- 9 hours ago
Fake Death, True Vengeance
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00The day I go into labor, my husband's sister locks me in the Leonetti family dungeon.
00:04She presses a Beretta to my temple.
00:06The Leonetti family doesn't need your child, you better pray to God she's never born.
00:10And my husband, the second son of the Leonetti crime family, is upstairs in the delivery
00:14suite, holding the hand of his dead brother's widow.
00:16The woman who might give the Leonettis their male heir.
00:19I don't cry, I don't scream dead, I reach behind me and press the button hidden inside
00:22my clothes.
00:23In 30 minutes, the king of the entire east coast Bratva will descend on this building
00:26with a fully armed detail at his back.
00:28That king is my father, Victor Volkov.
00:31I lie on the birthing bed, contractions rolling through me in waves, each one tighter and
00:34more savage than the last.
00:36This is the Leonetti family's private clinic in Brooklyn.
00:38Black suburbans idle at the curb downstairs.
00:41Arm sole dotty line the corridors.
00:43My husband, Dante Leonetti, holds my hand.
00:46Just a little longer Sarah, we're about to meet our baby.
00:48Shaking with pain, but I still manage a smile for him.
00:51Then a nurse walks in carrying a syringe.
00:53I assume it is the epidural, but Dante lets go of my hand.
00:56He steps back, the needle pierces my skin, and in that sliver of silence I hear him murmur
01:01to the nurse in Italian.
01:02Aggiusta il dosamengio.
01:03Deve resistere finque Sofia non parterta.
01:06I stare at him.
01:07He doesn't meet my eyes.
01:08He just glances down at his watch.
01:10Sofia's already at 6 centimeters.
01:12Siamo a 6 centimeters.
01:14Basta ancora due ore.
01:16I want to scream.
01:17I want to claw his face off.
01:18But the drug is already flooding my veins.
01:20It isn't anesthesia.
01:22It is a tocolytic, a contraction suppressant.
01:24The violent clenching in my belly is seized by an invisible fist and crushed into silence.
01:28Stopped dead.
01:29They are forcing my child not to be born.
01:31I am wheeled into the basement.
01:33Iron rings still jut from the walls.
01:35The concrete floor is stained in patches so dark they are almost black.
01:38This has been the Leonetti family's dungeon.
01:40Dante's sister, Julia, stands in the doorway.
01:43A compact beretta is tucked into her waistband.
01:45Don't take it personal.
01:47Sofia is carrying Marco's posthumous child.
01:49You know the Leonetti rule.
01:50Il primo sangue la prima voce.
01:51First blood, first voice.
01:52The firstborn son's bloodline takes priority over everything.
01:55Don Enzo has spoken.
01:56Marco's child is the legitimate heir.
01:58She glanced at my belly.
01:59If your baby comes first, the cappy out there will use it as abnutrition.
02:03Claim Dante's bloodline has a stronger claim to succession.
02:06They already resent him for running the family in Marco's place.
02:08Give them one more excuse and the whole house tears itself apart.
02:11So Sofia's child has to arrive first.
02:14Then yours can come.
02:15As if this were all for my benefit.
02:16Call the doctor.
02:18And the pain is turning my vision black.
02:20The baby's coming.
02:21Please.
02:22Julia crouches in front of me.
02:23She draws the beretta and taps the barrel against my cheek.
02:26Light little pats.
02:27The drug's good for another three hours.
02:29Sofia's already in the delivery room.
02:31Sit tight.
02:32Once her baby's out, you can push to your heart's content.
02:36She stands and turns to the soldado at the door.
02:39Watch her.
02:39If she screams, shut her up.
02:41The door closes.
02:42The basement has a single emergency light.
02:45A sick, jaundiced glow.
02:46I lie on the floor.
02:48Blood is seeping through my hospital gown.
02:50Spreading in a slow dark bloom beneath me.
02:52My phone was confiscated the moment I arrived at the clinic.
02:54Dante said the signal interfered with the fetal monitors.
02:57They are afraid I'll contact the outside.
