Chapter 5 - Shadows in the Corridor
Before Isabella could absorb the shock of carrying two lives, the door to the ICU bay burst open. Dr. Reynolds rushed inside, his surgical mask hanging around his neck, his face pale with alarm.
"Dante! We have a severe security breach on Level 2," the doctor gasped, checking the monitors quickly. "The hospital's backup generators just kicked on—someone cut the main municipal power lines feeding the East Wing. And the security feed in the parking garage just went dead."
Dante was on his feet in a fraction of a second. The vulnerable, remorseful husband vanished instantly, replaced by the apex predator whose name terrorized three states. He reached into his coat, checking the magazine of his weapon with a sharp, mechanical click.
"Salvatore DeLuca," Dante muttered, his eyes narrowing to slits of obsidian. "He knows Marcus failed. He knows the poison was discovered. He’s here to clean up the loose ends before Isabella can testify to the Commission."
"Dante, we cannot move her!" Dr. Reynolds shouted frantically as the lights flickered and dipped into an eerie red emergency hue. "Twin B's heart rate is dropping to eighty beats per minute! Fetal bradycardia! If we don't get these babies out within twenty minutes, both infants will suffer irreversible brain hypoxia!"
Isabella let out a scream of pure agony as another massive contraction tore through her uterus. The fetal monitor emitted a continuous, high-pitched warning tone. The red emergency strobes bathed her pale, sweating face in the color of fresh blood.
"Dante! Save them!" Isabella sobbed, clawing at the sheets, her knuckles whitening. "Don't let them die! Please! Kill me if you have to, but save my babies!"
Dante grabbed Dr. Reynolds by the front of his surgical scrubs, pulling him until their faces were inches apart.
"Listen to me, Kenneth," Dante commanded with terrifying precision. "You take Isabella into Operating Room 3 right now. You lock the blast doors. You deliver my children and you keep my wife breathing. If Isabella dies on that table, the entire medical board will burn with this city. Do you understand me?"
"I understand! But who is going to hold the corridor?" Dr. Reynolds cried out. "There are at least a dozen armed men coming up the fire escape!"
Dante released him and cracked his neck, a feral, bloodthirsty smile spreading across his scarred face.
"Me," Dante said.
He turned back to Isabella for a split second. He leaned down, his lips pressing firmly, fiercely against her forehead, sealing a bloody promise.
"You survive, Isabella," Dante whispered against her skin. "You hold on to our son and daughter. I will wipe Salvatore DeLuca and his entire bloodline from the face of this earth before their first cry."
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With that, Dante spun around, cocked his twin pistols, and kicked open the double doors of the ICU wing, stepping out into the darkened, blood-red corridor just as the elevator bell chimed at the end of the hall.
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