Chapter 3 - Sofia Holds Her SonSofia Romano did not scream when Marco placed Leo in her arms.
She simply stopped existing as the woman she had been for the last three hours.
The sedatives had left her pale and slow-moving, wrapped in a gray robe in the upstairs bedroom of Gabriel’s Gold Coast penthouse, surrounded by women who kept whispering that hope was important even though none of them believed it.
Then Marco stepped through the private elevator with a blanket bundle against his chest.
Sofia looked up.
The room went silent.
Marco did not speak.
He crossed the room, knelt in front of her, and unfolded the blanket.
Leo blinked sleepily.
Sofia stared.
Her mouth opened.
No sound came.
Then she reached out with shaking hands and touched her son’s cheek.
Leo yawned.
Alive.
Warm.
Real.
Sofia collapsed forward with a sound that made every woman in the room cry.
Marco caught her shoulder as she gathered the baby to her chest.
“My baby,” she whispered. “My baby. My baby. My baby.”
Leo began to fuss at the tightness of her hold, but Sofia loosened immediately, kissing his forehead, his hair, his hands, every inch she could reach.
“I thought you were gone,” she sobbed. “I thought I lost you too.”
Too.
Marco looked away.
Everyone knew what that word meant.
Daniel was still in every room Sofia entered. His photograph stood by the nursery window. His wedding ring hung on a chain beneath her blouse. His voice lived in old videos she played only when she thought no one could hear.
Leo was not just her son.
He was the last part of Daniel the world had not taken.
Sofia looked up through tears.
“Gabriel?”
“He’s safe,” Marco lied smoothly.
Sofia knew him too well.
Her eyes sharpened. “Marco.”
He stood. “He is handling something.”
“What happened? Who found Leo?”
Marco hesitated.
Sofia’s grip on Leo tightened.
“Tell me.”
“A woman from the audit team.”
Sofia blinked. “Audit team?”
“Mia Carver.”
The name meant nothing to most of the room.
But Sofia’s face changed.
Marco noticed.
“You know her?”
Sofia looked down at Leo.
“She came to Daniel’s funeral.”
Marco frowned.
“A lot of employees came.”
“No,” Sofia whispered. “Not like that.”
She shifted Leo carefully, then reached toward the bedside table. Her fingers trembled as she opened the drawer and pulled out a folded envelope, old and softened at the corners.
Marco watched her unfold it.
Inside was a sympathy card.
The handwriting was neat.
Dear Mrs. Romano,
I know I have no right to write this, and I am sure many people have already told you Daniel was kind. I only wanted you to know he was also brave when no one was watching.
He once stopped a contract from passing because it would have hurt people who could not fight back. I never forgot that.
I am so sorry for your loss.
Mia Carver
Marco read it twice.
His stomach tightened.
“What contract?” he asked.
Sofia shook her head. “Daniel never told me. But after the funeral, I found that card and asked Gabriel about her. He said she worked in accounting.”
“He remembered her?”
Sofia’s mouth lifted sadly. “Gabriel remembers everyone who looks him in the eye and doesn’t ask him for anything.”
Marco’s phone buzzed.
A message from Gabriel.
LEO SAFE?
Marco typed back.
WITH SOFIA.
The reply came three seconds later.
KEEP THEM LOCKED DOWN. TRUST NO MEDICAL STAFF EXCEPT HARLAN. FIND WHO ADDED MIA TO THE CONVOY.
Marco’s blood cooled.
He looked toward the nursery door.
In the hallway, one of the penthouse guards was speaking quietly into his phone.
Marco had selected that guard himself.
Still, tonight had taught him a brutal lesson.
Inside did not mean loyal.
He crossed the room.
The guard lowered the phone immediately. “Sir?”
“Who are you talking to?”
“My wife. She heard the news.”
“Show me.”
The guard hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
Marco slammed him against the wall so hard one of the women gasped.
The phone fell.
On the screen was not a call.
It was a message thread.
FOUND. BOY ALIVE. WOMAN ALSO ALIVE. G NOT HERE.
The recipient name was only one letter.
C.
Marco’s face went cold.
“Who is C?”
The guard said nothing.
Marco leaned closer.
“Wrong answer.”
Sofia appeared in the bedroom doorway with Leo against her shoulder.
Her eyes were wet, but her voice was steady.
“Marco.”
He did not look back. “Go inside, Sofia.”
“No.”
The guard’s eyes flicked toward her.
Fear.
Not of Marco.
Of her.
Sofia saw it.
Something changed in her expression.
For years, people had treated Sofia like the soft widow of the Romano family. The kindergarten teacher. The outsider. The woman Daniel loved because she was good in a house that had forgotten how to be.
But grief could teach a gentle woman terrible things.
Sofia stepped closer.
“My son was taken tonight,” she said softly. “My husband died eighteen months ago. If you know anything about either, you should pray Mr. Bennett reaches the answer before I do.”
The guard swallowed.
Marco almost smiled.
Then the elevator chimed.
Everyone turned.
Marco had locked the elevator.
No one should have been able to come up.
The doors slid open.
Dr. Harlan stepped out, carrying his emergency case.
Behind him stood a woman in a cream coat.
Cassandra Vale smiled gently.
“Sofia,” she said. “Thank God. I came as soon as I heard.”
Marco raised his weapon.
Dr. Harlan froze.
Cassandra looked at the gun, then at the baby.
Her smile faltered for half a second.
Sofia saw it.
A mother always saw the person looking too hard at her child.
Cassandra took one step forward. “The baby needs to be examined.”
“No,” Sofia said.
Cassandra blinked. “Excuse me?”
Sofia held Leo tighter.
“I said no.”
The penthouse seemed to tilt around them.
Cassandra’s eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly.
“Sofia, shock can make people irrational. Leo may have been exposed to—”
“My son was in the arms of the woman who saved him,” Sofia said. “Until Gabriel tells me otherwise, nobody touches him.”
Cassandra’s voice softened.
It was a practiced voice. Warm. Medical. Trustworthy.
“Gabriel is not thinking clearly tonight.”
Marco’s weapon clicked.
“Careful.”
Cassandra lifted both hands.
Then her phone rang.
She glanced at the screen.
Only for a second.
Marco saw the name before she rejected the call.
VINCENT.
Gabriel’s uncle.
The last surviving brother of Antonio Romano.
Marco felt the last piece slide into place.
Cassandra Vale had not come alone.
May you like
She had come connected.
And somewhere in Chicago, Vincent Romano was waiting to hear whether the baby was alive.
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