02:59I curl onto my side and try to breathe.
03:01All I can see is the look in Dante's eyes just before he stepped back.
03:04Cold.
03:05Calculating.
03:06He wasn't looking at his wife.
03:08He was looking at an inconvenience that needed to be shelved.
03:11Three months ago, his older brother Marco died.
03:14Officially, it was a car accident.
03:16A Maserati on the Belt Parkway punched through the guardrail and rolled into Jamaica Bay.
03:20The medical examiner's report listed a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit.
03:24But Marco didn't drink.
03:25Anyone in this life knows that.
03:27He left behind a widow three months pregnant.
03:29The funeral was held in the family chapel.
03:31Don Enzo, the iron-fisted patriarch of the Leonetti dynasty, wept in public for the first
03:35time in living memory.
03:36He gripped Sofia's hand.
03:38Il sango è tutto.
03:39Blood is everything.
03:40Marco will not have died for nothing.
03:41The firstborn heir's bloodline must not be broken.
03:44Then he turned to look at Dante.
03:45I didn't understand that look at the time.
03:47I understand it now.
03:48He was telling his second son.
03:50You are managing this family because your brother is dead.
03:52When his child is born, the true heir returns.
03:55Know your place.
03:57I'd actually stepped forward to comfort him.
03:59Father, don't worry.
04:01Dante and I will hold this family together.
04:03Don Enzo looked at me once.
04:04It turns out that from that very moment, my child and I had already been erased from
04:08the plan.
04:08Another contraction crashes through me, more ferocious than the last.
04:11The drug and my body are locked in a tug of war.
04:13I crawl to the iron door and pound.
04:15Somebody!
04:16The baby's coming!
04:17Please!
04:17Save my child!
04:19Nothing.
04:19Dead silence on the other side.
04:21I scream until my voice gives out.
04:23Then, finally...
04:24Shut up.
04:25Miss Julia says wait.
04:27But the baby...
04:27That's her problem.
04:28I sink to the floor.
04:30My whole body is cold.
04:31This isn't fate.
04:33This isn't God's will.
04:34Someone is deciding whether my child lives or dies.
04:36And that someone is her own father.
04:38I don't know how long I last in that basement.
04:40The blood keeps coming.
04:41The gown beneath me is soaked through.
04:43My consciousness is fraying at the edges when the door suddenly opens.
04:46Not Julia.
04:47Not the soldado.
04:49It is Dr. Luca Ferrara, the Leonetti family's private physician, a man who has served Don Enzo
04:53for 30 years.
04:54He sees me, and every drop of color drains from his face.
04:57Mrs. Leonelli?
04:58What are you doing down here?
05:00Dante told me you were resting upstairs.
05:03I can't make a sound.
05:04I can only point at my belly, tears streaming.
05:07Dr. Ferrara crouches and presses his hand to my abdomen.
05:10His breath catches like he's been punched.
05:13Dio Mio, you're fully dilated.
05:14The membranes have ruptured.
05:15This needs to happen now.
05:16He tries to lift me, but the moment I move, a hot gush pours from between my legs.
05:21Blood.
05:21A terrifying amount of blood.
05:23Dr. Ferrara shouts toward the open door.
05:25I need help.
05:26The patient is hemorrhaging.
05:28The corridor is empty.
05:29Tonight, for Sofia's delivery, every medical resource has been redirected to the third
05:34floor.
05:34Even the soldati have been pulled up to stand guard outside the delivery suite.
05:38In this family, the birth of the firstborn heir takes priority over everything.
05:41Over anything.
05:42Dr. Ferrara pulls out his phone, no signal.
05:45The basement is a dead zone.
05:47I'm carrying you upstairs.
05:49Hold on.
05:52A man in his 50s, running up a staircase with a woman in active labor.
05:56Every step a ragged gasp.
05:58I can feel the baby bearing down, descending, but she can't come.
06:01The residual tocolytic is still fighting my body.
06:04Contraction surge and stall, labor has begun but can't progress.
06:07My baby is wedged in the birth canal, and with every passing minute, the risk of asphyxiation
06:12climbs.
