**“TAKE THOSE GLASSES OFF HIM, CLAIRE! HE DOESN’T NEED TO READ ANYTHING!” THE MAFIA BOSS’S FIANCÉE HUMILIATED HIS 28-YEAR-OLD MAID FOR HELPING HIS ELDERLY FATHER AT DINNER—BUT WHEN THE OLD MAN WHISPERED, “SON, I THOUGHT TONIGHT WAS MY GOODBYE,” THE BOSS SLOWLY STOOD UP.**

The warehouse erupted into a deafening storm of gunfire.

I scrambled backward on the concrete, covering my ears as bullets shattered the remaining pieces of the wooden table.

Luca Moretti moved with terrifying, fluid precision. He didn't seek cover. He advanced directly through the chaos, firing both weapons with lethal accuracy, dropping two of Elias’s guards before they could even aim their rifles.

"Hannah! Get down!" Luca roared, his voice cutting through the deafening noise.

I threw myself flat against the cold, damp floor, sliding under the chassis of the armored SUV.

Elias Vance was scrambling backward like a terrified crab, his elegant facade completely shattered. "Kill him!" Elias shrieked to his remaining men. "He’s unarmed!"

But Luca wasn't unarmed. And he wasn't alone.

Marco stepped out from the passenger side of the SUV, carrying a heavy shotgun. The massive security chief pumped the weapon and fired a devastating blast that completely destroyed the concrete pillar Elias’s men were using for cover.

"How are you out??" Elias screamed, pulling a small silver pistol from his ankle holster. "The feds had you on murder charges!"

Luca reloaded his weapons simultaneously with a terrifying flick of his wrists.

"I didn't murder my father, Elias," Luca stated coldly, advancing steadily. "I turned over the security footage from my library. The footage that clearly shows my father confessing to the murder of my mother, before raising a gun at an innocent woman."

My breath caught in my throat. The library cameras. Luca had them rolling the entire time.

"And when the police saw the footage of my brother acting in self-defense to save Hannah," Luca continued, his eyes locked on Elias, "they realized the Moretti family were the victims of a coup. They let me walk an hour ago."

Elias’s face drained of color. The airtight case he thought he had against the Don of Chicago had evaporated.

Elias raised his pistol, aiming frantically at Luca’s chest.

BANG.

The shot went wide, ricocheting off the armored SUV.

Luca didn't flinch. He raised his right hand and fired a single, calculated shot.

The bullet struck Elias perfectly in the wrist. The New York advisor screamed in agony, dropping his silver pistol as his hand hung uselessly by his side.

The remaining two guards, seeing their boss neutralized and realizing they were hopelessly outgunned, dropped their rifles and raised their hands in surrender.

"Secure them," Marco ordered his men, stepping forward to kick the weapons away.

The warehouse fell into a ringing, heavy silence.

Luca holstered his weapons. He walked slowly over to the front of the SUV, dropping to one knee and looking under the chassis.

His dark eyes found mine in the shadows. The lethal Don vanished instantly, replaced by a man filled with desperate, overwhelming relief.

"Come here," Luca whispered gently, reaching his hand out to me.

I scrambled out from under the vehicle, trembling violently, and threw myself into his arms.

Luca caught me, wrapping his massive arms around me, pulling me tight against his chest. He buried his face in my hair, holding me as if he never intended to let go.

"I've got you, Hannah," Luca murmured, his voice thick with emotion. "You're safe. I've got you."

I clung to his blood-stained shirt, sobbing uncontrollably into his shoulder. "They were going to kill Leo. They said if I didn't sign the paper, they would execute him in the clinic."

Luca pulled back slightly, framing my face with his rough hands.

"Leo is fine," Luca promised fiercely. "Marco secured the clinic before we came here. My brother is heavily guarded. Nobody is touching him."

I closed my eyes, a massive, crushing weight lifting off my chest.

Luca stood up, pulling me to my feet, keeping one arm protectively around my waist. He turned his attention back to Elias Vance, who was groaning on the floor, clutching his bleeding wrist.

