Chapter 4 - Shadows in the Ward
Two weeks passed.
The change in the Gallo estate was subtle, yet unmistakable.
Linda no longer looked like she was drowning. Her color returned, her steps became lighter, and though she still worked tirelessly, the desperate knot in her shoulders had finally unraveled.
Every evening at four o'clock, Dominic permitted her to leave early to visit Keo.
What Linda did not know was that Dominic's private security team kept three armed men stationed outside Room 604 at St. Jude's around the clock.
On a rainy Thursday night, Dominic drove back to the hospital.
He did not go inside as the mafia boss. He wore a heavy wool coat, keeping his collar turned up against the chill as he walked the quiet sixth-floor corridor.
He stopped outside Room 604.
Through the glass panel, he saw Linda sitting in a plush armchair, reading a storybook to Keo. The boy looked remarkably better; his pale cheeks had a faint flush of color, and he was laughing quietly at the illustrations.
Dominic leaned against the wall outside, listening to the soft melody of Linda's voice. For a man whose life was defined by gunfire, betrayal, and cold calculation, this small, peaceful room felt like an sanctuary he had never known he craved.
Suddenly, his earpiece crackled.
"Boss," his head of security, Frank, whispered urgently from the street level. "We have a situation. Two vehicles just pulled into the underground parking garage. Moretti’s men."
Dominic’s spine went rigid. "How many?"
"Six guys. All carrying heavy iron. They're heading for the elevators."
Dominic felt a surge of cold, lethal adrenaline hit his bloodstream.
The Moretti family had been looking for a way to strike at Dominic for months. Someone inside the hospital system must have leaked that Dominic Gallo was funding a high-profile pediatric patient on the sixth floor.
They weren't here for money. They were here to take a hostage to break Dominic.
"Frank," Dominic ordered, his voice dropping into a terrifyingly low, icy tone as he unbuttoned his wool coat and reached for the suppressed Kimber pistol tucked in his shoulder holster. "Lock down the basement stairwells. Do not let a single one of them leave the building alive."
"Copy that, boss."
Dominic turned toward the glass panel. Linda was still reading, completely unaware that six armed hitmen were ascending the elevator shaft to tear her world apart once again.
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Dominic checked his weapon's magazine, chambered a round with a soft click, and stepped into the shadowyalcove near the elevators.
Nobody touched Linda. Nobody touched the boy. Not while Dominic Gallo was still breathing.
