The Missing Baby

The Missing Baby
Tony's POV

My fists were shaking with rage as I stared at Vincent Russo.
Isabella's own father had been playing us this whole time. Pretending to be captured while he was actually the one giving orders to Sarah Chen.
"You," I said through gritted teeth. "You've been behind everything."
"Not everything," Vincent said calmly. "Just the parts that mattered."
Isabella looked like someone had slapped her. "Papa, why? Why would you do this to me?"
"Because you're weak, princess," Vincent replied. "You fell in love with the enemy. You had his baby. You forgot who you really are."
"I know exactly who I am," Isabella said firmly.
"Do you?" Vincent asked. "You're a Russo. The heir to the most powerful crime family in the city. But you threw it all away for love."
I stepped between Vincent and Isabella. "Where's our daughter?"
"Safe," Vincent said. "For now."
"I want to see her," Isabella demanded.
"You will," Vincent said. "But first, you need to understand something. Sarah Chen doesn't work for me. She never did."
"Then who does she work for?" I asked.
Vincent smiled. "She works for you, Isabella."
"What?" Isabella looked confused.
"Tell them, Sarah," Vincent said.
Sarah Chen was staring at Vincent with a strange expression. Like she was seeing him clearly for the first time.
"I... I don't understand," Sarah said slowly.
"The mind control drugs," Vincent explained. "The same ones you've been using on other people? I've been using them on you for months."
Sarah's face went white. "That's impossible."
"Every time you came to get new orders, I gave you a drink," Vincent said. "A drink with special medicine in it. Medicine that made you forget who you really work for."
"Who do I really work for?" Sarah asked desperately.
"Isabella," Vincent said simply. "You've been her bodyguard all along. Just like Marcus."
My head was spinning. "You're saying Sarah was trying to protect Isabella?"
"I'm saying Sarah thought she was working for Vincent Senior," Vincent explained. "But Vincent Senior has been dead for months. I've been giving her orders while she was drugged."
Sarah grabbed her head like it was hurting. "I remember... I remember agreeing to protect Isabella. But then everything gets fuzzy."
"The drugs made you forget your real mission," Vincent said. "Instead, you thought you were hunting Isabella. When really, you were supposed to be saving her."
Isabella looked at Sarah with new eyes. "You've been trying to help me?"
"I... I think so," Sarah said uncertainly. "But the drugs made me confused about everything."
"Enough talking," I said angrily. "Where's Maria?"
Vincent pulled out his phone. "She's in a warehouse across town. But you'll never find her in time."
"In time for what?" Isabella asked.
"The building is rigged with explosives," Vincent said. "If you don't do exactly what I say, it goes boom. Along with your daughter."
My heart felt like it stopped beating. "You'd kill your own granddaughter?"
"If necessary," Vincent said coldly. "Family loyalty is more important than individual lives."
"What do you want us to do?" Isabella asked desperately.
"Simple," Vincent said. "Kill Tony."
The room went silent except for the sound of my own heartbeat.
"No," Isabella said immediately.
"Then your daughter dies," Vincent said, checking his watch. "You have thirty minutes to decide."
"Isabella, don't listen to him," I said quickly.
But Isabella was already moving toward one of the guns on the floor.
"Isabella, no!" Marcus yelled.
"I have to," Isabella said, tears streaming down her face. "It's the only way to save Maria."
She picked up the gun and pointed it at me with shaking hands.
"I'm sorry, Tony," she whispered. "I love you, but I love our daughter more."
"Isabella, think about this," I said carefully. "If you kill me, how do you know he'll really let Maria go?"
"Because he's my father," Isabella said. "He wouldn't lie to me about this."
"He's been lying to you for months," I pointed out.
Vincent laughed. "She's not going to listen to you, Tony. A mother's love is stronger than any argument."
Isabella's finger was on the trigger. I could see she was really considering shooting me.
"There has to be another way," I said.
"There is no other way," Vincent said. "Isabella shoots you, or Maria dies. Simple choice."
That's when Sarah did something unexpected. She grabbed her own gun and pointed it at Vincent.
"Nobody is shooting anybody," Sarah said firmly.
"Sarah, you work for me," Vincent said confidently.
"No," Sarah replied. "I work for Isabella. And Isabella would never want me to let you hurt Tony."
Vincent looked surprised. "The drugs should still be controlling you."
"Maybe they are," Sarah said. "But my real memories are coming back. And I remember promising to protect this family."
"All of them," she added, pointing her gun at Vincent's chest.
Vincent's confidence wavered for the first time. "You can't shoot me. I'm the only one who knows where Maria is."
"Then you better start talking," Sarah said.
Vincent pulled out a device that looked like a TV remote. "One button press and the warehouse explodes."
"Then don't press it," I said.
"I will if you don't follow my orders," Vincent threatened.
That's when I noticed something. The device in Vincent's hand was blinking red.
