Chapter 6 - The Child in the Vault
Dominic forgot the explosives.
He forgot Torres.
He forgot Peter Knox lying half-conscious in the smoke.
All he saw was blood.
“Amelia.”
“I’m okay.”
“No.”
His voice broke.
“You’re not.”
She grabbed his hand.
“I need you calm.”
Dominic almost laughed from disbelief.
“You need me calm?”
“Yes.”
“I have an entire building full of armed men and explosives and my son is apparently trying to be born on a bank floor.”
“Exactly.”
She squeezed his hand.
“So calm down.”
Torres stood near the office door, gun recovered from Peter.
“I can get to the basement.”
Dominic looked up.
“What?”
“The control room.”
“Go.”
“You trust me now?”
“No.”
“Consistent.”
Torres disappeared.
Dominic called Dr. Levin again using Peter’s phone.
The physician answered with swearing.
“Where have you been?”
“Busy.”
“Put Amelia on.”
Dominic did.
Levin asked questions.
Amelia answered between contractions.
The bleeding had slowed.
The baby was still moving.
But the contractions were less than two minutes apart.
Levin’s tone grew serious.
“You may be progressing quickly.”
“How quickly?” Dominic demanded.
“It varies.”
“Stop saying things that vary.”
“Dominic, childbirth is not one of your shipping schedules.”
Amelia laughed weakly.
“Thank you.”
Levin continued.
“If she feels pressure like she needs to push, you need to check whether the baby’s head is visible.”
Dominic stared at the phone.
“I need to do what?”
Amelia closed her eyes.
“Oh God.”
“Samuel, there are federal agents outside.”
“They can’t reach you.”
“So send one through a wall.”
“That is not medically possible.”
Dominic looked toward Amelia.
She was trying not to laugh.
Good.
He would embarrass himself for the rest of his life if it kept her laughing instead of crying.
Another contraction.
Amelia gasped.
Then her face changed.
“Dominic.”
He moved closer.
“What?”
“I need to push.”
“No.”
She opened one eye.
“Again?”
“We are waiting for doctors.”
“The baby disagrees.”
Levin heard her.
“Dominic, listen carefully.”
For the next few minutes, one of the most feared men in New York received instructions he never imagined needing.
Towels.
Clean fabric.
Support Amelia.
Do not pull the baby.
Keep the infant warm.
Check breathing.
Dominic located emergency blankets in a cabinet.
He removed his dress shirt and folded it beneath Amelia.
“You’re bleeding.”
“So are you.”
“Your shoulder—”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
The words caught him.
He looked at her.
Amelia was crying.
Not from physical pain.
“You cannot die after telling me you loved me.”
Dominic touched her cheek.
“I’m not dying.”
“You promise?”
“Again?”
“Yes.”
“Then yes.”
A contraction hit.
Amelia screamed.
Dominic held her hand.
“Break it if you need to.”
“I might.”
“I have another.”
Outside the office, gunfire erupted.
Dominic instinctively turned.
Amelia pulled him back.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“You’re here.”
Another shot.
Closer.
Then Torres shouted.
“Knox is moving!”
Dominic stood.
Amelia grabbed him.
“No!”
The office door burst open.
Peter Knox appeared.
Blood covered his face.
His gun aimed directly at Amelia.
Dominic stepped in front of her.
Peter smiled.
“Move.”
“No.”
“Salvatore was right about you.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“What did he say?”
“That once you had something to lose, you’d become weak.”
Dominic smiled slowly.
“He misunderstood.”
Peter’s finger tightened.
“Love doesn’t make me weaker.”
Dominic shifted his weight.
“It gives me a reason not to miss.”
He threw Peter’s own phone.
Peter flinched.
Dominic charged.
The gun fired.
A bullet ripped past his ribs.
They crashed into the wall.
Peter struck Dominic’s wounded shoulder.
Pain exploded through him.
Dominic nearly blacked out.
Peter raised the gun.
Amelia screamed.
Then Torres fired from the hallway.
Peter collapsed.
