Luca didn't move for a long time after the call ended.
The NICU hummed softly behind him—machines breathing for his daughter, lights steady, unforgiving. Life and death balancing on invisible threads, and somewhere in the middle of it all, a voice from the past had just crawled back into existence.
You killed the wrong man.
His fingers tightened around the phone until his knuckles burned.
That was impossible.
Marco was dead. Luca had felt the weight leave his body, had watched the life drain from his eyes. He hadn't hesitated. He never did when it came to threats against his family.
And yet…
Luca turned slowly, scanning the hallway. Nurses passed by, unaware. Everything looked normal. Too normal, that was how Marco liked it, Chaos hidden behind calm.
Luca slipped the phone into his pocket and went back to the incubator. He leaned down, resting his forehead against the glass.
"Stay strong," he whispered to his daughter. "Your father isn't done yet."
Behind him, footsteps approached.
"You look like hell."
Gia.
Luca straightened. "How's Sienna?"
"She woke up asking for you. She doesn't know about the call yet." Gia hesitated. "What's wrong?"
Luca met her eyes. "Marco isn't the end."
Her face went pale. "Luca—"
"He said I killed the wrong man."
Silence stretched between them.
"That doesn't make sense," Gia finally said. "Unless—"
"Unless Marco wasn't working alone," Luca finished. "Or unless someone wants me to think he wasn't."
Gia exhaled slowly. "We need to move Sienna. The hospital isn't safe anymore."
Luca nodded. He had already reached the same conclusion.
Sienna woke with a sharp ache in her chest.
For one terrifying second, she forgot where she was—and then the memories crashed back in. The pain, the blood, the screams…
"My baby," she whispered.
Luca was at her side instantly. "She's alive."
Her breath shuddered. "Where is she?"
"NICU. She's small, but she's strong." He brushed her hair back gently. "Just like you."
Tears slid down her temples. "I didn't even get to hold her."
"You will," he promised. "Soon."
She searched his face. "You're lying to me."
Luca didn't answer fast enough.
Fear crawled into her chest. "What happened?"
He took her hand, careful not to hurt her. "Someone called me."
Sienna stiffened. "Marco?"
"That's what he wanted me to think."
Her heart slammed painfully. "Luca, you said it was over."
"I thought it was."
The silence between them was heavy, broken only by the steady beep of the monitor.
"I feel like something's wrong," she whispered. "Like… like the moment she was born, something shifted."
Luca leaned in, pressing his forehead to hers. "You're not imagining it."
That night, the hospital lost power.
Only for seven seconds.
Seven seconds was all it took.
Emergency lights snapped on. Machines rebooted. Nurses rushed down the halls, voices raised.
In the NICU, alarms screamed.
Luca was already moving.
"Gia—lock down the floor. Now."
He reached the incubator just as a nurse grabbed his arm. "Sir, you can't—"
"She's my daughter."
He saw it then.
The incubator door—slightly ajar.
And the monitor—disconnected.
His blood turned to ice.
"No," he breathed.
Footsteps pounded down the hall,security shouted, someone screamed.
Gia appeared beside him, gun already drawn. "Luca—"
"She was here," he said hoarsely. "She was right here."
A nurse rushed over, shaking. "She—she was taken, someone with clearance, they had hospital credentials—"
Luca's vision went red.
His phone vibrated.
He didn't need to look at the screen.
He answered.
"Congratulations," the voice said softly. "She's beautiful."
The world narrowed to a single point of rage.
"If you touch her—"
"You'll do exactly what I want," the voice continued calmly. "Or your daughter dies."
The line went dead.
Luca lowered the phone slowly.
Around him, the hospital erupted into chaos.
But inside Luca, everything went terrifyingly still.
They hadn't just declared war.
They had the guts to take his child–his first born child.
It'll be more than a War.