Chapter 6 - THE FRIEND WHO STOOD BESIDE THE COFFIN

Marco looked at the watch.

Then at Lorenzo.

Nobody moved.

Lorenzo's voice was almost a whisper.

"Take it off."

Marco smiled sadly.

"You always were slow when feelings got involved."

The gun appeared in Marco's hand.

Hunter screamed.

Lorenzo shoved her down.

Marco fired.

The bullet hit the wall.

Lorenzo fired back.

Marco disappeared through the doorway.

Chaos erupted.

Guards ran.

Alarms screamed.

Hunter crouched beside Tommy.

"You knew it was him."

Tommy shook his head violently.

"I swear."

Hunter looked at him with disgust.

"You took his money."

"I didn't know anybody would die."

"My daughter died."

Tommy started crying.

Hunter walked away.

She didn't hit him again.

Didn't scream.

Didn't ask why.

Tommy had already taken enough from her.

Upstairs, Lorenzo stood in Sophia's ruined room.

Hunter found him staring at a wedding photograph.

Marco stood beside him in it.

Smiling.

"You trusted him."

Hunter said.

"With everything."

"That doesn't make what he did your fault."

Lorenzo laughed bitterly.

"Everyone keeps dying around my choices."

Hunter approached.

"Sophia."

"Lily."

"Leo."

"You."

"I'm still here."

"For now."

Hunter stared at him.

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Turn guilt into an excuse to stop caring."

Lorenzo looked at her.

Hunter continued.

"Leo needs his father."

"And whether you like it or not..."

She swallowed.

"...I need you to find the man who killed my daughter."

Lorenzo's eyes hardened.

"I will."

"No."

Hunter shook her head.

"We will."

Then Halloran entered.

"There's something you need to see."

He placed Leo's toxicology reports on the table.

"The poison wasn't administered randomly."

Lorenzo frowned.

"What does that mean?"

"Whoever did this understood Leo's medical schedule."

"His weight."

"His medications."

"His feeding times."

Hunter felt cold.

Halloran looked at them.

"Marco couldn't have done this alone."

"Someone inside Leo's medical team helped him."

Then Hunter remembered the first night.

The sleeping nanny.

The wine.

The unlocked nursery.

She looked at Lorenzo.

"The nanny."

They ran downstairs.

But her room was empty.

On the bed was a photograph of Sophia.

Her eyes had been cut out.

And beneath it was a message.

MIDNIGHT.

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COME ALONE.

OR THE NEXT BABY DIES.