Marco entered Nora’s room alone.

Dante stood beside the window.

Nora remained in bed, pale but alert.

Marco looked between them.

“You wanted me?”

Dante nodded.

“Sullivan has a ledger.”

Marco’s expression remained calm.

“Okay.”

“Nora copied it.”

“That’s good.”

“It contains initials.”

Marco said nothing.

“MC.”

A long silence followed.

Then Marco laughed once.

“You think that’s me?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t need to.”

Nora watched him carefully.

Marco removed his phone and placed it on the table.

Then his wallet.

Then his keys.

“If I betrayed you, we’ve known each other twenty-two years. You think I’d stand here and wait for you to figure it out?”

Dante studied him.

“Explain the initials.”

“I can’t.”

“Try.”

Marco glanced at Nora.

“Can she be trusted?”

Dante answered immediately.

“Yes.”

Nora noticed.

So did Marco.

Marco exhaled.

“MC isn’t a person.”

“What?”

“Municipal Committee.”

Nora frowned.

“I saw payments beside those initials.”

“Because Arthur created a private political fund under that code.”

Dante’s eyes narrowed.

“How do you know?”

“Because I’ve been investigating Sullivan for six months.”

“Without telling me?”

“You would’ve confronted him.”

“Correct.”

“And then he would’ve destroyed the evidence.”

Dante almost smiled.

“You know me too well.”

“Unfortunately.”

Marco looked at Nora.

“Your ledger isn’t the only copy.”

Nora pushed herself upright.

“What?”

“I have six months of financial records.”

“Then why didn’t you act?”

“I couldn’t connect Sullivan directly to Halcyon.”

Nora looked toward the evidence bag containing the brass key.

“My drive can.”

Marco nodded.

“Then we need that music box.”

Dante’s phone buzzed.

Vincent.

He answered.

“Boss, you need to see this.”

A video arrived.

Dante opened it.

Arthur Sullivan had returned to St. Jude’s.

This time, he was not entering through the lobby.

He was walking through the administrative wing with two federal agents and a court order.

Marco read the document on the screen.

“He’s trying to have Nora transferred.”

“To where?” Dante asked.

Nora already knew.

“County Medical.”

Marco shook his head.

“He controls security there.”

Dante looked at Nora.

“You’re not leaving.”

Dr. Boyd entered seconds later.

“We have another issue.”

“What?”

“Nora needs surgery.”

Dante’s attention snapped to him.

“The baby?”

“Placental complications. The fetal heart rate is deteriorating again.”

Nora grabbed Dante’s hand.

“Save him.”

Boyd nodded.

“That’s what we intend to do.”

The doors opened.

The medical team began moving Nora toward surgery.

Arthur appeared at the far end of the corridor.

“Nora!”

She flinched.

Dante stepped between them.

Arthur held up the court order.

“She’s being transferred.”

Boyd didn’t stop pushing the bed.

“She’s going into emergency surgery.”

“I have an order.”

“And I have a patient,” Boyd replied. “Get out of my way.”

Arthur tried to approach.

Dante blocked him.

“You heard the doctor.”

Arthur lowered his voice.

“You think that child makes her yours?”

Dante stared at him.

“No.”

Arthur smiled.

“She married me.”

“She’s not property.”

“She belongs with her husband.”

Nora spoke from the gurney.

“No, Arthur.”

Everyone stopped.

Nora looked directly at him.

“I’m done being afraid of you.”

Arthur’s face changed.

Only slightly.

But enough.

Dante saw it.

So did Sarah.

So did the two federal agents standing behind him.

Nora continued.

“I have the records.”

Arthur went silent.

“All of them,” she said.

Dante looked at the agents.

Arthur realized too late what Nora was doing.

She wasn’t threatening him.

She was creating witnesses.

“Take me to surgery,” Nora told Boyd.

The doors closed behind her.

Dante remained in the hallway.

Arthur stared at him.

Dante smiled coldly.

“Now we wait.”

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