“If we cross that line, we can never come back, and Luca will grow up with a monster for a father.”

He closed his eyes, taking a deep, shuddering breath.

The silence stretched between us, filled only by the storm outside and the beep of the medical equipment.

“You don’t know how hard it is,” he whispered.

“To see him suffering and do nothing.”

“You aren’t doing nothing,” I said, reaching up to touch his face.

“You are staying here.”

“You are keeping us alive by being smart, not violent.”

Giovanni slowly opened his eyes, the dark intensity in them softening just a fraction.

“She will destroy the evidence if she suspects we are coming,” he said.

“She won’t,” I said.

“Because she thinks she is safe.”

“She thinks she is just a hospital administrator who made a bureaucratic mistake.”

“We make the call to the state police investigator you trust.”

“We hand over the files tonight.”

Giovanni looked at the tracking dot on the computer screen.

Marla Hensley’s car was currently idling near a warehouse by the harbor.

“It is a trap,” Giovanni said, pointing at the screen.