Chapter 4 - The Man Behind the Badge.
The service tunnel was barely wide enough for one person at a time.
Luca pulled the hidden panel shut behind him just as the steel office door crashed open.
Marcus's voice became muffled on the other side.
"You cannot hide forever, Luca."
Emily moved faster.
"He knows you personally."
"He used to protect me."
"Used to?"
"As of thirty seconds ago."
The tunnel ended above a locked maintenance room on the forty-third floor.
Luca kicked the latch twice before it gave way.
They climbed down into a cramped room filled with pipes and electrical panels.
Noah began crying for the first time.
His cheeks were flushed, and his breathing sounded shallow.
Emily's composure shattered.
"He's getting worse."
Luca checked the baby's temperature again.
It had climbed.
"He needs a doctor."
"You said the hospitals aren't safe."
"I said the obvious hospitals aren't safe."
Luca removed a second phone from inside his jacket.
The device had no saved contacts and no connection to the Cafalli corporate network.
He dialed one number from memory.
A woman answered on the second ring.
"Naomi Reed."
"It's Luca."
There was a pause.
"You only use this number when your world is on fire."
"Tonight it is."
Naomi Reed had been the Cafalli family's attorney for almost a decade, but more importantly, she was one of the few people Luca's father had trusted outside the family.
Luca told her they needed a pediatrician who could work privately and immediately.
He did not mention the ledger.
He did not mention the scorpion tattoo.
Naomi listened without interrupting.
"Go to the old East River townhouse."
"That property is empty."
"Not tonight."
"Who is there?"
"Dr. Pierce."
Luca's jaw tightened.
"Someone intercepted his private phone."
"I know."
"How?"
"Because he called me after someone broke into his office."
Emily leaned close enough to hear.
Naomi continued.
"Do not use your car."
"Why?"
"Marcus placed a tracker in it yesterday."
Luca's eyes went cold.
"You knew Marcus was compromised?"
"I suspected it."
"And you said nothing?"
"I needed proof."
"You nearly got a child killed waiting for proof."
Naomi's voice softened.
"Then get that child to the townhouse."
The line went dead.
Emily stared at him.
"Can you trust her?"
"I no longer know."
They left the maintenance room through a service corridor and descended two floors by stairs.
Luca used an emergency exit that opened into an unfinished residential level.
A cold draft moved through exposed concrete columns.
Below them, Manhattan traffic flowed like nothing unusual was happening.
Emily suddenly stopped.
A man in a building engineer's uniform stood at the far end of the floor.
He smiled when he saw them.
"Mr. Cafalli, security is looking everywhere for you."
Luca said nothing.
The engineer raised both hands as if to reassure them.
Then his sleeve slipped back.
A scorpion tattoo appeared on his forearm.
Luca shoved Emily behind a concrete wall just as the man lunged forward.
There was a brief struggle, hard and fast, with no room for hesitation.
Luca drove the man against a support column and knocked a phone from his hand.
The device skidded across the floor.
Emily picked it up.
The screen was unlocked.
A live message thread showed photographs of her apartment, her late sister, and Noah.
Then a new message appeared.
TARGET MOVING EAST.
A second message followed.
DO NOT DAMAGE THE CHILD.
Emily scrolled upward and suddenly stopped breathing.
At the top of the conversation was the name of the person issuing the orders.
VICTORIA C.
Luca looked over her shoulder.
His face changed.
May you like
Victoria Cafalli was his father's younger sister.
She was also the woman who had raised him after his parents died.
