Chapter 7 - The Doctor Who Tried to Kill Leonardo Kidnapped Him—And the Baby I Once Saved Became the Bait for the Final WarLeonardo was four weeks old.
He was fragile.
But alive.
Sterling had taken him from a secure medical center.
He had bypassed security using credentials from someone inside.
Dominic nearly destroyed half the city looking for him.
We found Sterling's location through a hospital supply shipment.
An abandoned pharmaceutical warehouse.
He had Leonardo inside.
I went with Dominic.
My mother stayed under protection.
The warehouse smelled like chemicals.
The same smell from Suite 404.
My stomach dropped.
Sterling had recreated the contamination setup.
He wanted me to understand.
He wanted us afraid.
He held Leonardo near the equipment.
“Give me the trust,” he said.
Dominic stared.
“Take my money.”
“I don't want your money.”
“The company.”
“No.”
“What do you want?”
Sterling smiled.
“The future.”
He wanted control over the Moretti trust.
The children's inheritance.
The hospital network.
The medical foundation.
He believed medicine was power.
People were assets.
Children were leverage.
I stepped forward.
“You didn't understand the baby.”
He looked at me.
“What?”
“You never understood why I found the toxin.”
He smiled.
“You were lucky.”
“No.”
I looked at the equipment.
“The contamination wasn't random.”
His expression changed.
“You left traces.”
I pointed.
“The same tubing.”
“The same chemical smell.”
“The same residue.”
His smile disappeared.
“You remembered.”
“Yes.”
“You weren't supposed to.”
I looked at Dominic.
Then at Leonardo.
“We don't forget what almost kills people.”
Sterling moved.
Dominic disarmed him.
Security rushed in.
Leonardo was safe.
Sterling was arrested.
The Crows collapsed.
The trust was secured.
But after the chaos, Dominic did something I never expected.
He asked me to stay.
Not as a nurse.
Not as protection.
As family.
“I don't know how to do normal,” he said.
“Neither do I.”
“I want to learn.”
I smiled.
“Then learn with me.”
We went home.
For the first time, the Moretti estate didn't feel like a fortress.
It felt like a house.
Sophia recovered.
Mara grew stronger.
Leonardo survived.
My mother began rebuilding her relationship with me.
My sister graduated.
My father's debt was finally paid.
Dominic stepped away from the criminal world.
He kept the legitimate businesses.
And the family foundation became the center of our lives.
But there was one last thing.
The trust named me as an independent medical adviser.
I laughed when I saw it.
“Why me?”
Dominic smiled.
“Because you're the only person who questioned fifteen doctors.”
I shook my head.
“That's not exactly a credential.”
“It is to me.”
Then he took my hand.
“Claire.”
“Yes?”
“Marry me.”
I stared.
“That was fast.”
“It's been a year.”
“Oh.”
He smiled.
“You've been living in my head for much longer.”
I laughed.
Then nodded.
“Yes.”
He kissed me.
The family celebrated.
May you like
And for the first time, I believed the danger was behind us.
I was wrong.
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