Silence.
Dominic stared.
Torres lowered his weapon.
“You owe me.”
Dominic looked at Peter’s body.
“Send an invoice.”
Another contraction hit.
Amelia screamed louder than before.
Dominic dropped beside her.
Levin’s voice still came from the phone on the floor.
“Dominic?”
“I’m here.”
“Is she pushing?”
“Yes.”
“Then focus.”
Dominic did.
The world narrowed again.
Amelia.
The baby.
Her hand.
Her breathing.
“Look at me,” Dominic said.
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.”
She opened her eyes.
“I’m scared.”
Dominic had never heard her admit fear.
Not even during the hotel attack.
He leaned close.
“So am I.”
That made her stare.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“Dominic Castellano is scared?”
“Terrified.”
“Good.”
He blinked.
“Good?”
“At least I’m not alone.”
He kissed her forehead.
“You’re never alone again.”
Another contraction.
Amelia pushed.
Minutes blurred.
Outside, alarms screamed.
Federal loudspeakers echoed through the building.
Torres returned from the basement.
“Bad news.”
Dominic didn’t look away from Amelia.
“Not interested.”
“The detonators are on a countdown.”
“How long?”
“Fourteen minutes.”
Now Dominic looked.
“Can you stop it?”
“No.”
“Can Monroe?”
“Maybe if we get the control board outside.”
Dominic glanced at Amelia.
Impossible.
She could not move.
Torres understood.
“You stay.”
“What?”
“I’ll carry the board.”
Dominic stared.
“Why?”
Torres looked at the gun in his hand.
Then at Peter’s body.
“Because Salvatore used me too.”
“That has never bothered you before.”
“No.”
Torres’s expression darkened.
“But threatening my sister did.”
Dominic understood.
Family.
Always family.
Torres turned.
Dominic called after him.
“Gabriel.”
He looked back.
“If you get Amelia out…”
Torres smiled faintly.
“You’ll forgive everything?”
“No.”
“Worth asking.”
He disappeared.
Amelia laughed through another contraction.
“You two are insane.”
“Yes.”
“Agreed.”
Suddenly Dominic saw something.
His entire body froze.
“Samuel.”
“What?”
“I see hair.”
Amelia made a strangled laugh.
“You sound horrified.”
“I am.”
Levin’s voice sharpened.
“That’s good. The baby is crowning.”
Dominic looked at Amelia.
“Our son has hair.”
She laughed and cried simultaneously.
“Congratulations.”
“What color?”
“Dominic!”
“Right.”
Another push.
Dominic supported her.
“Good. You’re doing good.”
“I hate you.”
“Understandable.”
“Never touch me again.”
“Unlikely.”
She almost smiled.
Then the contraction intensified.
Amelia screamed.
Dominic kept one hand beneath the baby’s head exactly as Levin instructed.
“Almost.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.”
“I can’t.”
“You survived me.”
Her eyes opened.
“You can survive anything.”
Amelia gave one exhausted laugh.
Then pushed.
A tiny body slipped into Dominic’s hands.
The world stopped.
No gunfire.
No sirens.
No empire.
A baby.
Small.
Wet.
Silent.
Dominic’s heart stopped.
“Why isn’t he crying?”
Levin spoke quickly.
“Clear his airway. Rub his back.”
Dominic did.
Nothing.
“Samuel.”
“Keep stimulating him.”
“Samuel.”
Panic entered Dominic’s voice.
Amelia tried to sit up.
“Is he okay?”
Dominic could not answer.
He rubbed the tiny back.
“Come on.”
Nothing.
Dominic’s hands started shaking.
“Come on, son.”
He had never called anyone that.
The word broke something open.
“Please.”
Dominic Castellano did not plead.
He did now.
“Please.”
Then the baby moved.
A tiny cough.
A breath.
And finally—
A cry.
Thin.
Angry.
Beautiful.
Amelia covered her mouth.
Dominic stared at the child in his hands.
His son.
Alive.
The baby screamed louder.