06:12Dr. Ferrara.
06:13I grip his collar.
06:15Save my baby.
06:16Please.
06:17Whatever happens, save her.
06:19You'll both be fine.
06:22He reaches the first floor and runs for the surgical suite.
06:25We both stop dead in the doorway.
06:27The operating room is wide open.
06:29And completely empty.
06:30The surgical lights.
06:31The operating table.
06:33The fetal monitors.
06:34The oxygen machine.
06:36The neonatal incubator.
06:37All gone.
06:38Nothing but a bare room, naked power outlets on the walls.
06:41Drag marks scored into the floor where heavy equipment had been hauled away.
06:45Dr. Ferrara stands frozen.
06:47I checked every piece of equipment this afternoon.
06:50Footsteps echo from the far end of the corridor.
06:53Someone is coming.
06:54Please.
06:55I pray.
06:56Please let it be someone who can save us.
07:01Julia rounds the corner with two nurses in tow.
07:03She sees us and raises an eyebrow.
07:05Luca, what are you doing down here?
07:09Sophia's in the delivery room on three.
07:11Why aren't you up there?
07:12Dr. Ferrara points at the gutted operating room.
07:14His voice shakes.
07:16Where is the equipment?
07:18Julia spreads her hands.
07:19Move to the third floor.
07:21Sophia's having a cesarean.
07:22The lead surgeon wanted every condigency covered.
07:25Don Enzo approved it.
07:28Dante gave the order to transfer all first floor equipment upstairs.
07:32Her gaze drifts to me.
07:34Sarah's in labor?
07:35Well, she'll have to wait.
07:38Sophia isn't finished yet.
07:40Luca, torna su.
07:41Hanno bisogno di te.
07:43Go back to three.
07:44They need you.
07:46Dr. Ferrara doesn't move.
07:47He looks at Julia.
07:49Then at me.
07:50Then back at Julia.
07:51And slowly, heavily, understanding settles over his face.
07:55This isn't an oversight.
07:56It isn't a coincidence.
07:58It has been arranged.
07:59But Dr. Ferrara still turns and charges into the adjacent medical supply room.
08:03Tearing open cabinets.
08:04Empty.
08:05Every last one.
08:06Not even basic chemostats.
08:08Not even gauze.
08:10Where are the drugs?
08:12The coagulants?
08:13The oxytocin?
08:14A nurse whispers.
08:15Everything was sent to the third floor.
08:16Mr. Leonelli's orders.
08:17All resources are to be prioritized for Sophia.
08:20Dr. Ferrara slams his fist into the cabinet door.
08:23He looks at me.
08:25His eyes red.
08:26I'm sorry, Mrs. Leonetti.
08:29I can't.
08:30There's nothing I can't.
08:32Julia walks over and pats his shoulder.
08:35Luca, relax.
08:36Sarah hasn't delivered yet, has she?
08:38Once Sophia's done, we'll move everything back down.
08:40She pauses, then adds.
08:42Besides, even if Sarah's child is born, it changes nothing.
08:45The right of succession belongs to Marco's line.
08:47Don Enzo decided.
08:49Dante's child boy or girl will never be named heir.
08:53In this family, Sarah and her baby are, how do I put this, not essential.
08:57I stare at her.
08:58Stare at this woman I have loved like a sister for three years.
09:01Then I summon every last shred of strength in my body and force out two words.
09:04Fuck you!
09:05Julia's face goes cold.
09:07She leans down to my ear, her voice barely above a breath.
09:10Go ahead.
09:12Get it out of your system.
09:14Once you've delivered and your body's wrecked, I have plenty of ways to make you disappear quietly.
09:19When the time comes, the Leonetti succession only needs Sophia and her child.
09:24As for you, for Dante's sake, I'll let you live.
09:26Sign the annulment papers.
09:28Take a check.
09:29Disappear.
09:30Don't be an eyesore.
09:31Dr. Ferrara can't take any more.
09:34Julia!
09:35Do you understand what you're doing?
