Chapter 3 - The Traitor in the Light
The air in the room instantly turned to ice.
Daniel didn't flinch. In a split-second movement, he stepped in front of Rachel and the baby, shielding them entirely with his broad body. His hand slipped smoothly inside his tailored jacket, pulling a sleek, silenced pistol from his holster.
"You made a mistake coming here, Vane," Daniel hissed, recognizing the lead man beneath the shadows of the trench coat.
Marcus Vane—a rival mob lieutenant from the North Side syndicate, the very man Daniel suspected had orchestrated the ambush on Lake Shore Drive that took his wife's life.
"Did I?" Vane sneered, pulling out a heavy revolver while his partner covered the door. "You’ve been distracted for two weeks, Daniel. Crying over a dying brat while your lieutenants started selling off your docks. And Dr. Harrison here was kind enough to give us direct elevator access."
Rachel gasped, clutching Leo tightly to her chest. She shrank back into the corner of the leather armchair, using her body as a human shield for the sleeping infant. She realized with terrifying clarity that the hospital wasn't a sanctuary anymore—it was a battleground.
Dr. Harrison stood near the back, a twisted, greedy smile on his face. "He offered me five million dollars, Russo. More than this hospital could ever pay me. All I had to do was make sure the baby didn't survive, so your empire would fall apart from the inside. But this stupid nurse had to ruin it by keeping the kid alive!"
Rachel’s eyes widened in horror. The treatments, the constant changes in medication, the strange procedures—it wasn't incompetent medicine. Dr. Harrison had been slowly poisoning and agitating Leo to ensure he died!
"You touched my son," Daniel whispered, his voice dangerously low, vibrating with a lethal, terrifying quietness. "You poisoned my blood."
"Shoot him!" Vane screamed to his partner.
Before the hitman could pull the trigger, the reinforced glass panel behind them shattered inward in a cascade of explosive dust. Mateo burst through the side entrance, automatic weapons blazing.
Gunfire echoed through the soundproofed suite. Rachel screamed, ducking low, wrapping her entire body around Leo as glass showered over them like winter ice. She held her breath, praying, shielding the fragile baby with her own back as bullets whistled through the air.
Daniel moved with terrifying speed and precision. He fired twice. The hitman beside Vane collapsed instantly. Vane lunged forward, aiming directly at Rachel and the baby to create a distraction, but Daniel intercepted him, tackling the rival boss onto the hard marble floor.
The two men crashed into medical equipment. Monitors crashed, alarms blared, and red lights flashed violently against the walls. Vane swung a wild fist, grazing Daniel's jaw, but Daniel, fueled by the rage of a grieving husband and a protective father, grabbed Vane by the throat and slammed his head repeatedly against the floor until the man went limp.
Across the room, Dr. Harrison panicked. Seeing his backup slaughtered, the doctor scrambled toward the door, trying to escape into the hallway.
"Mateo!" Daniel roared, stepping over Vane's unconscious body, his face smeared with blood and sweat.
Mateo caught Harrison by the throat near the shattered doorway, pinning the corrupt doctor against the wall. Harrison whimpered, his face turning purple. "Wait! Please! I have the antidote! The baby... I've been giving him a micro-toxin! If you kill me, you won't know how to reverse it!"
Rachel, shaking violently, slowly sat up from behind the armchair. She looked down at Leo. The chaos, the gunshots, and the shattering glass had triggered another severe attack. Leo’s skin was turning a dark, terrifying shade of purple, his heart rate monitor emitting a solid, continuous flatline tone.
"He's stopping!" Rachel yelled, tears streaming down her face. "Daniel! He’s stopping breathing!"
Daniel ignored the traitor doctor for a fraction of a second, his heart seizing as he saw his son gasping for air. "Rachel, save him!"
"I need the antidote!" Rachel screamed at Harrison, her nurse instincts overruling her terror. "What did you give him? Tell me!"
Daniel dragged Harrison by his collar, shoving the doctor's face right in front of Rachel. He pressed the hot barrel of his gun against Harrison’s eye. "Speak. Or I cut you open piece by piece."
"At-Atropine synthetic compound!" Harrison sobbed, terrified. "Top drawer... of the emergency crash cart... silver vial!"
Rachel didn't hesitate. Leaving Leo safely tucked in the cushioned chair for a second, she dove across the glass-strewn floor toward the crash cart, yanked open the top drawer, and grabbed the silver vial. Her hands were covered in cuts from the shattered glass, blood dripping onto the medical floor, but her grip was steady. She drew the precise dosage into a micro-syringe, ran back to Leo, and injected it into his IV line.
For three agonizing seconds, nothing happened. The flatline alarm filled the room like a death knell.
Then, Leo gasped. A sharp, tiny intake of air. His heart rate spiked, settled, and the purple hue faded back into a soft pink. He let out a feeble cry, and Rachel immediately pulled him back against her bare chest, soothing him with her warmth.
"He's back," Rachel sobbed, collapsing onto her knees, clutching the baby. "He's back."
Daniel let out a breath he felt he had been holding for days. He looked at Rachel, bloody, terrified, but holding his son like a guardian angel.
Then, Mateo leaned into Daniel’s ear, his voice trembling. "Boss... we just got an update from the pier. Tommy Jenkins... he's in the ambulance. He's barely hanging on, but he woke up. He kept repeating one thing before he went under."
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Daniel looked down at Mateo. "What?"
"He said... the man who set him up... the man who sold him out to the loan sharks... was Dr. Harrison."
