CHAPTER 5 — SAVE THE BABY
The elevator doors slid open without a sound.
Julian stepped into a corridor that should never have existed beneath a luxury resort.
Gone were the polished marble floors and crystal chandeliers.
Here, the walls were reinforced concrete.
Steel security doors lined both sides of the hallway.
Surveillance cameras rotated silently overhead.
The air smelled of antiseptic instead of expensive perfume.
Men dressed in black tactical uniforms stood guard every twenty feet.
No hotel guest would ever find this place.
No government inspector would ever know it existed.
It wasn't part of the Grand Alcazar Hotel.
It was an underground fortress.
The Order
Julian heard the surgeon before he saw him.
"Prepare the operating room."
A nurse hesitated.
"But Doctor... the mother—"
The surgeon cut her off.
"Our priority is the child."
He removed his surgical gloves with chilling calm.
"If complications occur..."
He looked toward the unconscious woman lying on the gurney.
"...save the baby."
A heavy silence filled the room.
"If necessary..."
He finished without emotion.
"...let the mother die."
Julian's world exploded.
"NO!"
Every head turned.
Doctors froze.
Nurses gasped.
The surgeon barely had time to react before Julian crossed the room.
His fist crashed into the man's jaw.
Bone cracked.
The surgeon slammed into a stainless-steel instrument table, sending scalpels and forceps clattering across the floor.
"You touch my wife again..."
Julian grabbed him by the collar.
"...and no hospital in the world will be able to rebuild what's left of you."
Elena
She looked impossibly pale.
An oxygen mask covered half her face.
Dark strands of hair clung to her damp forehead.
Machines surrounded her bed.
Her heartbeat echoed through the monitor.
Weak.
Irregular.
Julian rushed to her side.
"Elena..."
Her eyelids fluttered.
Slowly...
She opened her eyes.
For a long moment, she simply stared at him.
Almost as though she thought she was dreaming.
Then...
A single tear rolled down her cheek.
"You shouldn't have come..."
Her voice was barely audible.
Julian knelt beside her.
"I searched for you every day."
"I know."
"I'll get you out."
She slowly shook her head.
"You don't understand."
Another contraction ripped through her body.
She cried out in pain.
Julian gripped her trembling hand.
"I'm here."
"You aren't alone anymore."
The Impossible Truth
Elena struggled to breathe.
"They..."
"They're listening..."
Julian leaned closer.
"Who?"
She looked toward the ceiling.
Toward the hidden cameras.
Then whispered so softly he almost missed it.
"The Circle."
Julian felt his blood turn cold.
"My father knew about them."
Elena closed her eyes.
"He tried to stop them."
"He died because of it."
Julian froze.
"My father died of a heart attack."
Elena slowly opened her eyes.
"No."
"He was murdered."
Three Years Earlier
Images flooded Julian's memory.
His father collapsing during a charity gala in Milan.
Doctors declaring it sudden cardiac arrest.
No autopsy.
No investigation.
The Rossi family physician had insisted everything was natural.
Now...
Every memory felt like a lie.
Locked Down
A loud alarm suddenly echoed through the underground level.
SECURITY BREACH DETECTED.
Red emergency lights flooded the corridor.
Steel doors slammed shut throughout the facility.
Computer screens flashed.
LEVEL FOUR LOCKDOWN ACTIVATED
The nurses looked at one another in panic.
One guard shouted into his radio.
"Someone accessed the Founder Elevator!"
Another voice answered.
"Seal every exit!"
Julian realized what had happened.
The hidden elevator had alerted the entire facility.
He had walked directly into their trap.
Sophia's Choice
Sophia Laurent burst into the operating room.
She looked at Julian.
Then at Elena.
Finally...
She looked toward the approaching guards.
Her decision came instantly.
"Everyone out."
One doctor blinked.
"What?"
"I'll handle this."
The guards entered moments later.
"The prisoner must be transferred."
Sophia crossed her arms.
"The patient is hemorrhaging."
"The transfer can wait."
"Our orders came directly from the Circle."
Sophia's voice became ice.
"And mine came from medical ethics."
The guard stepped closer.
"You've forgotten who you work for."
"No."
Sophia answered quietly.
"I finally remembered."
Without warning...
She grabbed a metal tray and smashed it across the guard's face.
Blood sprayed across the white floor.
Chaos erupted.
The Escape Route
"Julian!"
Sophia shouted.
"Move!"
She pointed toward a hidden door behind the operating room.
"Take Elena!"
Julian stared.
"What about you?"
"I'll slow them down."
Two more guards rushed inside.
Sophia slammed the emergency controls.
Steel shutters crashed down between the operating room and the hallway.
"They'll cut through in two minutes!"
She looked directly at Julian.
"There isn't another second."
Elena's Secret
Julian carefully lifted Elena into his arms.
She cried out as another contraction struck.
"I'm sorry."
She forced herself to speak.
"The baby..."
"Our baby..."
Julian smiled through tears.
"I know."
She shook her head desperately.
"No..."
"You don't."
He frowned.
"What?"
She placed one trembling hand over her stomach.
"There are..."
She struggled to breathe.
"...two heartbeats."
Julian stared at her.
"What?"
"The first ultrasound..."
"...was wrong."
His heart stopped.
"The second baby..."
"...never died."
"They lied to us."
Julian looked at the fetal monitor.
Two tiny heartbeats echoed through the room.
Fast.
Strong.
Twin A.
Twin B.
He couldn't speak.
For eight months...
He had mourned a child who had never been lost.
Why the Twins Matter
Sophia hurried toward a security panel.
"They know."
Julian looked at her.
"They know what?"
She swallowed hard.
"The twins are the reason Elena was kidnapped."
"What do you mean?"
Sophia's face turned pale.
"Your children aren't just heirs to the Rossi fortune."
"They're heirs to something much bigger."
Julian frowned.
"My father left behind more than a business."
"He left evidence."
"Evidence powerful enough to destroy the Circle."
She looked directly at Elena.
"They believe your children are the only ones who can legally inherit it."
The First Bullet
A deafening explosion shook the room.
The steel shutters buckled inward.
Someone had planted explosives.
Smoke poured through the opening.
Automatic gunfire erupted from the corridor.
Sophia pushed Julian toward the hidden passage.
"GO!"
Julian carried Elena through the narrow tunnel.
Behind them...
Sophia fired a pistol with surprising precision.
One attacker fell.
Another screamed.
Then...
A single gunshot echoed above the others.
Sophia staggered backward.
A crimson stain spread across her white blouse.
She looked down at the wound.
Then back at Julian.
"Don't..."
She coughed.
"...let them..."
Blood filled her mouth.
"...take those babies."
The tunnel door slammed shut.
Locking Sophia on the other side.
Julian heard more gunfire.
Then...
Silence.
The Hidden Passage
The narrow tunnel stretched deep beneath the hotel.
Emergency lights flickered along ancient stone walls.
It wasn't part of the resort.
It was much older.
Julian remembered Matteo's words.
"Your father built escape routes."
Elena leaned weakly against his shoulder.
"They'll find us."
"No."
Julian answered firmly.
"My father built this."
"And if he built it..."
"They'll never catch us."
He had barely finished speaking when a mechanical voice echoed through the tunnel.
Unauthorized movement detected.
Secondary escape route compromised.
Julian stopped.
The lights turned red.
Steel doors began closing ahead of them.
Someone...
May you like
Somehow...
Had taken control of his father's secret escape system.
