Chapter 4 - The Showdown at the DocksVictor Romano was sixty years old, with silver hair, sharp, hawkish features, and eyes as cold as the Atlantic ocean outside. He wore a tailored charcoal suit, completely unbothered by the rain dripping from his coat.
"You always were too perceptive for your own good, Leo," Victor sneered, raising his revolver. "I thought Thomas and Isabella would keep you occupied with that fake baby until eight o'clock tomorrow morning. I didn't think a nine-year-old maid's child would ruin a ten-million-dollar plan."
Victor’s eyes flicked over to Willow with a look of murderous disgust.
"She’s just a loose end," Victor added coldly. "And loose ends get burned."
Leo’s posture shifted instantly. The gentle father holding his newborn son vanished, replaced by the apex predator of the Romano syndicate.
"Touch that girl, Victor, and I will tear you apart with my bare hands," Leo said, his voice echoing off the concrete walls like thunder.
"You don't have the leverage here, nephew," Victor laughed, gesturing to his four armed men. "You're trapped in a basement. Hand the child over, sign the release of Romano Holdings, and I might let you live out your days on a boat in the Mediterranean."
"You forgot one thing, Uncle," Leo said smoothly.
"Oh? And what's that?"
"You came into my city," Leo said. "And you didn't check the perimeter."
Before Victor could react, the glass windows along the upper wall of the basement shattered inward!
Three flashbang grenades bounced down the concrete steps, detonating with blinding light and deafening BANGS!
Victor’s men screamed, blinded and disoriented, dropping their weapons as Marco and Leo’s elite tactical team burst through the side doors!
THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!
Suppressed gunshots echoed through the basement. Victor's four bodyguards dropped to the floor instantly.
Victor, blinded by the light, stumbled backward toward the stairs, firing his revolver wildly into the dark! A bullet whizzed past Leo’s shoulder, embedding itself into the wall behind him!
Leo didn't flinch. Protecting his baby in his left arm, he drew his custom sidearm with his right, taking precise aim through the smoke.
BANG!
A single shot rang out.
Victor dropped his revolver, screaming in agony as the bullet shattered his right knee! He fell hard onto the concrete steps, clutching his leg, blood pooling beneath his tailored trousers.
Leo walked over slowly, his boots thudding heavily against the floor until he stood directly above his uncle.
Victor looked up, his face twisted in pain and terror as he stared down the barrel of Leo’s gun.
"Leo... please!" Victor gasped, hyperventilating. "We're blood! We're family!"
"You tried to murder my son," Leo said, his eyes devoid of any mercy. "You paid a doctor to steal a newborn baby from his mother's arms. You are not my family."
Leo lowered his gun slightly. "Marco."
"Yes, boss?" Marco stepped forward.
"Call the Federal Prosecutor. Hand over the encrypted files from Hail’s computer, along with Dr. Vance’s confession. I want Victor, Thomas, and Vance spending the rest of their natural lives in maximum-security federal prison."
"Understood, boss."
Victor sobbed as Marco slapped heavy steel handcuffs onto his wrists and dragged him away.
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Leo turned back to Willow, who was standing safely near the incubator. He wrapped his coat carefully around his baby boy, shielding him from the cold draft.
"Come on, Willow," Leo said gently, extending his hand to the little girl. "Let's go home."
