Chapter 6 - The Price of a Gallo HeirVictor Rossi arrived in Chicago on a private jet accompanied by twelve armed men and one attorney.
He demanded a meeting with Dominic before the aircraft had finished taxiing.
Dominic refused.
Victor demanded again.
Dominic sent him a message consisting of four words.
You will be contacted.
Layla read it and shook her head.
“You enjoy making powerful men angry.”
Dominic adjusted the blanket across her legs.
“They are easier to predict when angry.”
“You were not predictable when angry.”
“I was perfectly predictable.”
“You nearly walked into a trap.”
Dominic glared.
Layla smiled.
Three days had passed since the hospital scare.
The bleeding had stopped.
The babies remained safely inside her.
The doctor wanted another week of observation.
Dominic wanted another month.
Medical reality was negotiating between them.
The hospital floor had become nearly as fortified as the penthouse.
But this time Layla had imposed rules.
No visible rifles.
No shouting at nurses.
No interrogating food delivery workers in front of patients.
Dominic disliked every rule.
He followed them.
That fact became the subject of quiet amusement among his men.
Matteo entered the room late that afternoon.
“Victor Rossi is becoming impatient.”
“Good.”
“He has threatened to involve New York.”
“Better.”
“He also claims Celeste has been unlawfully detained.”
Dominic looked up.
“She is staying in a five-star hotel.”
“With six armed men outside her door.”
“For her protection.”
Matteo almost smiled.
“Obviously.”
Layla closed her book.
“Has Celeste contacted Moretti?”
“Yes.”
Dominic turned.
“You did not tell me.”
“I am telling you now.”
Matteo handed him a report.
“She used a second phone hidden inside the lining of her luggage.”
Dominic’s expression darkened.
“Security missed it?”
“The phone contained no battery when she arrived. A hotel employee delivered a replacement disguised inside a cosmetics package.”
“Find the employee.”
“Already done.”
“Alive.”
Matteo paused.
Dominic exhaled.
“Bring him in alive.”
“Growth.”
Layla covered a smile.
Dominic gave both of them a cold stare.
Matteo continued.
“Celeste called an unregistered number for nineteen seconds. The signal bounced through multiple relays, but we traced the final routing area.”
“Where?”
“An industrial district near Lake Calumet.”
Dominic stood.
Layla watched him.
“You are thinking about going.”
“I am thinking about investigating.”
“With yourself.”
“Possibly.”
“No.”
Dominic looked toward the ceiling.
“Why do I suddenly have two underbosses?”
“Because one of them carries your children,” Matteo said.
Dominic pointed toward the door.
“Leave.”
Matteo left cheerfully.
Layla waited.
Dominic turned to her.
“This is my work.”
“I know.”
“I cannot ask permission every time I leave.”
“I am not asking you to.”
“You just told me no.”
“I told you not to charge into a possible trap personally.”
“That sounds remarkably similar.”
Layla lowered her book.
“Dominic, I am not trying to control you.”
He became quiet.
“I am trying to prevent you from making me a widow before I have decided whether I want to marry you.”
Silence.
Layla realized what she had said.
Dominic slowly looked at her.
She felt heat rise into her face.
“That is not what I meant.”
“What did you mean?”
“Nothing.”
“You specifically used the word marry.”
“It was hypothetical.”
Dominic walked closer.
“A very interesting hypothetical.”
“Go investigate your criminal conspiracy.”
“I have suddenly lost interest.”
“Dominic.”
He leaned over the bed.
“Would you?”
“Would I what?”
“Marry me.”
Layla stared.
“You cannot possibly be proposing while I am wearing a hospital gown.”
“I can obtain a dress.”
“That is not the problem.”
“A ring?”
“Also not the problem.”
“Then identify the problem.”
“You!”
Dominic straightened.
Layla laughed despite herself.
“You do not ask someone to marry you because she accidentally used the word widow.”
“I was considering it already.”
Her laughter stopped.
Dominic’s expression became serious.
“For how long?”
“Since the diner.”
“That is insane.”
“Yes.”
“At least you know.”
“I am frequently told.”
Layla studied him.
“Marriage will not fix what happened.”
“I know.”
“It will not automatically make me trust you.”
“I know.”
“And I will not become some decorative mafia wife who sits at home producing heirs.”
His eyes flashed.
“I would be terrified to attempt it.”
She almost smiled again.
Dominic sat beside her.
“I am not asking today.”
“Good.”
“I am informing you that I will ask.”
“That is the most Dominic Gallo proposal possible.”
“I prefer preparation.”
“You prefer control.”
“Yes.”
At least he admitted it.
Matteo returned an hour later with more information from Celeste’s call.
The warehouse near Lake Calumet was owned through a shell corporation connected to Moretti.
Surveillance showed unusual activity.
Medical equipment had been delivered.
That detail changed everything.
“Medical equipment?” Layla repeated.
Dominic looked at Matteo.
“What kind?”
“Neonatal.”
Layla’s blood became ice.
Matteo placed photographs on the hospital table.
Portable incubators.
Infant oxygen systems.
Medical monitoring equipment.
Formula supplies.
Tiny blankets.
They were preparing for newborns.
Her newborns.
Dominic crushed one photograph in his fist.
“No.”
The word barely sounded human.
Layla touched her abdomen.
The babies moved.
She suddenly felt hunted in a completely different way.
Moretti had not intended to kill them.
He had built a place to receive them.
“Why?” she whispered.
