Chapter 2 - The Sound of Life
The heavy oak and iron entrance doors of Belladonna slammed shut with a reverberating thud that sounded like a tomb closing. Heavy security bolts clicked into place as Luca’s tactical guards took control of every exit, drawing the heavy velvet curtains across the floor-to-ceiling glass windows to block any view from the street outside.
Panic bubbled beneath the surface among the high-society diners trapped inside, but one lethal look from Luca kept every mouth sealed shut.
"On the couch in my private lounge," Luca ordered Marco, effortlessly lifting the unconscious, pregnant waitress into his arms. Elena felt impossibly light despite her advanced pregnancy, her head resting weakly against the lapel of his tailored jacket.
Milo trailed closely behind, clutching the hem of Luca’s suit jacket as if it were a lifeline.
Inside the opulent, wood-paneled private office behind the mezzanine, Luca laid Elena down gently across a long leather sofa. He pulled a heavy cashmere throw blanket from an armchair and tucked it around her pale shoulders, ensuring her legs were elevated.
Within seven minutes, the private rear service door opened. Dr. Julian Vance—a trusted private surgeon under the Moretti family’s retainer—was escorted into the room by two armed guards, carrying a compact, emergency medical kit.
"Don Moretti," Dr. Vance said, breathing heavily as he set his equipment on the mahogany desk. "Marco told me it was an emergency involving a pregnant civilian."
"She collapsed after spilling an unknown chemical compound," Luca said, standing over the couch with his hands tucked into his pockets, his posture rigid as iron. "Check her. Check the baby."
Dr. Vance immediately went to work. He knelt beside Elena, opening her eyelids to inspect her pupils, then pulled a portable ultrasound monitor and fetal doppler from his bag. He applied warm gel to Elena’s swollen abdomen, placing the transducer gently against her skin.
Milo held his breath, his small hands holding onto Luca’s trousers. The room fell into an agonizing, suffocating silence. The ambient sound of the rain outside seemed to amplify the tick-tick-tick of the grandfather clock in the corner.
Ten seconds passed. Fifteen seconds.
Then, a rapid, rhythmic sound echoed through the small speaker of the Doppler monitor.
Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump.
It was fast, strong, and impossibly vibrant—a tiny, resilient heart beating at a hundred and forty beats per minute against the coldness of the world.
Luca released a deep, silent breath he had not realized he was holding. His shoulders lowered half an inch. He looked down at Milo, who was staring at the monitor with wide, sparkling eyes.
"Is that... is that my baby sister?" Milo whispered softly.
"It is, son," Dr. Vance said, a gentle smile breaking through his professional demeanor. "Her heart is beating like a drum. Your mother took a heavy dose of a paralytic sedative—likely mixed into the air she was breathing or absorbed through contact—but the baby is fully protected."
Luca stepped toward the desk, where Marco had placed the shattered fragments of the porcelain saucer and the damp tablecloth in an airtight glass container.
"What was in the cup, Julian?" Luca asked softly.
Dr. Vance took a quick sample of the dark residue from the tablecloth, applying a chemical indicator test strip from his kit. Within three seconds, the strip turned a deep, alarming shade of violet.
"A concentrated derivative of Aconitum napellus," Dr. Vance said, his face going pale. "Monkshood poison. Mixed with a rapid-acting nervous systemic blocker. If you had taken two sips of that coffee, Don Moretti, your heart would have suffered total cardiac arrest within two minutes."
Luca didn't flinch. He slowly turned his head toward the door leading back out to the main dining room.
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"And who gave it to her?" Luca asked.
"The manager, Victoria, is currently held in the holding kitchen," Marco reported grimly. "We checked her phone. Three minutes before you arrived, she received an encrypted message from a burner satellite line traced to the South Side docks. The sender was Valerio Rossi."
