Chapter 25 #2
"Will they?" She turned to me, eyes hollow. "Marco escaped prison. Killed four guards. He knows where our children are."
"The NICU is the most secure location in that hospital. Armed FBI agents at every entrance. He can't get to them."
"He got out of federal supermax. You think hospital security will stop him?"
She was right. Marco was coming. The only question was when.
The secure facility was a converted warehouse—industrial, sterile, defensible. Our "room" was barely furnished: two cots, a bathroom, and armed guards outside.
Valentina lay down carefully, curled on her side, her hand over her belly where the surgical incision was still healing.
I settled beside her and pulled her against my chest.
"I hate him," she whispered. "I hate that he's still controlling our lives. I just want to be with my babies. That's all. Is that too much to ask?"
"No, amore. It's not."
"Then why can't we have it?"
I didn't have an answer. I just held her while she cried herself to sleep, making a silent promise: I would end this. Whatever it took.
Dawn brought a secure hospital visit—forty-five minutes under heavy guard.
Ezio had gained another ounce. Eva's oxygen support had decreased slightly. Both babies settled when we touched them.
"They're getting stronger," Nurse Sarah confirmed. "Every day."
"When can they come home?" Valentina asked.
"Ezio, maybe another week if he continues this well. Eva needs longer—her lungs need more time to develop. But we're optimistic."
The visit ended too soon, but Valentina was calmer afterward. Seeing them thriving had eased something in her.
Back at the facility, Domenico arrived with grim news.
"Marco was spotted three hours ago at a gas station outside Billings. Two hundred miles from here."
My blood ran cold. "Heading this way."
"The FBI is setting roadblocks and coordinating with local law enforcement. But he's got professional help—the prison assault was executed with military efficiency. Whoever funded his escape is still helping him now."
"Then the FBI can't stop him. Not alone."
"No."
I met Domenico's eyes and saw my own certainty reflected there. Marco was coming. Nothing would stop him.
But we could be ready.
Rodriguez appeared with the final operational plan.
"Controlled leak through the suspected compromised channel—let them 'discover' Ms. DeLuca will be at the NICU tomorrow, two p.m. Reduced security due to budget constraints."
"Except the reduced security is an illusion," I said.
"Exactly. Tactical teams are positioned throughout the hospital. Sharpshooters on the surrounding buildings. Every entrance covered."
"The babies?" Valentina asked.
"Evacuated to a secure wing the moment we confirm Marco's people are in the building. They'll be protected completely."
It was the best plan we had. The only plan.
That night, Valentina and I lay together in the warehouse room, the silence heavy between us.
"We're really doing this," she said.
"We're really doing this."
"I'm terrified."
"Me too." I pulled her close. "But we've survived everything else."
"Promise me something."
"Anything."
"If it comes down to choosing between stopping Marco and protecting me—choose me. Choose our family." Her eyes were fierce in the dim light. "Our babies need their father. I need you. Promise."
"I promise, principessa."
She pressed her forehead to mine. "Tomorrow, we end this. Then we bring our babies home."
"Tomorrow," I agreed.
But as we held each other in the darkness, I couldn't shake the cold certainty: tomorrow, someone would die. I just had to make sure it wasn't anyone I loved.
Earlier that day, while we'd been planning, Livia had pulled me aside in the facility hallway.
"I need to tell you something," she said, voice low. "About those calls. The blocked number."
I'd tensed, hand moving instinctively toward my weapon.
"Domenico already traced it. Marco's network."
"I know. But I need you to understand what happened." She met my eyes steadily. "They found me three weeks before I came to you. Showed up at my apartment in Brooklyn. Said I had a choice—report on Valentina's location, her security, everything—or they'd kill my mother."
"And you came to us instead."
"I came to warn you. I knew if I played along, fed them information, you'd all end up dead." Her voice shook slightly. "I chose my sister over my own safety. Over my mother's safety. I've been terrified every day that they'd find out and kill us both."
I studied her face—the fear she'd been hiding, the weight of a choice that could have cost her everything.
"Your mother?"
"FBI relocated her the day I arrived here. She's safe." Livia's eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I was afraid you'd think I was compromised. That you'd send me away before I could help."
She'd risked everything—her mother's life, her own—to choose us. To choose Valentina.
"You should have told us," I said quietly. "But I understand why you didn't."
"Do you trust me now?"
I thought about the past weeks. The way she'd cared for Valentina, supported her through the trial, held her during the worst moments. The way she'd become family, not through blood but through choice.
"Yeah," I said. "I trust you."
She exhaled, tension draining from her shoulders. "Thank you."
"DeLuca sisters stick together. That's what you told Valentina, right?"
"Right." She smiled through tears. "We protect each other. We survive."
My sister-in-law. For better or worse, part of this family now.
I found I was glad of it.