“She said, ‘Not Luca alone.’”
Cormack stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
“I was hoping you knew.”
Behind him, Aurelio Salcedo made a small thoughtful sound.
Yara whispered, “Luca?”
Cormack turned slowly.
Aurelio’s smile had vanished.
And that, more than anything, frightened him.
Because Aurelio Salcedo never stopped smiling unless blood was already in the water.
PART 4 — The Baby With No Name
They placed the baby girl in a neonatal room behind thick glass, beneath a soft blue light that made her look almost unreal.
She was tiny, but not weak.
Her fists opened and closed as if she had already arrived angry.
Cormack stood outside the glass, unable to move.
A nurse asked, “Do you have a name for her?”
He looked at the infant.
His daughter.
His child.
A human being who had entered the world while he argued in hallways with ghosts from the life he had chosen.
“I don’t know,” he said.
The nurse softened. “The mother didn’t list one.”
Of course she hadn’t.
Brin would not have given him that.
Not after what he had done.
Royce appeared beside him, keeping his voice low. “Boss, we found Luca Moretti’s car in the parking garage. Level four. Engine cold.”
Cormack’s eyes remained on the baby. “Where is Luca?”
“Unknown.”
“Hospital security footage?”
“Being pulled.”
“And Salcedo?”
Royce hesitated. “He’s still here.”
Cormack finally looked away from the glass. “Of course he is.”
When he reached the private family room, Aurelio was waiting inside as though he owned it. Yara sat stiffly near the window, arms crossed, mascara smudged under one eye. Her earlier stomach pain seemed forgotten, or perhaps it had never mattered as much as her pride.
Aurelio poured himself water from a paper cup.
“I did not know about the girl,” he said.
Cormack closed the door. “Don’t call her that.”
Aurelio lifted a brow. “Brin, then.”
Hearing her name in Aurelio’s mouth made something old and violent stir in Cormack’s chest.
“You knew Luca was involved.”
“I know many things.”
“Not enough.”
Yara stood. “Are we seriously discussing your pregnant mistress like she’s business inventory?”
Cormack looked at her. “Go home.”
Her face went white with rage. “You don’t dismiss me.”
“I just did.”
Aurelio chuckled softly. “Careful, Cormack. You are emotional. Men like us make mistakes when we confuse guilt for love.”
Cormack crossed the room in three strides.
Royce stepped in, tense, but Cormack raised one hand.
No.
Not here.
Not with Brin fighting for her life down the hall.
“Tell me what Luca did,” Cormack said.
