CHAPTER 5 — The Price on the Unborn
Deep beneath the mansion, the emergency bunker looked like a military command center.
Steel walls.
Medical rooms.
Satellite screens.
Enough supplies to survive for months.
Vivien finally caught her breath.
Doctors immediately surrounded her.
One elderly physician carefully performed another ultrasound.
The room became silent.
He checked the monitor twice.
Then three times.
Finally he looked toward Vincent.
"We have a serious problem."
Vivien's heart dropped.
"My babies?"
"They're alive."
"But..."
He hesitated.
"The pregnancy is far more dangerous than we expected."
He enlarged the scan.
"The triplets share an extremely rare blood connection."
"If Miss Carter experiences severe stress..."
"...she could lose all three babies at once."
Vivien instinctively covered her stomach.
The doctor continued.
"From this moment forward...
any emotional trauma could become fatal."
Vincent quietly dismissed the staff.
When everyone else had gone...
He opened a locked briefcase.
Inside was an old leather notebook.
It belonged to Adrian's father.
Vivien frowned.
"What is that?"
Vincent slowly opened the final page.
A photograph slipped onto the table.
It showed Adrian as a little boy standing beside an elderly priest.
Behind them...
Three newborn babies.
Identical triplets.
Vincent spoke softly.
"The Blackwood family has had only one set of triplets in nearly two hundred years."
Vivien looked confused.
"So?"
"Their birth changed the entire organization."
"The empire was divided into three bloodlines."
He closed the notebook.
"Every crime family in America knows the legend."
Vivien laughed nervously.
"You're telling me mafia families believe in legends?"
"They don't believe in legends."
"They believe in inheritance."
He looked directly into her eyes.
"If your babies survive..."
"...they legally inherit everything Adrian owns."
Vivien whispered,
"That's impossible."
Vincent answered quietly.
"His empire is worth nearly thirty billion dollars."
The room fell silent.
Suddenly...
Vivien understood why strangers had attacked a medical clinic.
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This had never been about her.
It had always been about the babies.
