“Doctor.”

He stopped.

For a brief moment, his eyes moved toward the ICU door before returning to my face.

“Mr. Moretti. I was just coming to check on your wife.”

I studied him.

“That’s interesting. Because two hours ago, you told me she was stable. Now I have footage of you receiving an envelope from the man who helped put her in that bed.”

His face went pale.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I raised my phone.

“Would you like to watch it?”

He swallowed.

Behind him, Clara’s father suddenly stopped talking.

One of her brothers whispered, “Dad, what’s happening?”

Nobody answered.

I turned to my head of security, Victor.

“Take him somewhere private. Nobody touches him. I want every camera recording preserved, and I want the hospital’s security director here immediately.”

The surgeon took a step backward.

“You can’t do this! I’m a respected physician!”

I looked directly into his eyes.

“Then you should have no problem explaining why you’re accepting envelopes from the people who nearly killed my wife.”

Two security officers approached him.

He tried to protest, but Victor calmly escorted him away.

Then I turned toward Clara’s family.

Nine people.

Nine faces.

And suddenly, not one of them looked amused.

Clara’s father was the first to recover.

“You think you can intimidate us?”

I said nothing.

He pointed a finger at my chest.

“My daughter has always been dramatic. She probably fell, and now you’re turning this into some ridiculous conspiracy.”

One of Clara’s brothers laughed nervously.

“Exactly. She was always good at making herself look innocent.”

I slowly turned toward him.

“Your sister is unconscious behind that door. Her baby is ᴅᴇᴀᴅ. And you’re still trying to blame her?”

He looked away.

Clara’s father stepped forward.

“Listen carefully, Adrian. Whatever money you have, whatever connections you think you possess, you’re dealing with family matters.”

I took one step closer.

“No. You made it a family matter when nine people decided that a pregnant woman deserved to be beaten because she refused to obey you.”

His expression hardened.

“She disrespected her father.”

I stared at him.

“And you murdered your grandchild.”

The hallway fell silent.

For the first time, he had nothing to say.

My phone vibrated.

Victor had sent a message.

We have the surgeon in a secure interview room. He is asking for immunity.

I replied:

He gets nothing until he tells us who paid him.

Then another message arrived.

Sir, there is something else. The envelope contained a pH๏τograph of Clara’s medical records and a handwritten instruction.

I opened the attached pH๏τograph.

Six words were written across the paper.

MAKE SURE SHE NEVER WAKES UP.

My fingers тιԍнтened around the phone.

The surgeon hadn’t simply been accepting money.

Someone had sent him to finish what Clara’s family had started.

Twenty minutes later, the hospital’s security director arrived with two senior administrators.

I showed them the footage.

The director’s expression changed immediately.

“Mr. Moretti, this is extremely serious. We’ll contact the appropriate authorities and secure the evidence.”

“Good. And nobody enters my wife’s room without authorization from her treating team and an independent witness.”

He nodded.

I wasn’t going to allow fear or anger to make another mistake.

Clara needed protection, proper medical care, and the chance to recover.

Nothing else mattered more.

Then Victor called.

“Sir, the surgeon is talking.”

“Put him on speaker.”

A trembling voice came through.

“Mr. Moretti, I didn’t know they were going to hurt her that badly.”

I closed my eyes.

“Who hired you?”

“Her father.”

I looked toward the nine people standing across the hallway.

Clara’s father immediately shook his head.

“That’s a lie!”

The surgeon continued.

“Mr. Reynolds contacted me three weeks ago. He offered me money to provide information about Clara’s medical appointments and pregnancy.”

My jaw тιԍнтened.

“What did he want?”

“He wanted to know when she would be alone. He said the family needed to teach her a lesson.”

I looked at Clara’s father.

He was no longer smiling.

The surgeon’s voice cracked.

“But tonight, after the ᴀssault, he contacted me again. He told me that if Clara survived, she could expose what happened. He offered me another payment to make sure she didn’t.”

For several seconds, I couldn’t speak.

Then I asked the question that mattered.

“Did you give her anything?”

“No, sir. I swear. I never administered anything. I only entered the hallway because they wanted me to check whether she was still conscious.”

I looked at the hospital director.

“Have an independent medical team review every medication and treatment she’s received. Preserve all records. I want the authorities involved immediately.”

The director nodded and moved away to coordinate with the clinical team.

I turned back to the phone.

“Who else knows about this?”

The surgeon hesitated.

Then he said something that made my blood run cold.

“Your wife’s father wasn’t the one who came up with the original plan.”

I leaned forward.

“Who was?”

“Her oldest brother. Daniel.”

I slowly looked at the tallest of the nine men.

Daniel.

The brother who had always spoken for the family.

The brother who had called Clara a disgrace when she married me.

The brother who had stood outside her hospital room laughing.

He lowered his eyes.

And that was when I knew the night had become much bigger than I had imagined.

“Daniel,” I said.

He looked up reluctantly.

“Explain yourself.”

His father immediately stepped between us.

“Don’t listen to that man! He’s trying to turn us against each other!”

Daniel’s lips trembled.

“Dad, stop.”

