to his men.

Two massive enforcers grabbed Thorne by the arms.

Suddenly, I screamed.

A gush of warm fluid soaked my apron.

My water had broken.

“Leonardo!” I gasped, sliding out of the chair.

He caught me before I hit the floor.

He looked down at the blood pooling on the marble.

“We have to get her to the hospital,” Leonardo said, his voice tight with panic.

“My men will clear the roads,” Carmine said.

But as Leonardo lifted me into his arms, Bianca suddenly laughed. It was a manic, broken sound.

She held up Anthony’s phone.

“You’re too late, Leonardo. I just texted Thorne’s private security team at the gate. The estate is locked down from the outside. Nobody gets to a hospital tonight.”

Share