Chapter 3 - The Dark SyndicateWhile Gustavo was held without bail in a high-security holding cell at the 8th Precinct in Tatuapé, the web of conspiracy did not end with him.
Two nights after Miguel’s miraculous rescue, Marcos was sitting by his son’s incubator when his phone buzzed with an unknown number. He answered it, stepping into the quiet corner of the NICU.
"Is this Marcos Almeida?" a low, gravelly voice spoke through the receiver.
"Yes. Who is this?"
"Listen to me very carefully, Marcos," the voice growled. "Your brother-in-law owes us four million Reais. He promised us the title deed to the Vila Formosa warehouse complex upon his sister's death. Now the police are freezing all the trust assets, and our money is trapped."
Marcos felt his blood run cold. "I don't know who you are, but I have nothing to do with Gustavo’s debts! He’s in prison!"
"We don't care about Gustavo anymore; he’s useless to us," the voice sneered. "But you... you own half of that trust now as her legal widower. And you have a very fragile little boy sleeping in an incubator on the fourth floor of Santa Marcelina."
Marcos’s breath caught in his throat. "If you touch my son—"
"You will sign the transfer authorization for the warehouse properties by tomorrow midnight," the caller interrupted coldly. "If you inform the police, the power grid to that hospital’s NICU will suffer a sudden, irreversible failure. Do you understand me, Marcos? Your baby’s breath depends on your silence."
The call disconnected.
Marcos leaned against the cold wall, his heart hammering in panic. The syndicate wasn't just a threat on paper—they had eyes inside the hospital.
Instead of panicking, a dark, fierce protectiveness took over Marcos’s mind. He was no longer just a grieving husband; he was a father whose only surviving piece of his wife was under siege.
He immediately called Officer Renata Lima using an encrypted messaging app she had installed on his phone earlier. Within twenty minutes, Lima met him in the hospital's basement security room.
"It’s Marcelo 'The Viper' Ramos," Lima confirmed after reviewing the phone call’s cell tower ping. "He runs the regional extortion ring for the syndicate in eastern São Paulo. He’s ruthless, but he made a mistake."
"What mistake?" Marcos asked, leaning over the security desk.
"He thinks you’re an easy target—a broken accountant who will sign anything out of fear," Lima said, a cold smile touching her lips. "He doesn't know that we’ve already placed two undercover SWAT officers inside the hospital’s electrical control room, and the NICU has been switched to an isolated, battery-backed backup circuit."
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"I’m not signing anything," Marcos said firmly. "I want them caught. I want every single person who had a hand in destroying my family brought down."
"Then we set a trap," Lima said. "We use the property transfer meeting as a sting operation. But I need you to play the role of a terrified victim one last time."
