Chapter 19 - The Last Bargain
Our son was born by emergency C-section.
Small. Breathing with help. Alive.
Two babies.
Two incubators.
Two names Dominic and I had chosen months earlier before our marriage started breaking apart.
Sofia and James.
For twelve hours, the world shrank to the NICU.
Then Ortiz found Kane.
He had made one mistake. The fake transfer request used an encrypted hospital terminal that bounced through a private network owned by an old Moretti club.
The same abandoned club from Cassandra’s message.
He was still there.
Ortiz wanted to wait for a full tactical team.
Cassandra said, “He’ll run.”
She was right.
Kane called my phone directly.
“Ava Moretti,” he said.
His voice was calm. Older. Educated.
“You have beautiful children.”
My whole body went cold.
“If you ever say that again, I’ll—”
“Careful. Mothers make poor negotiators when they’re angry.”
“What do you want?”
“The original trust. In exchange, I disappear.”
“You tried to steal my babies.”
“I tried to secure what was promised to me.”
“They are not property.”
Silence.
Then he said, “Neither was my life when the Morettis destroyed it.”
I understood then. Kane had spent twenty years turning his pain into permission.
I refused to give him that permission.
“You can tell that story to a jury.”
He laughed.
The line went dead.
Ortiz moved.
Police surrounded the club.
Dominic stayed at the hospital because I made him.
“You don’t get to choose revenge over our children,” I told him.
He flinched.
Then he nodded.
“That’s fair.”
Three hours later, Ortiz called.
Kane had been arrested trying to escape through an old service tunnel.
Alive.
No dramatic gunfight. No final speech. Just handcuffs, mud, and a very angry federal agent waiting at the tunnel exit.
I started crying from relief.
Then Rebecca walked into my room holding the separation papers.
“They’re still legally active,” she said.
Dominic stood across from me.
Everything outside our marriage had changed.
May you like
But the question between us had not.
Did I still want to leave?
