Daniel never took his eyes off the operating room.

Every alarm echoed through the corridor like another second slipping away.

Leo’s phone suddenly vibrated.

He answered without looking away from the glass.

“Talk.”

The color drained from his face.

He covered the receiver.

“Arthur has been found.”

Daniel didn’t move.

“Alive?”

“Barely.”

“He was hiding at one of his campaign offices.”

Daniel nodded once.

“Bring him.”

Minutes later, the operating room doors burst open.

A surgeon removed his mask.

“The baby is alive.”

Daniel finally exhaled.

“But…”

The doctor’s expression remained grave.

“She lost a dangerous amount of blood.”

“We’re taking her to intensive care.”

“She’ll need the next twenty-four hours to survive.”

Daniel thanked him with nothing more than a silent nod.

As the medical team wheeled my bed toward the ICU, my fingers moved slightly.

The nurse leaned closer.

I whispered only one word.

“Daniel…”

He stepped beside me immediately.

“I’m here.”

My trembling hand searched for his.

“Protect…”

“I know.”

“I’ll protect both of you.”

He kissed my forehead.

“I promise.”

An hour later, Arthur was dragged into a private conference room inside the hospital.

His expensive suit was soaked from the rain.

His hands were bound.

The confidence he wore at every political fundraiser had disappeared.

Daniel stood across from him without raising his voice.

“Why?”

Arthur laughed bitterly.

“Because she stopped being useful.”

Daniel stared at him.

“You sold your pregnant wife.”

Arthur shrugged.

“I owed people who don’t accept excuses.”

“They said they needed leverage.”

“So I gave them her.”

Silence filled the room.

Even Leo looked away.

Daniel slowly placed a folder on the table.

“You made one mistake.”

Arthur frowned.

“I already know about the surveillance video.”

Daniel opened the folder.

“No.”

“You forgot your own medical records.”

Arthur’s face froze.

Inside lay a fertility report dated four years earlier.

Permanent sterility confirmed.

Arthur immediately reached for the papers.

Daniel closed the folder first.

“You knew.”

Arthur said nothing.

“You knew that child could never be yours.”

His breathing became uneven.

Daniel continued.

“You still let criminals attack the woman carrying another man’s baby.”

Arthur lowered his head.

“I couldn’t let people find out.”

“My career would’ve ended.”

Daniel leaned closer.

“It already has.”

Before Arthur could answer, Leo entered carrying another sealed envelope.

“It just came from the FBI.”

Daniel opened it.

His expression changed instantly.

“What is it?” Leo asked.

Daniel slowly lifted a photograph.

It showed one of the O’Connor gunmen shaking hands with someone neither of them expected.

A United States senator.

The same senator who had publicly endorsed Arthur’s campaign only three weeks earlier.

Attached to the photograph was a handwritten note.

“Arthur wasn’t paying gambling debts.”

“He was laundering money for people much higher than himself.”

Daniel looked toward the intensive care unit where I lay unconscious.

He finally understood.

I had never been attacked because of Arthur’s debts.

I had been marked because I knew something without realizing it.

And whoever controlled that secret had just discovered I was still alive.

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