Dominic started laughing.
He didn’t know when he had last laughed like that.
Maybe never.
“He’s angry.”
Amelia sobbed.
“He’s your son.”
Dominic wrapped him carefully in an emergency blanket.
Then placed him against Amelia’s chest.
She looked down.
Her entire face changed.
So did Dominic’s world.
“What’s his name?” he whispered.
Amelia hesitated.
“I hadn’t decided.”
“You had eight months.”
“I was busy hiding from your enemies.”
“Fair.”
She touched the baby’s cheek.
“I thought about Luca.”
Dominic repeated it.
“Luca.”
The baby quieted at the sound of his voice.
Dominic froze.
Amelia noticed.
“He knows you.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Maybe he recognizes your voice.”
“I haven’t spoken around him.”
Amelia looked down.
“No.”
Then she whispered, “But I did.”
Dominic stared.
“What?”
“When I was alone.”
Her cheeks flushed.
“I talked about you.”
He couldn’t speak.
Amelia continued.
“I told him his father was infuriating.”
“Accurate.”
“Controlling.”
“Debatable.”
“Impossible.”
“Unfair.”
“Brave.”
Dominic went still.
“And that once, in a dark room, he saved my life.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
Outside, a loudspeaker announced something.
Then Torres’s voice screamed from the hallway.
“Dominic!”
Dominic stood instantly.
Torres stumbled into view.
Blood covered his side.
“What happened?”
“Knox wasn’t alone.”
Dominic’s expression sharpened.
“How many?”
“Two more.”
“Countdown?”
“Six minutes.”
Dominic looked at Amelia and Luca.
Impossible.
He could not move them quickly.
Torres held out a small black control board.
“Federal team needs this.”
Dominic took it.
“Get them out.”
Torres shook his head.
“Tunnel is blocked.”
“Front?”
“Explosives.”
Dominic looked at the board.
Then at the vault architecture.
Six minutes.
A newborn.
A wounded mother.
A wounded Dominic.
He had built an empire by solving impossible logistical problems.
This was simply the most important one.
He spotted the reinforced cash-transfer elevator at the rear of the vault.
“Where does that go?”
Torres followed his gaze.
“Loading bay.”
“Armored?”
“Yes.”
“Blast-rated?”
“Probably.”
“Probably?”
“Do I look like the architect?”
Dominic was already moving.
He pressed the elevator call button.
Nothing.
Power disabled.
He opened the maintenance panel.
The controls were dead.
Four minutes.
Amelia whispered, “Dominic?”
He looked at her.
She knew.
They might not make it.
Dominic crouched beside her and Luca.
“No.”
“What?”
“You’re not giving me that face.”
“What face?”
“The goodbye face.”
She began crying.
Dominic touched Luca’s tiny head.
Then Amelia’s cheek.
“I lost eight months because I thought loving you made you unsafe.”
He looked toward the countdown display visible on Peter’s device.
Three minutes.
“I’m not losing another second.”
He stood.
“Torres.”
“Yes?”
“Shoot the elevator brake.”
Torres stared.
“What?”
“Do it.”
“That could drop the car.”
“Exactly.”
Amelia’s eyes widened.
“Dominic—”
“The loading bay is two floors down.”
“You want us to fall two floors in an elevator?”
“I want gravity to succeed where electricity failed.”
“That is your plan?”
“It’s currently the best one.”
Torres grinned.
“I’m starting to understand why people follow you.”
Dominic helped Amelia into the cash elevator.
He took Luca carefully.
Held the baby inside his jacket against his chest.
Two minutes.
Torres fired into the brake mechanism.
Metal screamed.
The elevator jolted.
Amelia grabbed Dominic.
“Tell me you love me!”
The demand surprised him.
“What?”
“If we’re about to fall, I want to hear it without gunfire!”
Dominic wrapped one arm around her.
“I love you.”
The elevator dropped.
Amelia screamed.
Dominic held her.
Held Luca.
May you like
Held everything he had never known he needed.
Above them, the bank exploded.