Luca walked over and picked up the leather-bound document Elias had tried to force me to sign.

He read the petition to the Commission.

I watched Luca’s jaw tighten. The muscles in his neck strained as he read the words declaring my true bloodline.

Hannah Collins. Heir of Giovanni Rossi.

I held my breath, terrified of what he would do. He had spent his entire life fighting the ghost of the Rossi family. And now, the daughter of his father’s greatest enemy was standing right in front of him.

Luca slowly lowered the document. He looked at me, his expression completely unreadable.

"Is it true?" Luca asked softly.

I nodded, fresh tears spilling over my cheeks. "I didn't know, Luca. I swear to God, I didn't know until he told me tonight. My mother hid it from me my entire life."

Luca stared at me for a long, heavy moment.

Then, he did something I completely didn't expect.

He ripped the document in half.

He tore it again, and again, until the petition was nothing more than confetti in his hands. He tossed the pieces onto the wet concrete floor.

Elias stared up at him in shock. "You fool! You can't ignore bloodlines! The Commission won't allow it!"

"The Commission is three states away, Elias," Luca snarled, grabbing the New York advisor by his expensive lapels and hauling him to his feet. "This is my city. And in my city, I decide who is family and who is an enemy."

Luca shoved Elias toward Marco.

"Take him to the airstrip," Luca ordered. "Put him on a private plane back to New York. Tell the Commission that if they ever send another rat into Chicago, I won't just break his wrist. I’ll send him back in boxes."

Marco grabbed Elias roughly, marching him out of the warehouse toward a trailing van.

Luca turned back to me. He looked at the torn pieces of paper on the floor, then stepped closer, closing the distance between us.

"You aren't a Rossi to me, Hannah," Luca whispered, his voice incredibly tender, his thumb gently wiping a tear from my cheek. "You are the woman who stood up to my fiancée. You are the woman who saved my brother’s life. That is all that matters to me."

My heart fluttered wildly in my chest. The way he looked at me... it wasn't how a boss looked at a maid. It was how a man looked at a woman he couldn't bear to lose.

Before I could process the sudden, intense heat between us, Marco jogged back into the warehouse.

"Boss," Marco said, clearing his throat awkwardly, clearly interrupting a moment. "We need to go. The police are asking questions about the explosion at the estate. Your lawyers want you back at the precinct to finalize the paperwork on your father’s death."

Luca sighed, the brief moment of peace shattering under the weight of his responsibilities.

He nodded. "Take Hannah back to the clinic. Put her in the room next to Leo. Double the guard."

"I want to stay with you," I said instinctively, grabbing his hand.

Luca squeezed my fingers gently. "I need to handle the legal fallout of my father’s death, Hannah. I can't protect you while I'm sitting in a police interrogation room. You'll be safe at the clinic."

He kissed my forehead, a lingering, warm pressure that sent a shiver down my spine.

"I'll come for you as soon as it’s clear," Luca promised.

I reluctantly let go of his hand and followed Marco to the SUV.

As we drove away from the warehouse, I looked back at the towering figure of Luca Moretti standing in the rain, a man carrying the weight of a broken empire on his shoulders.

An hour later, I was back in the sterile, secure wing of the private clinic.

Marco escorted me into a luxurious, private hospital suite right next to Leo’s room. Two heavily armed guards stood outside my door.

I was exhausted, covered in dirt and soot, my body aching from the violent events of the night. I walked into the attached bathroom, intending to wash my face and collapse onto the bed.

But as I turned on the sink, I noticed a small, folded piece of paper resting on the edge of the mirror.

I frowned, picking it up.

It had my name written on the front in elegant, cursive handwriting.

I unfolded the note.

My blood instantly ran ice-cold.

Hannah, the note read.

They think the war is over because Elias is gone and Frank is dead. But they don't know the real secret. They don't know why your father was truly murdered.

If you want to know what Luca’s father was really hiding... meet me on the roof in five minutes. Come alone, or I send the evidence to the FBI.