Alexander stared at his phone.

Sophia’s name flashed across the screen.

For several seconds, he didn’t answer.

The pH๏τograph of Victoria remained open in his other hand.

Her wrists were tied. Her hair was disheveled, and her face was pale. But what destroyed him wasn’t the sight of the ropes.

It was her hand.

Even while frightened, even while being held captive, she had placed one hand over her stomach.

His child.

His unborn child.

“Answer me, Alexander!” Sophia’s voice suddenly came through the phone.

He pressed the receiver to his ear.

“What do you want?”

There was a brief silence.

Then Sophia began crying.

“Where are you? I’ve been calling you for twenty minutes!”

“I’m dealing with something.”

“Is this about Victoria?”

His expression darkened.

“How do you know?”

“I heard she left. Alexander, please tell me you aren’t going after her.”

He looked at the pH๏τograph again.

“She has been kidnapped.”

Sophia went quiet.

Then she whispered, “Maybe she’s doing this to punish you.”

Alexander’s jaw тιԍнтened.

“What?”

“Think about it. She changed the locks, canceled your card, and disappeared. Now suddenly someone claims she’s been kidnapped? What if she’s trying to manipulate you?”

Alexander didn’t answer.

Sophia continued.

“You know how jealous she’s been of me. She probably wants you to abandon me so you come running back to her.”

For the first time that evening, Alexander felt something unfamiliar.

Suspicion.

“Who told you Victoria had disappeared?”

Sophia hesitated.

“I… I heard it from someone.”

“Who?”

“I don’t remember.”

He ended the call.

Then he dialed his head of security.

“Get me every available man. I want the location from this pH๏τograph investigated immediately.”

“Understood, boss.”

“And find Victoria’s last known movements. I want everything.”

There was a pause.

“Is this about Mrs. Moretti?”

Alexander looked at the pH๏τograph.

“Yes.”

His voice dropped.

“She’s carrying my child.”

At 12:18 a.m., Alexander arrived at an abandoned industrial property on the south side of Chicago.

The address belonged to an old Moretti-owned warehouse that had been sold through a private company four years earlier.

He recognized the building.

He had personally approved the sale.

But the company that purchased it had never completed the transfer of its security systems.

Someone had deliberately chosen a location connected to his own empire.

His driver stopped outside.

“Boss, we’re waiting for the team.”

Alexander opened the door.

“No.”

“Sir, the message said to come alone. That’s exactly what they want.”

Alexander turned.

“Someone has my wife and my unborn child.”

His eyes were cold.

“I’m not waiting.”

He entered through the side door.

The warehouse smelled of damp concrete and old machinery.

A single overhead light flickered.

Then he heard a woman’s voice.

“Alexander?”

He stopped.

“Victoria!”

He ran toward the sound.

But the woman standing beneath the light wasn’t Victoria.

It was Sophia.

She wore a white silk dress and a diamond necklace he had bought her years earlier.

Her eyes were red.

But she wasn’t crying.

Alexander slowly lowered his hand.

“What are you doing here?”

Sophia smiled faintly.

“Surprised?”

“Where is my wife?”

Sophia tilted her head.

“Your wife?”

He took a step forward.

“Don’t play games with me.”

She laughed.

“Three years, Alexander. Three years I waited for you to realize that you married the wrong woman.”

His face hardened.

“Where is Victoria?”

Sophia walked toward him.

“She took everything from me. The penthouse. The money. Even the security access I had for years.”

“Because it was hers.”

Sophia stopped.

For a moment, her expression changed.

Then she said quietly, “You never spoke to me like that before.”

Alexander stared at her.

“Did you arrange this?”

She looked away.

“Victoria shouldn’t have forced my hand.”

His blood ran cold.

“Where is she?”

Sophia finally smiled.

“Somewhere safe. For now.”

Alexander pulled out his phone.

Sophia raised her hand.

“Don’t.”

Two armed men emerged from behind the machinery.

Alexander stopped.

Sophia approached him.

“You see, I knew you would come. You always come when I call.”

He looked at her with disgust.

“You used my wife’s pregnancy to lure me here.”

Sophia’s smile disappeared.

“I used what I had to get you back.”

“Get me back?”

She laughed bitterly.

“Do you know what it’s like watching another woman live in the home you were supposed to share with the man you loved?”

Alexander’s expression remained unreadable.

“You had no right to my home.”

“I had every right! You gave me the keys!”

“I gave you temporary permission to stay there.”

“And you gave me your credit card!”

He stepped forward.

“That card was in Victoria’s name.”

Sophia’s face twisted.

“Stop saying her name!”

The two armed men moved closer.

Alexander glanced at them.

Then back at Sophia.

“Tell me where she is.”

Sophia took a small remote control from her purse.

“First, I want something.”

“What?”