09:37Two souls!
09:38Two souls before God!
09:40Two souls?
09:41Julia straightens.
09:42Luca, you've been the family doctor for 30 years.
09:45What haven't you seen?
09:46A woman dying in childbirth, it's the most natural thing in the world.
09:50And this, this is family business.
09:53Know your place, Luca.
09:55She waves at the soldati.
09:58Escort Dr. Ferrara back to three.
10:00I'll take care of Sarah.
10:01Two soldiers step forward and sees Dr. Ferrara, dragging him toward the stairwell.
10:05He fights them every step, shouting back over his shoulder.
10:08Mrs. Leonetti!
10:10Use the heel of your man!
10:11Press on the top of the uterus and push downward!
10:13Help the contractions!
10:14Stay on your left side!
10:16It increases blood flow!
10:18Don't give up!
10:19The baby still has a chance!
10:21His voice grows fainter and fainter until it is gone.
10:24Julia shuts the door to the supply room.
10:26Turns to me.
10:27Pulls out her phone and places a video call.
10:34Dante, Sarah's about to deliver.
10:36Don't you want to see?
10:38Dante's face appears on the screen.
10:40He is standing outside the third floor delivery suite.
10:42Behind him, medical staff move in urgent blurs.
10:45One hand keeps turning the signet ring on his thumb.
10:48The ring every Leonetti man receives when he comes of age.
10:51Sarah, don't make a scene.
10:57Sophia's in trouble.
10:58Fetal heart rate is dropping.
11:01Look at Sarah, she's lost so much blood.
11:02Doesn't look good, does it?
11:04Dante glances at the screen.
11:05His eyes flick away almost immediately.
11:08Tell her to wait.
11:10Once Sophia delivers, the doctors will come down.
11:14Sarah, keep it hard.
11:14The call ends.
11:19Hear that?
11:20In Dante's heart, Sophia and that baby come first.
11:23You're just, how did I put it?
11:24A vessel.
11:27Once you've served your purpose, you have no value.
11:30I close my eyes.
11:32I stop looking at her.
11:33My hand creeps behind my back.
11:35Fingers finding the button-sized device sewn into the lining of my undergarment.
11:38Papa gave it to me.
11:39Sarah, the Leonetzis are not what they seem.
11:42These people will eat you alive.
11:43If anything goes wrong, press this.
11:46I'd laughed at him then.
11:47Papa, Dante is good to me.
11:49God, what a fool I was.
11:51I work my nail under the protective cover and press down.
11:53No sound.
11:54No light.
11:55But I know, the GPS beacon and emergency pulse have been transmitted.
11:59Papa promised me, press that button, and someone will come within 30 minutes.
12:03But 30 minutes?
12:04Can my baby last 30 minutes?
12:06My consciousness dims, sliding in and out like a bad signal.
12:09Julia sits in a chair, sipping espresso.
12:11Every now and then she glances up at me like I am something mildly unpleasant she's been
12:14asked to keep an eye on.
12:16Sarah, tell me.
12:17Why did you marry into this family in the first place?
12:19Dante's pretty face?
12:21Or the Leonati name?
12:23Think about it.
12:24A nobody.
12:25A girl from nowhere.
12:26What made you think you deserved to be called a Leonati?
12:30I say nothing.
12:31I just keep doing what Dr. Ferrara told me.
12:33Heal of the palm against the top of the uterus.
12:35Push downward.
12:36Left side.
12:37Stay on your left side.
12:39Even if it is hopeless.
12:41If you hadn't gotten pregnant first, Dante would never have married you.
12:44You think Don Enzo would have let a nobody into this house?
12:47That baby in your belly, that was your ticket in.
12:49Nothing else.
12:50The plan was simple.
12:51You give Dante an heir, carry on his branch of the bloodline, and at least you'd have
12:56some use.
12:56Then Marco died, and everything changed.
13:00What Don Enzo needs now is the firstborn heir, not what's in your belly.
13:07So know your place, Sera.
13:09You were never the main character in this family.
