A mafia boss’s baby reached for a waitress he had never met, but the moment she saw his dragon tattoo, she turned pale and whispered, “You’re alive.”

Dante carried Alina’s coat over one arm and kept his gun in the other hand. Enzo walked ahead, and Mara followed with a medical bag she had somehow retrieved from the nursery.

Leo had stopped crying, but only because Alina held him close beneath her coat. His tiny body was warm against her chest. Every time the tunnel shook with distant gunfire, he tightened his grip on her shirt.

At the end of the passage, they emerged into an abandoned carriage house beyond the estate wall. A black van waited beneath the trees.

“Get inside,” Dante ordered.

Alina climbed into the rear seat. Dante entered after her, closing the door. Enzo took the wheel, and the van plunged into the rain.

For several minutes, the only sound was the engine and Leo’s quiet breathing.

Dante looked at Mara. “Tell me everything.”

“Not here.”

“You have thirty seconds before I make this van stop.”

Mara folded her hands over the medical bag. “Your mother discovered that Rafael was using the Rosselli shipping routes to move human cargo. She tried to help Rosa Valdez gather proof. When Rafael found out, he ordered both women killed.”

“My mother died when I was nineteen.”

“Rafael told you she had taken her own life.”

“She did.”

“She was murdered first.”

Dante looked away.

Alina had expected anger, but what crossed his face was worse. A quiet devastation that did not need tears.

“Where was Luca?” he asked.

“He had already fled. He took the proof.”

“And my father believed he was dead.”

“Your father believed no one could escape him.”

The van turned sharply.

Leo stirred. Alina adjusted the blanket around him and noticed a stiff edge sewn into the lining. She frowned.

“This blanket,” she said. “Where did it come from?”

Dante looked down. “It was in the nursery.”

Alina felt along the seam. There was a small object inside.

“Something is hidden here.”

Enzo glanced into the rearview mirror. “Don’t open it.”

“Why?”

“Because I said so,” Dante answered.

Alina’s eyes narrowed. “Everyone in your life says that instead of explaining.”

She took a small pair of scissors from Mara’s bag and cut the seam.

A thin memory card slipped into her palm.

Dante’s expression turned hard.

“Who placed that blanket in the nursery?”

“The nanny,” Mara said.

“Which nanny?”

“She disappeared three months ago.”

Alina handed the card to Enzo. “Can you read it?”

“I can try.”

“No,” Dante said. “We need an isolated computer.”

“What could be on it?” Alina asked.

Mara stared at Leo.

“Evidence,” she said. “Maybe the evidence Luca took.”

The van reached an underground garage beneath an office building. Dante led them into a private elevator. The walls were polished steel, reflecting Alina’s pale face and Dante’s bloodstained hand.

“Why did Victor call me little Lina?” she asked.

“Because he knew you as a child.”

“And why did he say my father kept me alive?”

Dante’s gaze met hers in the reflection.

“That is what we’re going to find out.”

The elevator opened into a secure office. Enzo connected the memory card to an isolated computer. The file directory contained only one video.

The recording began with static.

Then a man appeared on screen.

Luca Rosselli looked thinner than the photograph, with a beard and a bruised cheek. He sat in a dark room beneath a single light.

“If you are watching this,” he said, “I failed to reach Dante before they found me.”

Dante moved closer to the screen.

Luca continued.

“The operation is active again. The people behind it are not using the old routes. They are using hospitals, private nurseries, and charity foundations. Babies are being moved through the city under false medical records.”

Alina stared at Leo.

The baby shifted in her arms.

“My son was born in a private hospital,” Dante said.

“Your father’s network has always needed a child who can inherit the bloodline,” Luca continued. “But this time, they are not looking for an heir. They are looking for leverage.”

He leaned toward the camera.

“Dante, the person closest to you is working with them. The dragon is no longer a family mark. It is a warning.”

The video glitched.

Luca’s face returned for one final sentence.

“Protect the Valdez girl. She is the only witness who can identify the man who ordered the fire.”

The screen went black.

Alina’s throat closed.

“I can identify him,” she whispered. “Victor Hale.”

Enzo shook his head. “Victor was a soldier. He took orders.”

“From whom?”

Dante looked at the frozen screen.

“My father.”