Matteo looked grim.
“We found another piece.”
He opened a document.
“Twenty-eight years ago, the Gallo and Moretti families entered a succession agreement.”
Dominic frowned.
“I know every agreement my father signed.”
“Apparently not this one.”
Matteo placed the paper down.
It was old.
A copy of a handwritten contract.
Dominic read.
His face changed.
“What does it say?” Layla asked.
He did not answer.
Matteo did.
“Dominic’s father and Salvatore Moretti agreed that if either family line failed to produce a legitimate male successor, certain shared port holdings would revert to the surviving bloodline.”
Layla looked between them.
“Dominic has no children.”
“Until now,” Matteo said.
“And Moretti?”
“Two daughters. No sons.”
The meaning became clear.
The twins threatened Moretti financially.
But that did not explain why Moretti wanted them alive.
Dominic kept reading.
“There is another clause.”
“What?”
“If a Gallo heir is raised under Moretti guardianship following the death or incapacity of the Gallo patriarch…”
His voice stopped.
Matteo finished.
“Moretti controls the combined port network until the heir reaches thirty years of age.”
Layla felt sick.
“They planned to kill you.”
Dominic looked at her.
“And take the twins.”
Celeste’s role became obvious.
Marriage would put her inside Dominic’s household.
If Layla disappeared after childbirth and Dominic died later, Celeste could claim influence over the infants.
Rossi and Moretti could divide the empire behind two helpless children.
Layla whispered.
“She was going to raise my babies.”
Dominic stood so abruptly the chair overturned.
“I am ending this tonight.”
“Dominic.”
“No.”
His voice filled the room.
“Not another discussion.”
He pointed at the photographs.
“They built a nursery for stolen children.”
His eyes had become black.
“They planned your death.”
He looked toward Layla.
“They planned mine.”
His voice dropped.
“They intended to place our children inside cages made of money and call it guardianship.”
Layla understood there would be no stopping him.
So she changed the question.
“How?”
Dominic paused.
“If you attack that warehouse, Moretti destroys the evidence.”
“Yes.”
“If you kill Celeste, Rossi denies involvement.”
“Yes.”
“If you start another war, innocent people around your businesses get hurt.”
His jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
Layla slowly sat straighter.
“Then do not give them a war.”
“What would you suggest?”
“Give them what they want.”
Dominic stared.
“No.”
“You do not even know what I mean.”
“If the sentence begins with giving Moretti something, the answer is no.”
“Give them information.”
He became quiet.
“False information.”
Matteo leaned against the doorway.
“I like where this is going.”
Dominic glared.
Layla continued.
“Celeste does not know we traced her call.”
“No.”
“She thinks you are distracted by me.”
“Yes.”
“She also thinks you are emotionally unstable.”
Matteo coughed.
Dominic ignored him.
“So let her hear that the doctors plan to deliver the twins.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“When?”
“Soon.”
“You want to bait them.”
“I want them to reveal who comes for the children.”
Dominic looked horrified.
“You are not bait.”
“I did not say I would be there.”
He considered.
Layla continued.
“Use a different hospital room. A false transport schedule. Whatever you do in your world.”
Dominic glanced toward Matteo.
Matteo nodded.
“We can build it.”
“No risk to her.”
“None.”
“No risk to the babies.”
“None.”
Dominic walked toward the window.
For several minutes, nobody spoke.
Then he turned.
“Do it.”
The operation began that evening.
Celeste received information through a deliberately careless security conversation outside her hotel room.
Layla was supposedly being transferred at six the following morning to a private surgical center for an emergency Caesarean section.
Dominic would travel separately.
Only four guards would accompany her.
By midnight, Celeste made another secret call.
This time Gallo surveillance was ready.
At 5:45 a.m., a decoy ambulance left St. Catherine’s hospital.
Inside it were four armed Gallo men.
No pregnant woman.
No babies.
Two black SUVs followed.
At 6:17 a.m., three vehicles attempted to intercept the ambulance beneath an elevated railway line.
Dominic’s men surrounded them.
A short gunfight followed.
Seven Moretti operatives were captured.
One carried documents authorizing the transfer of two newborn infants to a private medical facility under emergency guardianship.
The signature at the bottom belonged to an attorney employed by Victor Rossi.
The trap had worked.
But something else happened simultaneously.
While Dominic and Matteo watched the operation through encrypted cameras, the alarm sounded on Layla’s hospital floor.
Dominic turned.
His entire body went rigid.
A security officer rushed into the command room.
“Mr. Gallo.”
“What?”
“The decoy was not their primary operation.”
Dominic’s blood turned cold.
“Where is Layla?”
The officer swallowed.
“Her room.”
“Is she safe?”
“Yes.”
“For now.”
“What does that mean?”
The man held up a small object found inside the ventilation system above Layla’s bed.
A transmitter.
Someone had placed it there days earlier.
The Morettis had been listening to everything.
Including the plan.
Dominic ran.
He entered Layla’s room with his weapon drawn.
She sat upright.
Two guards stood beside her.
“What happened?”
“We have another breach.”
Her face became pale.
“How?”
Before Dominic could answer, every light on the floor went out.
Emergency systems activated.
A woman screamed somewhere down the corridor.
Then smoke began entering beneath the hospital room door.
Dominic grabbed Layla.
Not again.
The enemy had not taken the bait.
May you like
The bait had only shown them where Dominic was looking.
And while the Gallo organization watched the ambulance, someone else had come directly for the mother.
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