Chapter 6 – THE STOLEN HEIR

The delivery room felt like an icebox.

“She’s going after the girl,” Leonardo said, the reality setting in.

Bianca had lost everything tonight. Her merger, her freedom, her future with Leonardo.

She was a desperate woman with nothing left to lose, and she was heading straight for the only piece of leverage she had left—Matteo’s firstborn child.

“Where is the house, Carmine?” Leonardo demanded, tearing off the hospital scrubs.

“Oak Park,” Carmine replied, handing Leonardo his suit jacket. “My men are already en route, but she had a twenty-minute head start.”

Leonardo turned back to my bed.

He looked down at me, holding my newborn son against my chest.

“Emma, I have to go.”

“Bring her back, Leo,” I pleaded, tears in my eyes. “Matteo would want his daughter safe. Bring her home.”

Leonardo leaned down and kissed my forehead.

“I will guard this room with twenty men. Nobody gets in.”

He turned and sprinted out the door with Carmine.

The next hour was absolute torture.

Nurses checked my vitals. My baby boy—little Matteo—slept peacefully in my arms, entirely unaware of the chaos surrounding his birth.

I stared at the heavy wooden door of the hospital room, praying.

In Oak Park, a quiet, affluent suburb, a massive black SUV tore through a manicured lawn, slamming into the front porch of a two-story colonial home.

Leonardo kicked the door open before the vehicle had even fully stopped.

He drew his weapon, sprinting toward the shattered front door.

Inside, the house was eerily quiet.

He moved through the living room, his heart pounding.

“Clear!” one of Carmine’s men shouted from the kitchen.

“Clear upstairs!” another yelled.

Leonardo walked into the formal dining room.

Sitting at the head of the table, holding a small, terrified five-year-old girl by the arm, was Bianca.

Her red satin dress was torn and muddy. Her hair was a mess. She held a silver revolver pointed directly at the little girl’s head.

The girl had dark curly hair and bright green eyes.

Matteo’s eyes.

“Put the gun down, Bianca,” Leonardo said softly, stepping into the room.

Bianca laughed, a hysterical, broken sound.

“Don’t come any closer, Leonardo! I’ll do it! I swear to God I’ll do it!”

“You shoot her, and my men will tear you apart piece by piece,” Leonardo said calmly. “You know I don’t make empty threats.”

Bianca’s hand shook violently.

“It’s not fair! I did everything right! I secured the families! I got rid of the problems!”

“You murdered my brother.”

“Because he wouldn’t let it go!” she screamed. “He was going to ruin everything for a bastard child!”

The little girl whimpered, burying her face in her hands.

Leonardo’s eyes softened for a fraction of a second when he looked at his niece.

“Let her go, Bianca. You want money? I have offshore accounts. I’ll give you a plane ticket and ten million dollars. You walk away tonight, and I never look for you.”

Bianca hesitated.

The desperation in her eyes flickered.

She wanted to live.

“Ten million?” she whispered.

“It’s yours. Just put the gun on the table.”

Slowly, agonizingly, Bianca lowered the revolver.

She placed it on the polished wood of the dining table.

Leonardo didn’t blink.

He didn’t reach for his own weapon.

He simply nodded.

And from the shadows of the hallway, Don Carmine stepped forward, raising a silenced pistol.

Pffft.

Bianca collapsed to the floor.

Leonardo rushed forward, scooping the screaming little girl into his arms.

He pressed her face against his shoulder so she wouldn’t see the blood.

“I’ve got you, sweetheart,” he whispered, carrying her out of the house. “You’re safe now. You’re going to meet your brother.”

When the door to my hospital room finally opened, I stopped breathing.

Leonardo walked in.

His suit was ruined, his face was exhausted, but he was holding a little girl in his arms.

He walked over to my bed and gently set her down next to me.

The little girl looked terrified, clutching a small stuffed bear.

I looked at her green eyes.

Tears spilled down my cheeks.

“Hi,” I whispered softly.

The girl looked at me, then at the tiny baby sleeping in my arms.

“Is that a baby?” she asked quietly.

“Yes,” I smiled. “His name is Matteo. Just like your daddy.”

Leonardo pulled up a chair and sat beside the bed, burying his face in his hands.

The nightmare was finally over.

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