496 "The Infertile Syndicate King's Secret Bloodline: How a Frozen Highway Collision and a Stranger's Gift Unlocked a Fourteen-Year War of Vengeance"

The private meeting room on the sixth floor of Lakeview University Medical Center had been commandeered under Luca Mancini’s direct orders. Two of his armed security guards stood outside the double doors, ensuring no doctors, nurses, or administrative staff could approach within fifty feet.

Inside, Luca sat at the head of a polished mahogany table, his dark eyes fixed on the genetic report glowing on the tablet screen before him. Marco Vitali stood beside him, sliding a second dossier across the wood.

"The news of the accident on I-290 has already hit the police scanner logs," Marco reported, his voice low and tactical. "Which means the Moretti family’s informants in the department already know that an unidentified seventeen-year-old girl was pulled from that wreckage and brought here under emergency guard."

Luca’s jaw clenched so hard a muscle ticked in his cheek. "The Morettis think they can strike at me by hitting my people? Caruso was just the warning shot. If they find out Elena is mine..."

"They won't just use her as leverage, Boss," Marco said grimly. "They’ll try to wipe her out before you even have a chance to legally claim her. In their eyes, an heir is a threat to their future dominance over the North Side docks."

Luca stood up so abruptly his chair screeched against the floor. He walked to the window, staring out over the snow-covered expanse of the hospital grounds where delivery trucks were finally beginning to churn through the slush. For twelve years, he had lived untouchable because he had no weak points. No wife, no children, no soft underbelly for his enemies to pierce.

Now, the universe had handed him a daughter—and painted a massive, glowing target on her back.

"Move her," Luca ordered without turning around. "Get her out of this public ward within the hour."

"Where, Boss? She’s still recovering from major abdominal surgery. Moving her could—"

"I don't care about could, Marco," Luca snapped, turning around with a look in his eyes that made even his most loyal lieutenant step back. "If she stays in this hospital another twenty-four hours, she'll end up in a morgue. Prepare the armored transport. We’re moving her to the secure estate on the lake."

"And the legal guardianship? Social services won't just let a high-ranking syndicate boss walk out of a hospital with a foster kid without a mountain of paperwork."

"Then we buy the paperwork," Luca said coldly, reaching for his coat. "Or we rewrite it. But nobody—not the state, not the courts, and certainly not the Moretti family—is going to touch my blood."

As Luca turned toward the door to head back to Elena’s room, his phone buzzed violently in his pocket. He pulled it out, glancing at the encrypted display. It was a text message from an unknown number, originating from a burner phone registered downtown.

Nice blood donation last night, Luca. Too bad you just saved a girl who’s about to die twice.

Luca stared at the screen, a dark, murderous smile touching the corners of his mouth.