13:12Once Sofia delivers, you sign the annulment papers, take the money, and walk away.
13:17Start over.
13:18Far away from this life.
13:20It could be worse.
13:21Does Dante know you talk to me like this?
13:25Julia smiles.
13:26Of course.
13:28He's the one who sent me.
13:30Said you're stubborn.
13:31Said he was worried you'd do something foolish.
13:34He asked me to help you see reality.
13:36A spasm rips through my abdomen, the worst yet.
13:39The drug has burned off completely.
13:40The baby is coming.
13:43I can't hold it in.
13:45Julia steps back.
13:46What a mess.
13:51Someone come look at her!
13:54A nurse creeps in.
13:55She's fully dilated.
13:57I can see the head crowning, but there's too much blood loss.
13:59If she delivers like this, both she and the baby will...
14:01No medication.
14:02There's nothing I can do.
14:05She gives her orders and walks upstairs without looking back.
14:11Not once.
14:12The nurse is too frightened to argue.
14:14She kneels between my legs and tries to help me dilate with her bare hands.
14:17But I have nothing left to push with.
14:19Too much blood gone.
14:21No strength.
14:22The baby is stuck, can't go back up, can't come down.
14:25Seconds crawl past.
14:26Each one an eternity of agony.
14:28Then, from the corridor, a sudden thunder of footsteps.
14:31Many.
14:32Boots hitting concrete in unison.
14:34And the sharp, metallic snap of charging handles being racked.
14:37The nurse's face drains of color.
14:38The door explodes inward.
14:40A black-clad squad pours through the breach.
14:42Compact AK pattern rifles at the shoulder.
14:44Tactical vests unmarked.
14:45No badges.
14:46No insignia.
14:47No agency lettering.
14:48This isn't law enforcement.
14:50This is a private army.
14:52The soldiers are down.
14:54The man at the point of entry reaches up and pulls off his tactical helmet, revealing a face cut from
14:58hard Slavic angles, high cheekbones, pale eyes.
15:00A jaw like the edge of a blade.
15:02He sees me, and his eyes go red.
15:07They've called me that since I was a little girl.
15:10I reach for him.
15:11No sound will come.
15:14The man doesn't even glance at her.
15:21He gathers me into his arms and barks over his shoulder.
15:25Sweep the building.
15:26Get the trauma team in.
15:27Every Leononi in this facility disarm and detain.
15:30Yes!
15:30The men in black move like a machine.
15:32The nurse tries to bolt.
15:34A hand catches her shoulder and presses her flat to the ground.
15:37You can't do this!
15:39This is Leonetti!
15:41The man looks back at her.
15:42His gaze is arctic.
15:45Leonetti?
15:45In about five minutes there won't be a Leonetti.
15:48I am carried into a modified medical vehicle parked outside.
15:51Outfitted like a mobile operating theater.
15:53Surgical lights.
15:55Monitors.
15:56Ventilator.
15:57A full team of doctors and nurses already gloved and waiting.
16:00They descend on me instantly.
16:02BP 60 over 40.
16:03Hemorrhagic shock.
16:04Fetal distress.
16:05We need an emergency cesarean now.
16:08The mother's vitals are too unstable.
16:10Surgical risk is...
16:11Is do it!
16:13She dies, I die.
16:15Get your hands in there.
16:16Now!
16:17Save my baby.
16:19Whatever happens.
16:22Save her first.
16:28The cardiac monitor shriek.
16:31She's coding!
16:32Get the crash car!
16:32D-5!
16:34Fetal heart rate is dropping!
16:36Prep for section right now!
16:39The anesthesia mask comes down over my face.
16:42In the last liquid consciousness, I hear a doctor shout.
16:45The baby!
16:46The baby has no heartbeat!
16:48Then, darkness.
16:49I don't know how long I am under.
16:51When my eyes open, I am staring at an unfamiliar ceiling.
16:54The air smells of antiseptic.
16:56She's awake.
16:57It's not even me.
16:57It's not awake!
16:58Familiar faces crowd around the bed, Papa's personal guards.
