Nobody could stop the mafia boss’s baby from screaming—until a grieving maid held him and whispered, “This mark is from my dead child.”

“Put the photograph down,” he said.

Dante continued down the stairs. He looked older than Matteo by three years, but time had not softened him. His smile was polished, his coat perfectly tailored, and his eyes empty in a way that made Liana think of locked rooms.

“You always did enjoy dramatic entrances,” Dante said.

“You followed us.”

“I own half the security systems in this city.”

“You killed the guard.”

“He killed himself.”

“You put the capsule in his mouth.”

Dante glanced at Liana. “She has been filling your head with theories.”

“She saw the ledger,” Matteo replied.

“Then she has seen enough to become inconvenient.”

Liana stepped in front of Nico’s incubator. Her body was small compared with both brothers, but Dante looked at her as if she were a locked gate.

“What happened to Nora?” she demanded.

Dante raised the photograph. “The grave is empty.”

“That is not an answer.”

“Your daughter was moved.”

Liana’s knees weakened. “Moved where?”

“That depends on whether she survived.”

Matteo moved his gun closer to Dante’s chest. “Say one more word like that and you won’t leave this room.”

“You won’t shoot me.”

“Try me.”

“Because you need the truth about Sofia.”

The name stopped the air.

Dante placed the photograph on the railing. “Your wife discovered that Kessler had been altering newborn records. She planned to expose him. But she also discovered something worse.”

“What?”

“Nico was not born at St. Agnes.”

Matteo’s face became still.

“He was born at a private facility outside the city,” Dante continued. “Sofia was told the delivery would be safer there. She believed that facility belonged to one of your legitimate business partners.”

“Who?”

“Our father.”

Liana looked at Matteo. “Your father died twelve years ago.”

“His companies did not,” Dante said. “The foundation remained active. The clinic remained open. And the people who worked there kept receiving money from accounts neither of us controlled.”

Elena came around the examination table, holding the blood sample. “Dante, if you know what is in Nico’s system, tell me now.”

“You still believe medicine can fix what money broke.”

“I believe a child is dying.”

Dante’s expression changed for half a second. It was not compassion. It was calculation.

“The compound needs a counteragent,” he said. “Kessler keeps it in a blue ampoule.”

“Where?” Elena demanded.

“At St. Agnes.”

Matteo’s eyes narrowed. “You have it.”

“I had it.”

“Where is it now?”

Dante looked at Nico. “With the woman who took your place.”

Liana felt a chill run through her. “What does that mean?”

“Sofia was meant to die before the birth. She knew too much. The crash was supposed to kill both mother and child.”

Matteo’s voice dropped. “Nico survived.”

“He was never in the car.”

The room seemed to turn upside down.

Matteo lowered his gun by a fraction.

“What?”

“The baby in the car was another infant. Nico was already in the private nursery. Sofia was killed because she tried to reach him.”

“You’re lying.”

“Ask yourself why the accident report described a car seat but no blood from an infant. Ask why the medical examiner listed the child’s injuries as ‘inconclusive.’ Ask why you were shown a covered body and never allowed to identify him.”

Matteo’s face had lost all color.

Liana remembered the ledger. Subject 47. Transferred to private nursery.

“Then where was Nico?” she asked.

“At the Varric estate,” Dante said. “With the woman who raised him.”

“Mrs. Bell?”

“Mrs. Bell was Sofia’s closest ally.”

“She just tried to help the people hunting us.”

“She was trying to warn you.”

“She was not at the door.”

“No.” Dante’s smile faded. “That was one of Kessler’s men.”

Matteo moved suddenly, grabbing Dante by the coat and driving him against the wall.

“Where is Bell?”

“Alive.”

“Where?”

“At the cemetery.”

“And Nora?” Liana asked.

Dante looked at her. “Your daughter was registered as dead because someone needed a body to fill a grave.”

Liana could not feel her hands.

“What are you saying?”

“I am saying the coffin beneath that stone may not contain your child.”

Her breath broke.

Matteo released Dante and turned toward her. “We’re going to the cemetery.”

Elena blocked him. “Nico needs the counteragent first.”

“How long?”

“If his heart rate continues falling, less than an hour.”

Dante straightened his coat. “Then you have a choice.”

Matteo pointed the gun at him again. “I don’t make choices under threat.”

“You do when the threat is your son.”

Dante removed a small blue ampoule from his inside pocket.

Elena lunged toward it, but Dante held it out of reach.

“This is the counteragent.”

Matteo’s eyes became murderous. “Give it to her.”

“In exchange for the ledger.”

“You know I have it.”

“I know you stole it from the Blue Room.”

Liana understood the trap. “If you give him the ledger, he will destroy it.”

“If I don’t, Nico may die,” Matteo said.

Dante extended his hand. “The ledger. Now.”

Matteo looked at Liana.

She expected him to choose his son. Instead, he handed her the ledger.

“What are you doing?” she whispered.

“Run to Elena.”

Liana did not understand until Matteo fired.

The bullet struck the ampoule in Dante’s hand. Blue liquid sprayed across the floor.

Dante stared at the empty glass.

Matteo fired again—not at him, but at a metal canister hanging above the clinic entrance. It exploded in a cloud of white suppressant foam.

The lights died completely.

Elena grabbed Nico’s incubator and dragged it toward the emergency exit. Liana followed, clutching the ledger. Matteo shoved Dante aside and ran after them.

Behind them, Dante shouted, “You will never find the real counteragent!”

Matteo looked back only once.