GET THAT FILTHY DOG OUT OF MY HOUSE! HE'S OLD, USELESS, AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN PUT DOWN MONTHS AGO!” THE MAFIA BOSS'S FIANCÉE HUMILIATED HIS YOUNG HOUSEMAID IN FRONT OF FORTY GUESTS—BUT WHEN HIS NINE-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER BEGGED HER FATHER NOT TO LET THE DOG GO, LUCA MORETTI ASKED ONE QUESTION THAT MADE HIS FIANCÉE TURN PALE. -

Chapter 7 – THE BETRAYAL AT THE DOOR

Vanessa walked into the warehouse, shoving a battered and bloody Dominic in front of her.

“I brought you a gift, Marco,” Vanessa sneered, her elegant facade completely replaced by desperate madness. “The traitor brother. And the deed to the Moretti estate. Now, give me what you promised!”

Marco laughed, a dry, hollow sound that echoed off the metal walls.

“You really are stupid, Vanessa,” Marco mocked. “Did you honestly think I was going to share Chicago with a desperate, pathetic gold-digger?”

Vanessa froze, the color draining from her face. “We had a deal!”

“Deals are for equals,” Marco said coldly. He raised his hand. “Kill them both.”

Two of Marco’s thugs raised their automatic rifles, aiming at Vanessa and Dominic.

“No!” Vanessa shrieked, dropping her gun and covering her head.

From our hiding spot in the shadows, Luca didn’t hesitate. He raised his suppressed pistol and fired two rapid, perfect shots. The two thugs dropped before they could pull their triggers.

Marco spun around, drawing his own weapon. “He’s here! Find him!”

Chaos erupted in the warehouse. Marco’s men scrambled, firing blindly into the dark corners.

“Get the crane down!” Luca ordered me over the noise. “I’ll cover you!”

Luca stepped out from behind the crates, exposing himself entirely to draw their fire. He moved with a terrifying, calculated precision, taking down three more men in seconds.

I grabbed the heavy metal lever on the control panel and yanked it downward.

The ancient gears groaned in protest, but the crane slowly began to lower.

Lily wept, her small body shaking as she descended toward the warehouse floor.

“I’ve got you, baby!” I yelled over the gunfire, running out to catch her.

I grabbed her around the waist as her feet touched the ground, frantically untying the thick ropes binding her wrists.

“Emma!” Lily sobbed, burying her face in my neck.

“We have to go,” I urged, pulling her behind a stack of steel beams.

But Marco had spotted us.

“Forget Luca! Kill the girl!” Marco roared, charging toward our position.

He raised his gun, aiming directly at my chest.

I shielded Lily with my body, squeezing my eyes shut.

But the gunshot didn’t come from Marco’s weapon.

Marco stopped dead in his tracks. A bright red blossom of blood bloomed on his left shoulder. He staggered backward, dropping his gun with a scream of agony.

I opened my eyes.

Standing in the doorway of the warehouse, holding a smoking rifle, was Dominic.

He had picked up one of the fallen guards’ weapons. He was bleeding, swaying on his feet, but his eyes were filled with absolute resolve.

“You don’t touch my family, Marco,” Dominic said, his voice echoing loudly in the suddenly quiet warehouse.

The remaining thugs, seeing their boss wounded and outgunned by the two Moretti brothers, dropped their weapons and raised their hands in surrender.

Luca walked slowly toward Marco, his weapon aimed squarely at the rival boss’s head.

“It’s over, Marco,” Luca said, his voice cold as ice. “You lost.”

Marco coughed, clutching his bleeding shoulder. “You can’t kill me, Luca. The Commission will declare war on Chicago if a Boss is murdered without a trial.”

“I’m not going to kill you,” Luca said softly. He reached into his coat and pulled out the leather ledger I had found. “I’m going to send this to New York. The Commission will execute you themselves for breaking the union treaty.”

Marco’s eyes widened in sheer terror when he recognized the book. “Where did you get that?”

“From the man you thought you silenced twelve years ago,” Luca said.

He turned to his men, who had finally arrived, swarming the warehouse. “Arrest him. Call the Commission.”

Luca turned away from his defeated rival and ran toward us. He dropped to his knees, sliding across the concrete floor, and pulled Lily into a desperate, crushing embrace.

“Daddy!” Lily wept, clinging to his neck.

“I’m here, sweetheart,” Luca cried, tears spilling down his hardened face. “I’m right here. I’m never leaving you again.”

He looked up at me over Lily’s shoulder. The fierce, terrifying mafia boss looked at me with an expression of profound, overwhelming gratitude.

But before he could speak, a terrified scream echoed from the back of the warehouse.

Vanessa was holding a gun to her own head.