Chapter 10 - THE ATTACK AT THIRTY-TWO WEEKS
The attack came at the hospital.
Not the mansion.
Not the road.
Not anywhere Matteo expected.
Norah was thirty-two weeks pregnant when she began having contractions.
Stress, doctors said.
Dehydration.
Possibly false labor.
Matteo drove her himself.
He remained outside the examination room because she asked him to.
That was new too.
He waited.
Did not demand.
Did not push.
Then the fire alarm sounded.
Arthur immediately knew.
“Wrong pattern.”
A nurse entered.
“Mr. Rossi, we need to evacuate.”
Arthur looked at her badge.
Wrong floor assignment.
He drew his weapon.
The nurse ran.
Chaos exploded.
Matteo pushed through the exam-room door.
Empty.
Window open.
Norah gone.
For one terrifying second, he became the old Matteo.
Orders.
Threats.
Violence.
Then he forced himself to think.
Marco wanted Norah alive long enough for the baby.
So he would use medical transport.
Arthur checked the service elevators.
One descended to the ambulance bay.
They reached it just as a private ambulance pulled away.
Matteo followed.
Three vehicles.
No police sirens.
Twenty minutes later, the ambulance was boxed in near the harbor.
The driver surrendered.
Norah was inside.
Conscious.
Furious.
She saw Matteo.
“You took forever.”
He almost laughed from relief.
“Sorry.”
“Unacceptable.”
Then she grabbed his hand.
“My contractions are stronger.”
Fear returned.
They rushed her back.
Doctors stabilized labor.
The baby was safe.
So was Norah.
Matteo sat outside the room for five hours.
At dawn, Norah opened the door herself.
“You can come in.”
He entered.
She was exhausted.
Beautiful.
Terrified.
He sat in the chair, not the bed.
“I nearly lost both of you.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know what to do with that.”
“You sit with it.”
So he did.
Then she said:
“Harper came to see me.”
Matteo’s head lifted.
“When?”
“Last week.”
“Why?”
“To apologize.”
He stared.
Norah continued.
“Marco paid her at first. Then she stayed because she liked you.”
Matteo looked ashamed.
“She knew about me.”
“Yes.”
“She didn’t care.”
“Neither did you.”
There was no cruelty in Norah’s voice.
Only truth.
“She gave me one thing.”
A recording.
Matteo’s own voice.
Months earlier.
Talking to Harper after drinking.
Harper had asked:
Do you love your wife?
Matteo’s recorded voice answered:
More than anything. That’s the problem.
Harper laughed.
Then leave her.
And Matteo said:
I’d rather destroy myself.
Norah looked at him.
“You did.”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
Then she asked:
“Why?”
For the first time, Matteo answered honestly.
“Because loving you made me feel like you had the power to ruin me.”
Norah stared.
“So you ruined us first.”
“Yes.”
Silence.
Then she whispered:
“That might be the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“So far, therapy seems cheaper than adultery.”
She laughed unexpectedly.
Then winced as the baby kicked.
Matteo smiled despite himself.
Norah took his hand.
This time, she placed it on her stomach.
Their daughter kicked again.
His face changed.
He looked at Norah.
She did not promise forgiveness.
She did not ask him back.
She simply let him feel his child.
Then Arthur called.
Marco Rossi had been arrested.
Alive.
But before capture, agents recovered one document from his coat.
A contract.
Signed years ago.
Matteo recognized his mother’s signature.
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It authorized Marco to take control of the Rossi organization if Matteo ever became “emotionally compromised by a wife or child.”
The date was three weeks before Matteo married Norah.