17:01Men who have been part of my world for as long as I can remember.
17:05The baby.
17:05My voice is wrecked, a stranger's rasp.
17:07Where's my baby?
17:09The room goes silent.
17:10A terrible, ringing silence.
17:12Seconds pass.
17:13Then the man standing at the foot of the bed turns slowly to face me.
17:17My father.
17:18Victor Volkov.
17:19They call him the Old Wolf.
17:21From Brighton Beach to Boston, every branch of the East Coast brought the answers to him.
17:24But the man who makes the entire eastern seaboard tremble is gone.
17:27The person standing before me is just a father, a father who has been broken.
17:31He walks to the bed and sits on the edge.
17:33Takes my hand.
17:35Sarah.
17:37I look into his bloodshot eyes, and I already know.
17:40She's gone.
17:41Isn't she?
17:43Plutonal abduction.
17:45Massive hemorrhage.
17:46The baby was deprived of oxygen for too long.
17:50He pauses.
17:51The doctors did everything they could.
17:53I close my eyes.
17:55I don't cry.
17:56I don't scream.
17:57The tiny life that spent nine months inside me, who kicked me awake every morning,
18:01who I whispered secrets to in the dark, is gone.
18:04Where's Dante?
18:05Papa wipes his eyes.
18:07With Sophia, she delivered.
18:10A boy.
18:11The entire Leonetti family is celebrating.
18:14No one remembered you.
18:20Good.
18:21That's good.
18:22Papa grips my hand tighter.
18:24Sarah.
18:24Come home with me.
18:26The Leonettis don't deserve you.
18:28That man least of all.
18:29I open my eyes and look at him.
18:31A plan, perfect in its cruelty, exquisite in its patience.
18:34Has already finished assembling itself inside my mind.
18:37Papa.
18:39I need you to do something for me.
18:41I need you to fabricate a body.
18:43A woman who just gave birth, dead from postpartum hemorrhage.
18:47I want them to think I'm dead.
18:49And then I want to watch with my own eyes how they celebrate a new life while mine lies cold
18:52in a drawer.
18:53Done.
18:55My princess.
18:56For the Volkov family, fabricating a corpse is routine.
18:59An unclaimed Jane Doe of similar build is sourced from the New York City morgue.
19:03The family's own plastic surgeon works through the night, reshaping the facial features, injecting embalming fluid and blood simulation compounds.
19:10Postpartum hemorrhage markers are meticulously replicated, the waxy pallor, the blood-soaked sheets between the legs, the slack, deflated abdomen
19:16of a woman who has just delivered.
19:18Then a medical examiner at the OCME, the office of the chief medical examiner, is paid to sign the death
19:23certificate.
19:23In this world, making someone disappear, or making someone dead, is a phone call and a wire transfer.
19:29The body is delivered to the clinic's basement cold storage.
19:33Indistinguishable from the real thing.
19:34I sit in the surveillance room of a safe house three blocks away, watching the monitors.
19:38Our people wired the clinic months ago.
19:40Papa insisted on it the moment I became pregnant.
19:43At the time, I told him he was being paranoid.
19:45Papa sits beside me now, holding my hand.
19:48Any regrets?
19:50About what?
19:51Marrying him.
19:52I think about it.
19:53No.
19:54At least now I've seen these people for what they really are.
19:57On the screen, Dante finally emerges from the third floor delivery suite.
20:00He is carrying a swaddled infant.
20:02The joy on his face is unmistakable, but it isn't the joy of a new father.
20:06It is the joy of a man who has won.
20:08Everything has gone according to plan.
20:10Sofia has safely delivered Marco's posthumous son.
20:13The firstborn heir has arrived.
20:15And Dante's position as acting head of the family is, for the moment, secure.
20:19Sofia is wheeled out on a gurney, pale but beaming.
20:21Don Enzo hobbles over on his cane, trembling, and peers down at the baby.
20:25Tears stream down the old man's face.
20:28Sangue continua.
20:29He keeps repeating it.
20:31Marco, your son is here.
