The attack on Sophie was not just revenge.
It was strategy.
Roman wanted Nico dead or broken. Mercer wanted the Vitali-controlled construction channels reopened under new management before the city voted on three massive redevelopment projects. Keane wanted the same thing the way many dirty cops did: money first, leverage second, and plausible deniability forever.
If Sophie died, Nico would likely go to war in the streets. Federal pressure would intensify. His organization would fracture. Mercer and Keane would help steer what remained into more convenient hands. Publicly, they would grieve. Privately, they would inherit a cleaner map.
They had aimed at a child because they understood exactly what fathers become when you leave them nothing else to protect.
At the hospital, Leah slept through all of it.
She remained unconscious for three days.
Nico came every night.
He did not enter the room the first day. Frank would not have allowed it, and Nico respected that for reasons he did not fully understand himself. He stood outside the glass instead, watching the machines, the rise and fall of Leah’s chest, the swollen bandages, the pale stillness of her face.
On the second night, Frank found him there.
For a while they said nothing.
Then Frank asked, “Did your daughter see everything?”
“Yes.”
