Chapter 4 - The Citadel
The Moretti compound in Bedford, New York, was less of a house and more of a fortress. Nestled behind ten-foot concrete walls topped with razor wire, the estate featured its own independent power grid, a state-of-the-art medical wing, and thirty heavily armed guards on rotating shifts.
By dawn, Daniel was hooked up to advanced monitoring systems inside the compound’s private clinic. Dr. Aris, Gabriel’s personal physician, was already reviewing the boy's charts.
"The attack didn't trigger the heart failure, Gabriel," Dr. Aris explained, adjusting his glasses. "The defect is progressing faster than we anticipated. The stress of the evening didn't help, but he needs a pulmonary valve replacement within the month. If his heart undergoes another shock like tonight, he won't survive it."
Gabriel stood by the glass partition, watching the rhythmic rise and fall of his son’s chest. "Find a donor. Buy the hospital. Do whatever it takes. Money is not an object."
Elena's SanctuaryTwo floors above the clinic, Elena Cruz was sitting in a luxury guest suite. Her shoulder had been stitched, and her face was cleaned, though a dark purple bruise now marred her left eye. Her sister, Maria, and her eight-year-old daughter, Sofia, were huddled beside her on a plush velvet sofa.
The door opened, and Gabriel entered. The guards outside immediately closed the door behind him.
Elena instinctively pulled Sofia closer. "Are we prisoners here?"
"You are guests," Gabriel said, pulling up a chair. He placed a thick, manila envelope on the coffee table. Inside was fifty thousand dollars in cash and three clean passports. "This is for your immediate expenses. Your salary as a janitor at Lenox Hill was forty-two thousand a year. As of today, you are on my payroll as an independent security consultant. Your only job is to stay alive."
Elena didn't touch the money. She looked at Gabriel with a mixture of disgust and curiosity. "You think everything can be fixed with cash and guns, don't you? You're Gabriel Moretti. I know who you are now. My sister told me. You’re the reason those men were in that hospital. Your life spilled over into that innocent boy's room."
Gabriel didn't blink. The truth was an old friend of his. "You're right, Miss Cruz. My world is poison. But last night, you chose to step into that poison to save my son. Why?"
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Elena looked down at her daughter’s head. > "Because a child is innocent. It doesn't matter who his father is. No one should die alone in a dark room while the world looks the other way."
Gabriel stood up, a rare, profound sense of respect shifting beneath his hardened exterior. "Rest, Elena. You're safe here."