20:32The Leonetti bloodline is unbroken.
20:35A crowd gathers around the child.
20:37Laughter.
20:38Congratulations.
20:39Embraces.
20:40No one asks about me.
20:42No one remembers that another woman has been in labor, fighting for her life, and losing.
20:45Until a nurse says quietly,
20:47Mr. Leonetti, your wife.
20:50Dante frowns, as if reminded of a chore.
20:53No update yet.
20:54Dr. Ferrara is with her downstairs.
20:56I'll go check.
20:57He hands the baby to the nurse and heads for the elevator.
21:00Julia hurries after him.
21:02I'll come with you.
21:03They step in, one after the other.
21:05The doors close.
21:07The surveillance feed switches to the first floor.
21:10Dr. Ferrara is standing outside the empty operating room, his back against the wall.
21:14His face is the color of ash.
21:16He sees Dante and snaps upright.
21:18Mr. Leonetti.
21:19Where's my wife?
21:20Dr. Ferrara opens his mouth.
21:22He just turns his body and points toward the basement cold storage.
21:25The color drains from Dante's face.
21:26What do you mean?
21:27Mrs. Leonetti.
21:29Hemorrhage.
21:30We couldn't.
21:31Dr. Ferrara's head drops.
21:33The baby didn't make it either.
21:35The air turns to stone.
21:36Dante stands motionless.
21:38Impossibile.
21:39She was fine.
21:39Just...
21:40She was not fine.
21:42She lost too much blood, no equipment, no medication.
21:45Tried everything.
21:47He crouches down and buries his face in his hands.
21:50It is pierce.
21:51I tried everything.
21:53Dante seizes him by the collar and hauls him up.
21:55What did you just say?
21:56Dr. Ferrara nods, tears falling.
21:58I'm sorry.
22:00Dante releases him.
22:01Staggers back two steps and hits the wall.
22:04That's not possible.
22:05This morning she was fine.
22:07Dante, calm down.
22:09Let me go look.
22:10She walks briskly to the cold storage unit and pulls open the door.
22:13The body inside lies with an expression that is peaceful and agonized at once.
22:17The white sheet beneath it is drenched in blood.
22:19Julia stares for several seconds.
22:21Then she claps a hand over her mouth, spins around, and rushes out.
22:25It's real.
22:26Dante pushes past her and goes in.
22:28The surveillance camera captures him standing in front of the storage drawer.
22:31Perfectly still.
22:32For so long that Julia grows frightened and goes in after him.
22:36Dante.
22:36He raises his fist and drives it into the wall.
22:39Why?
22:40Why didn't someone tell me sooner?
22:42Dr. Ferrara's voice drifts from outside the door, barely audible.
22:46Your phone was off.
22:47No phones allowed in your delivery suite.
22:48Dante whips around.
22:49Then come find me.
22:51Third floor to first floor.
22:53How long does that take?
22:54You just stood there and watched her die?
22:57Dr. Ferrara says nothing.
22:59His shoulders shake.
23:00Julia steps in.
23:02Conciliatory.
23:02Don't blame Luca.
23:04I told him not to go upstairs.
23:05Sofia was in critical condition.
23:07I didn't want to distract you.
23:08A slap.
23:09So hard it snaps Julia's head to the side.
23:11You hit me?
23:13You hit me for her?
23:16You locked her in the basement.
23:20Julia's eyes dart away.
23:22I only told her to wait.
23:24Wait?
23:24Dante's voice drops to a whisper.
23:26That was two lives.
23:28A woman and a child.
23:30I asked you to take care of her.
23:32And this is what you did?
23:34I did it for the family.
23:36Sofia's baby carries Marco's blood.
23:38He's the firstborn heir.
23:40Serra's child was never going to.
23:42Don Enzo set the rules.
23:43Don Enzo set the rules.
23:45Dante repeats.
23:46Something in his expression fractures.
23:48He stands there.
23:49The rage drains out of him slowly.
23:51Replaced by a hollow, vacant stare.
23:54So her life just didn't matter.
23:57No one answers.
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