“Your divorce from Victoria.”

He stared at her.

“And?”

“I want you to marry me.”

For several seconds, Alexander said nothing.

Then he laughed.

It was a short, humorless sound.

“You kidnapped my pregnant wife because you want a wedding ring?”

Sophia’s eyes filled.

“I waited for you!”

“And I made a mistake by allowing you to believe you had a place in my marriage.”

Her expression hardened.

“Then perhaps you should have thought about that before you chose her.”

She pressed the remote.

A large screen flickered to life behind her.

Victoria appeared.

She was sitting in a chair, her hands tied behind her back.

A man stood behind her.

Alexander’s entire body went rigid.

“Victoria!”

She lifted her head.

When she saw him, her eyes widened.

“Alexander, don’t come closer!”

One of the men struck the chair.

“Quiet!”

Alexander took a step forward.

Sophia raised the remote.

“Another step and she gets hurt.”

Victoria looked at her husband.

Even through the screen, he could see the fear in her eyes.

But she wasn’t begging.

She was trying to tell him something.

Her lips moved.

The necklace.

Alexander frowned.

Then he looked at Sophia’s diamond necklace.

Victoria repeated the words.

The necklace.

He understood nothing.

Sophia stepped between them.

“Now, Alexander. Are you going to give me what I want?”

He looked at her.

“You have ten seconds to tell me where my wife is.”

Sophia laughed.

“You’re in no position to give orders.”

Then the warehouse lights went out.

At 12:31 a.m., the first explosion shook the building.

Sophia screamed.

The two armed men turned toward the entrance.

A second later, the side doors burst open.

“FEDERAL AGENTS! DROP YOUR WEAPONS!”

Alexander ducked behind a concrete pillar.

GunsH๏τs echoed through the warehouse.

Someone shouted.

A man fell.

Sophia tried to run toward the back exit, but two agents intercepted her.

Alexander rushed toward the screen.

“Victoria!”

The image disappeared.

He grabbed the nearest agent.

“Where is she?”

“Sir, we have a team searching the adjacent property.”

“Then search faster!”

His phone rang.

It was his head of security.

“Boss! We found her!”

Alexander stopped breathing.

“Where?”

“An underground storage room beneath the warehouse. She’s alive.”

“Get her out!”

“We’re already moving.”

Alexander ran.

He found Victoria lying on a narrow mattress in a locked room.

Her wrists were bruised.

Her face was pale.

But when she saw him, she tried to sit up.

“Alexander?”

He dropped to his knees.

“I’m here.”

She looked at him.

For a moment, neither spoke.

Then he reached for her hands.

“I’m sorry.”

Victoria pulled away.

“Don’t.”

His eyes filled.

“Victoria, please.”

“Where were you when I called you from the driveway?”

He lowered his head.

“I didn’t know.”

“You didn’t know what?”

“That you were pregnant.”

She laughed weakly.

“I was standing in front of you with a medical report in my handbag.”

He closed his eyes.

“I know.”

“You chose her.”

“I know.”

“And now you want to hold my hand because someone else hurt me?”

His face crumpled.

“No. I want to hold your hand because I should have been holding it all along.”

Victoria looked away.

A medic approached.

“Mrs. Moretti, we need to examine you immediately.”

Alexander stepped aside.

As they checked her blood pressure and examined her injuries, he remained beside the door.

He didn’t touch her again.

Not without permission.

At 1:45 a.m., the doctor came out.

Alexander stood immediately.

“How is she?”

“The mother is stable. She’s dehydrated and has some bruising, but we haven’t found evidence of serious injury.”

He swallowed.

“And the baby?”

The doctor gave him a cautious smile.

“We detected a heartbeat. At this stage, everything appears reᴀssuring, but she needs monitoring.”

Alexander closed his eyes.

For the first time in his life, the feared mafia boss looked as though he might fall apart.

“Thank you.”

The doctor nodded.

“There’s one more thing. Mrs. Moretti needs rest. Emotional stress won’t help her recovery.”

Alexander looked through the glᴀss.

Victoria was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling.

He wanted to go inside.

But he waited.

At 2:10 a.m., Detective Robert Hayes entered the hospital room.

“Mrs. Moretti, I need to ask you some questions.”

Victoria nodded.

Alexander remained near the window.

“Do you know who arranged the kidnapping?”

Victoria looked at him.

Then she looked at the detective.

“Yes.”

“Who?”

“Sophia Bennett.”

Hayes wrote something down.

“Did she personally contact you?”

Victoria shook her head.

“Not initially. Someone called me pretending to be Alexander’s ᴀssistant. They said there was an emergency at one of his properties.”

Alexander looked up.

“What?”

Victoria continued.

“When I arrived, two men forced me into a vehicle. They took my phone and demanded the access codes to your private accounts.”