His father spun around.

“What did you say?”

Daniel looked at the floor.

“I told you this would go too far.”

The other brothers exchanged nervous glances.

I felt something cold settle in my chest.

“You planned the attack?”

Daniel shook his head.

“We only wanted to scare her.”

I stared at him.

“Nine men attacked a pregnant woman, and you call that scaring her?”

“She refused to listen! She married you without our permission. She stopped answering our calls. Dad said she needed to remember where she came from.”

“And the baby?”

Daniel’s face crumpled.

“We didn’t know she would lose the baby.”

I stepped closer.

“You knew she was pregnant.”

He said nothing.

“You knew.”

His father suddenly grabbed his arm.

“Shut your mouth!”

Daniel pulled away.

“No! I’m done protecting you!”

The hallway erupted into shouting.

One brother accused another of arranging the meeting. Another insisted he had only come to talk. A third began crying and asking for a lawyer.

The family that had stood together while Clara suffered was now falling apart.

I didn’t raise my voice.

“Victor, make sure the authorities receive every piece of evidence. Nobody leaves until the police have taken their statements.”

Then I looked at Clara’s father.

“You spent six years believing my silence meant I was afraid of you.”

He glared at me.

“You think you’re untouchable?”

“No.”

I glanced toward the ICU.

“I think your daughter deserved a father who loved her more than his pride.”

At 4:36 a.m., the ICU doors opened.

A nurse stepped into the hallway.

“Mr. Moretti?”

I immediately approached her.

“How is my wife?”

“She is still in critical care, but her condition is currently stable. The medical team is monitoring her closely.”

I exhaled for what felt like the first time in hours.

“Can I see her?”

“Briefly. Please keep your voice low. She needs rest.”

I walked into the room.

Clara lay beneath the white hospital blanket, surrounded by monitors.

Her face was still swollen.

Her hand rested motionless beside her.

I pulled a chair close and gently held it.

“I’m here, sweetheart.”

My voice broke.

“I’m so sorry.”

I had promised to protect her when we married.

I had promised that nobody would ever make her feel alone again.

Yet she had suffered something unimaginable while I was somewhere else, believing she was safe.

I lowered my head and pressed her fingers against my forehead.

“I don’t know if you can hear me. But you don’t have to be strong anymore. You don’t have to fight your father. You don’t have to prove anything to anybody.”

A tear slipped down my cheek.

“Just come back to me.”

For a long time, I sat beside her.

Then something happened.

Her fingers moved.

I lifted my head.

“Clara?”

Her eyelids fluttered.

The monitor continued its steady rhythm.

She struggled to open her eyes, and when she finally managed it, her gaze wandered around the room before settling on me.

“Adrian…?”

I leaned closer.

“I’m here.”

Her lips trembled.

“Where’s… our baby?”

My heart shattered all over again.

I couldn’t lie to her.

I gently kissed her forehead.

“Sweetheart, the doctors tried everything.”

Her eyes filled with tears.

“No…”

I held her hand.

“I’m so sorry.”

She began crying, but she was too weak to speak.

I stayed beside her, holding her hand as the nurse adjusted her blanket.

Then Clara whispered something that made me freeze.

“Adrian… Daniel didn’t come alone.”

I leaned closer.

“What do you mean?”

Her eyes moved toward the door.

“He told Dad… someone else wanted me gone.”

My blood turned cold.

“Who, Clara?”

She swallowed painfully.

“I heard them talking… before they started hitting me.”

Her voice was barely audible.

“Dad said… the money wasn’t enough. He said they had to make sure you would never find out who ordered it.”

I stared at her.

“Who ordered it, sweetheart?”

She closed her eyes, struggling to remember.

Then she whispered a name.

“Your brother…”

For several seconds, I couldn’t move.

My brother.

The one person who knew every secret about my organization.

The one person who had stood beside me for fifteen years.

The one person who had held Clara’s hand at our wedding and promised to treat her like family.

My phone vibrated.

A message from Victor appeared.

Sir, we just identified the second individual in the hospital footage.

An image followed.

I opened it.

The man standing beside Clara’s father was unmistakable.

It was my younger brother, Nicholas Moretti.

Underneath the pH๏τograph was another message.

Sir, there’s something you need to know. Nicholas has been accessing your private accounts for the past six months. And we just discovered a transfer of $15 million to an offshore company connected to Clara’s father.

I looked at Clara.

Then at the pH๏τograph.

My wife had been attacked by her own family.

My unborn child was gone.

And now the evidence suggested that someone inside my own family might have arranged the entire nightmare.

I stood slowly.

For six years, I had kept my criminal world away from Clara.

But now that world had entered our marriage, our home, and our hospital room.

And the person who had opened the door might be the same person I once trusted with my life.

I sent Victor one final message.

Find Nicholas. Bring me the truth. No one is to hurt him.

Then I returned to Clara’s bedside, took her hand, and whispered:

“I’m not leaving you again.”

Because I had finally discovered the most terrifying truth of all.

The nine men outside that ICU room might not have been the real masterminds.

They might have been nothing more than the beginning.

TO BE CONTINUED — PART 3.