Chapter 2 - THE UNINVITED GUESTThe elevator chimed again in the darkness.
Celia heard the soft mechanical whisper of the doors sliding open, followed by a silence so complete that the pounding of her own heart seemed loud enough to expose her position.
Then someone fired.
The gunshot cracked through the penthouse, followed by shattering glass and a man’s grunt.
“Down!” Tommy Bellucci roared.
A heavy body slammed into Celia, driving her behind the marble kitchen island. She hit the floor hard, her palms sliding through something wet. She could not tell whether it was rainwater, spilled medicine, or blood.
Across the room, Leo cried out.
Celia forgot her fear.
She crawled toward the sound.
Emergency lights flickered on near the floor, casting the penthouse in a dim red glow. Through the shadows, she saw Dr. Sterling crouched beside the medical table while two guards overturned a sofa to create a barrier.
Leo was exposed.
Celia lunged across the open space.
A bullet struck the wall above her head, spraying white plaster into her hair. She grabbed the metal legs of the medical table and pulled with everything she had. The table rolled sideways just as another shot tore through the place where Leo’s chest had been.
“Celia!” Vincent shouted.
She threw herself over Leo.
His small body trembled beneath her, but his eyes were open.
“I can’t breathe,” he whispered.
“Doctor!” Celia screamed.
Dr. Sterling crawled toward them, dragging an oxygen tank. He fitted a mask over Leo’s mouth and checked the boy’s pulse.
“The toxin is advancing.”
The attacker fired again.
Tommy returned two controlled shots toward the elevator. One of Vincent’s guards collapsed near the windows, clutching his shoulder.
Vincent moved through the darkness with frightening precision. He did not hide behind the furniture. He followed the muzzle flashes, using the brief bursts of light to locate the intruder.
“Left side,” Tommy warned.
Vincent fired once.
A man staggered from behind a stone column and fell onto the carpet.
For one second, everyone stopped moving.
Then another figure burst from the elevator.
It was a woman wearing medical scrubs.
She raised a pistol toward Leo.
Celia saw her before anyone else did.
She grabbed the nearest object—a silver tray covered with surgical instruments—and hurled it across the room. The tray struck the woman’s wrist. The gun went off, the bullet burying itself in the ceiling.
Tommy tackled her.
They crashed into a glass table. Vincent crossed the room, kicked the weapon away, and pressed his gun against the woman’s temple.
“Who sent you?”
The woman laughed.
Blood ran from the corner of her mouth.
“You already know.”
She bit down hard.
Dr. Sterling shouted, but it was too late. Her body convulsed once before going still.
“Poison capsule,” he said grimly.
Vincent stared at the dead woman without blinking.
Celia looked toward the first attacker.
He wore one of Vincent’s security uniforms.
The realization moved through the room like cold air.
“They had access to the building,” Tommy said. “Security codes, uniforms, elevator control.”
“And the power grid,” Vincent added.
Leo made a strangled sound beneath Celia.
Dr. Sterling pushed her gently aside.
“I need more light.”
The backup generator activated. Lights flashed overhead, exposing the destruction—bullet holes, broken furniture, blood across imported carpets.
Dr. Sterling examined Leo’s pupils and checked the oxygen monitor.
“His respiratory muscles are failing. The antitoxin I have may slow it, but I need a compound stored at my hospital laboratory.”
“You’re not leaving,” Vincent said.
“Then your son may stop breathing within the hour.”
Vincent turned to Tommy.
“Send a team.”
“No,” Dr. Sterling snapped. “The compound is secured in my private research unit. Biometric access. I have to go.”
Tommy looked at Vincent.
“It could be a trap.”
“Everything is a trap tonight,” Vincent said.
Celia glanced at Leo. His face had turned gray beneath the oxygen mask.
“Take the doctor,” she said. “Bring whatever he needs.”
Vincent’s gaze settled on her.
“You’re giving orders now?”
“I’m trying to keep your son alive.”
The tension between them lasted only a second.
Then Vincent nodded to Tommy.
“Armored vehicle. Six men. No electronic communication. Assume every channel is compromised.”
Tommy hurried away with Dr. Sterling.
Vincent crouched beside Leo.
“Papa,” Leo whispered through the mask.
“I’m here.”
“Don’t let the bad man take me again.”
Vincent’s expression changed.
“Again?”
Leo’s eyelids fluttered.
“The car,” he whispered. “Uncle Simon said we were going to see the trains. He gave me hot chocolate.”
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
“What happened after the hot chocolate?”
Leo struggled to focus.
“There was a lady.”
“What lady?”
“She smelled like flowers. She said Mama was waiting.”
Vincent went still.
Celia noticed it immediately.
Leo’s mother was clearly not simply absent. Her name carried a wound no one in the room wanted touched.
“Leo,” Vincent said carefully, “your mother is dead.”
The boy began to cry.
“I heard her.”
Celia took his hand.
“Maybe someone was pretending to be her.”
Leo looked toward her, terrified.
“She knew the song.”
“What song?”
“The one Mama sang when it stormed.”
Vincent stood abruptly and walked away.
Celia watched him press both hands against the windows overlooking Central Park. He seemed less like a powerful criminal now and more like a man whose entire understanding of his family had just collapsed.
A guard approached, carrying the dead woman’s identification.
“Boss, you need to see this.”
He handed Vincent a badge.
The woman had been registered as a nurse at St. Catherine’s Medical Center under the name Amelia Grant.
Vincent stared at the photograph.
“That isn’t her name.”
“You know her?” Celia asked.
Vincent looked toward Leo.
“She worked for my wife.”
Before Celia could ask more, Tommy’s voice exploded through the penthouse intercom.
“Boss, lockdown the building!”
Gunfire echoed faintly through the speaker.
“They were waiting in the garage. Sterling’s been taken.”
The connection cut off.
Vincent reached for the intercom.
“Tommy!”
Only static answered.
Then Celia’s phone rang.
The number was blocked.
Everyone stared at it.
Vincent motioned for her to answer.
Celia pressed the phone to her ear.
A man’s voice spoke calmly.
“Miss Jace, you have something that belongs to me.”
Celia swallowed.
“Who is this?”
“You already heard my name.”
Simon.
Behind him, she could hear Dr. Sterling breathing heavily.
Simon continued.
“Tell my nephew that the doctor will live until sunrise. After that, Leo dies with him.”
Vincent took the phone from Celia.
“I’m going to tear down every building you’ve ever hidden inside.”
Simon laughed.
“You still think this is about territory.”
“What do you want?”
“The boy. The waitress. And the Romano ledger.”
Vincent’s eyes moved toward a locked steel cabinet built into the far wall.
Simon knew it was there.
“Bring them to Chicago,” Simon said. “Come alone, and perhaps I’ll tell Leo why his mother was still singing to him tonight.”
The call ended.
Celia stared at Vincent.
“Chicago?”
He looked at the dead nurse, the ruined penthouse, and his son struggling for every breath.
May you like
Then he turned toward the steel cabinet.
“What Simon wants,” Vincent said, “could bring down every Romano in America.”
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