Alexander’s expression changed.

“My accounts?”

She nodded.

“They wanted the financial records connected to the penthouse, your offshore companies, and several properties.”

Hayes looked at Alexander.

“Do you know why?”

He shook his head.

Victoria answered.

“Because Sophia wasn’t acting alone.”

Silence filled the room.

She took a breath.

“One of the men told me that Sophia had been promised a large payment if she could obtain certain documents from Alexander’s private office.”

Alexander’s eyes narrowed.

“What documents?”

Victoria looked at him.

“The ownership records for the Moretti shipping companies.”

He went completely still.

Those companies controlled several major shipping routes along the East Coast.

They were worth billions.

But there was something more important.

Their ownership structure contained the names of several people who had secretly financed the organization for decades.

If those records became public, the consequences would be enormous.

Alexander looked at Detective Hayes.

“Who else knew about this operation?”

“We’re investigating.”

Victoria slowly turned her head toward her husband.

“Alexander, there’s something I haven’t told you.”

He approached the bed.

“What is it?”

She reached beneath her pillow and removed a small plastic memory card.

“I managed to hide this before they took me.”

Alexander stared at it.

“What is it?”

“The recording from the car.”

Hayes immediately took the card.

He examined it carefully.

“What’s on it?”

Victoria looked directly at Alexander.

“The voice of the man who ordered them to take me.”

Alexander’s jaw тιԍнтened.

“Who?”

She swallowed.

Then she answered.

“Your brother.”

For several seconds, nobody moved.

Alexander’s older brother, Nicholas Moretti, had been missing from Chicago for almost eight months.

Officially, he was recovering from a business dispute overseas.

Unofficially, Alexander had suspected he was building his own faction.

But kidnapping Victoria?

That was something else entirely.

“No,” Alexander whispered.

Victoria looked exhausted.

“I heard him. He told the men that once they had the documents, they were supposed to make sure neither I nor the baby ever became a problem.”

Alexander turned away.

His hands clenched.

Nicholas had known about the pregnancy.

Someone had told him.

Someone had been watching Victoria long before the kidnapping.

Then his phone rang.

An unknown number.

He answered.

A familiar voice spoke.

“Little brother.”

Alexander closed his eyes.

“Nicholas.”

A quiet laugh came through the receiver.

“I heard you had a difficult evening.”

“Where are you?”

“Does it matter?”

“You touched my wife.”

“Your wife has become a rather inconvenient obstacle.”

Alexander’s voice dropped.

“If you go anywhere near her again, I will personally—”

“Careful, Alexander.”

Nicholas interrupted.

“There’s something you should know about the child.”

Alexander froze.

“What?”

Nicholas laughed.

“Did you really think this was only about the shipping companies?”

The call ended.

Alexander stared at the phone.

Victoria gripped the blanket.

“What did he say?”

He looked at her.

And for the first time, he didn’t have an answer.

At 3:05 a.m., Alexander stood alone in the hospital corridor.

Calvin, his head of security, approached.

“Boss, we’ve identified the second vehicle used in the kidnapping.”

“Where?”

“Registered to a company owned by Nicholas.”

Alexander nodded.

“Find him.”

“Already working on it.”

Calvin hesitated.

“There’s something else. We recovered a second phone from the warehouse. It belonged to Sophia.”

Alexander looked up.

“What’s on it?”

“Messages. Several months of correspondence with Nicholas.”

Alexander took the phone.

He scrolled through the messages.

At first, they discussed money.

Then the penthouse.

Then Victoria.

But one message made his blood run cold.

Nicholas: Has she told him yet?

Sophia: No. She thinks he’ll never find out.

Nicholas: Good. Once the baby arrives, we won’t have to worry about Victoria anymore.

Sophia: And Alexander?

Nicholas: He’ll do exactly what I tell him.

Alexander read the exchange twice.

Then he opened an earlier conversation.

It contained a pH๏τograph.

A pH๏τograph of Victoria leaving her doctor’s office two weeks before the kidnapping.

Beneath it was a message from Nicholas.

The child must never inherit the Moretti empire.

Alexander slowly lowered the phone.

This was no longer simply a fight over an old lover.

It was a planned attempt to destroy his wife and eliminate his unborn heir.

He looked through the hospital window.

Victoria was asleep.

One hand rested over her stomach.

He whispered:

“I won’t let anyone hurt you again.”

But the next morning, when Detective Hayes returned with the results of the preliminary investigation, he brought news that would change everything.

Sophia had confessed to helping Nicholas arrange the kidnapping.

However, she claimed she had done it under pressure.

And she had given investigators a name.

The person who had financed the entire operation.

Alexander’s father.

The man everyone believed had died twelve years earlier.

The man whose funeral Alexander had personally attended.

END OF PART 2.