Silence. Searching. Then—
"There." Dr. Lin pointed to a tiny flutter on the screen. "That's the heartbeat."
My breath caught. A heartbeat. Our baby's heartbeat.
"Everything looks good," Dr. Lin confirmed. "Measuring right on track for six weeks. Heartbeat is strong—about 120 beats per minute, which is perfect."
Relief flooded through both of us like a dam breaking.
"However," Dr. Lin continued, "you need to reduce stress. I know that's difficult given your circumstances, but chronic stress can affect fetal development."
"I'll try," I promised.
After Dr. Lin left, Cesare was still staring at the ultrasound printout she'd left behind. The tiny blur that was our child.
"We made that," he said, voice full of wonder.
"We did."
"I'm going to protect you both. Whatever it takes."
That afternoon, Cesare made a decision.
"We're going to test them. All three cousins. See who takes the bait."
"How?"
"We feed each of them different false information. Specific details that only they would know. Then we wait to see which piece of information gets to Viktor."
Risky but clever. Three different traps, three different suspects.
Giulio arrived to coordinate. "What information are we using?"
Cesare thought. "Marco gets told that Piero is being transferred to a rehabilitation facility upstate tomorrow—specific location, specific time. If he's the spy and reports it, Viktor will try to intercept the transport and finish what he started at the pier."
"Luca?"
"Luca gets told I'm moving Paola to a safe house upstate—specific address, specific date. If he reports it, Viktor sends people there."
"And Sofia?"
"Sofia gets told we found evidence against Viktor—specific documents hidden in a specific location. If she reports it, Viktor sends people to retrieve or destroy them."
Three traps. Three suspects. One spy.
"When do we do this?" I asked.
"Today. Now. We don't have time to wait."
Over the next few hours, Cesare carefully planted the false information.
Marco was called to the hospital for a "private conversation" about financial strategy.
Luca was told via encrypted message about the safe house plans.
Sofia was brought in to discuss "security concerns" and told about the evidence location.
Each conversation was carefully staged. Each piece of information unique and traceable. I watched it unfold, impressed by Cesare's strategic mind despite everything.
