Chapter 1 - The Departure
The hospital room smelled of chemical antiseptic and rain. At 9:15 AM, while Lucien Moretti was still sipping espresso on a Sicilian terrace thousands of miles away, Serena signed the final medical discharge documents.
"Mrs. Moretti, you cannot leave forty-eight hours post-delivery without a physician's sign-off," the attending nurse insisted, her hand hovering over the clipboard. "And certainly not without transport coordination for the infant."
"I am leaving," Serena said. Her voice carried no anger, only a chilling, absolute flatness. She cradled Niko against her chest. The newborn slept peacefully, completely unaware that his world had just shattered.
Elena stood by the window, her coat already buttoned. She had arranged everything—not through Lucien’s security network, but through old family channels that did not report to the Moretti syndicate. A nondescript black van waited in the ambulance bay, its engine idling.
"Serena," Elena whispered, stepping closer. "Once we cross state lines, there is no turning back. Lucien will tear the eastern seaboard apart looking for you."
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Serena looked down at her son’s tiny hand resting against her collarbone. "Let him look. He lost the right to know where we are when he chose his mistress over a delivery room."
She walked out of Mercy General Hospital through the side exit, bypassing the front lobby where two of Lucien's paid guards sat scrolling through their phones, entirely oblivious that the phantom they were guarding had already vanished into the morning fog.