"Isabella," I said quietly. "Look at the remote."
She looked where I was pointing. "What does the red light mean?"
Vincent looked down at the device and his face went pale.
"Oh no," he whispered.
"What's wrong?" Sarah asked.
"The timer," Vincent said frantically. "Someone else activated the timer."
"What timer?" Isabella demanded.
"The bombs at the warehouse," Vincent said, pressing buttons on the remote. "They're set to explode in fifteen minutes whether I want them to or not."
"Who activated them?" I asked.
Before Vincent could answer, his phone rang. He answered it immediately.
"What do you mean the timer started?" he yelled into the phone.
He listened for a moment, then his face went completely white.
"Vincent Senior?" he asked. "But Vincent Senior is dead."
More listening.
"That's impossible," Vincent said. "I was at his funeral."
He hung up the phone and stared at all of us.
"What's going on?" Isabella asked desperately.
"Vincent Senior isn't dead," her father said quietly. "The funeral was fake. He's been watching everything from hiding."
"And now?" Sarah asked.
"Now he's decided to kill everyone," Vincent said. "Including Maria."
My heart was pounding. "We have to get to that warehouse."
"It's fifteen minutes away," Vincent said. "And the bombs go off in twelve minutes."
"Then we better hurry," I said, grabbing Isabella's hand.
We ran out of the church toward Vincent's car. Sarah and Marcus followed us, while Vincent ran alongside looking panicked.
"Drive!" I yelled as everyone jumped in.
Vincent started the car and drove as fast as possible through the city streets.
"Where exactly is the warehouse?" I asked.
Vincent gave me the address. I looked it up on my phone.
"Fourteen minutes away," I said. "And we only have ten minutes left."
"We'll never make it," Isabella said desperately.
"Yes, we will," I said firmly.
But even as I said it, I wasn't sure we could save Maria in time.
Vincent was driving through red lights and around other cars. People were honking and yelling, but he didn't slow down.
"There!" Isabella pointed ahead. "That's the warehouse!"
I could see a large building with broken windows. There were no other cars around it.
"It looks empty," Sarah said.
"That's the point," Vincent replied, parking the car.
We ran toward the warehouse entrance. The door was locked, but Marcus kicked it open.
Inside, the building was dark except for some lights in the back.
"Maria!" Isabella called out. "Where are you?"
We ran toward the lights and found a small room set up like a nursery. There was a crib, medical equipment, and baby supplies.
But the crib was empty.
"She's not here," Isabella said, panic in her voice.
"Check the equipment," I said. "Maybe there's a clue."
That's when I heard a sound that made my blood freeze.
Beeping.
Fast, urgent beeping coming from somewhere in the room.
"What is that?" Sarah asked.
I looked around and found the source of the noise.
A digital timer attached to several large metal boxes.
"Bombs," I said. "Those are bombs."
The timer showed two minutes and thirty seconds.
"We have to get out of here," Marcus said.
"Not without Maria," Isabella said firmly.
"She's not here!" I yelled. "We have to go!"
But Isabella was searching every corner of the room.
"There has to be something," she said desperately. "Some clue about where she is."
That's when I found it. A note taped to the inside of the empty crib.
"Isabella," I called out. "Look at this."
She ran over and read the note out loud.
"If you want to see your daughter again, come to the old pier where this all started. Come alone. You have one hour after the warehouse explodes. - Vincent Senior"
"He's really alive," Vincent said quietly.
The timer was down to one minute.
"Everyone out!" I yelled.
We ran toward the exit as fast as we could. Behind us, the beeping was getting faster and louder.
Thirty seconds left.
We made it outside and kept running away from the building.
Fifteen seconds.
We threw ourselves behind some parked cars just as the warehouse exploded.
The blast was so loud it hurt my ears. Pieces of the building flew everywhere. Windows broke in other buildings nearby.
When the dust settled, I looked back at where the warehouse used to be.
It was completely gone. Just a pile of burning rubble.
"If Maria had been in there..." Isabella said, unable to finish the sentence.
"She wasn't," I said, putting my arms around her. "Vincent Senior wanted us to think she was, but she wasn't."
"Then where is she?" Isabella asked desperately.
I looked at the note again. "The old pier where this all started."
"That's where Vincent Senior first captured you," Sarah said.
"It's a trap," Marcus said. "He wants Isabella to come alone so he can capture her too."
"I don't care if it's a trap," Isabella said firmly. "He has my baby."
"Our baby," I corrected her. "And we're going together."
"The note says to come alone," Vincent pointed out.
"I don't follow orders from dead men," I said.
Isabella looked at me with grateful eyes. "Together?"
"Together," I said.
But as we walked back to the car, I noticed something that made my stomach drop.
Vincent Russo was talking quietly on his phone again.
And he was speaking in that same coded language I had heard the fake FBI agent using.
Isabella's father wasn't just working with Vincent Senior.
He was Vincent Senior.