THE MAFIA BOSS WATCHED ME HELP HIS SEVENTY-FOUR-YEAR-OLD CHAUFFEUR OUT OF THE RAIN DURING HIS ENGAGEMENT DINNER—THEN HIS FIANCÉE SAID, “HE WAS FIRED FOR STEALING,” BEFORE HE EVEN ASKED WHY THE MAN WHO HAD DRIVEN HIS FAMILY FOR FORTY YEARS WAS HOLDING A SMALL BIRTHDAY CAKE.**

My knees gave out.

I grabbed the edge of the precinct counter, staring in pure horror at the man standing before me.

Marco.

Luca’s underboss. The man Luca said he had handled at Pier 9.

He wasn't dead. He was standing inside a Chicago police precinct, looking completely at home.

"Well, well," Marco smiled, adjusting his tie. "Rebecca Collins. You saved me the trouble of hunting you down."

"You're a cop?" I gasped, the world spinning out of control.

"Captain of the Organized Crime Division," Marco said smoothly, walking around the counter. "I’ve been deep undercover in the Moretti family for twenty years. Earning their trust. Waiting for the right moment to take them down."

He picked up my brother’s bloodstained badge.

"And tonight was the night."

"You're lying," I backed away. "You kidnapped my mother. You tried to steal the syndicate with Vanessa."

Marco laughed, a cold, empty sound.

"Vanessa was a useful idiot. She thought I cared about her father’s legacy. I only needed her to create chaos so I could isolate Luca and take him out."

He stepped closer, his eyes dropping to the child’s drawing I still clutched in my hand.

"I see you found Tony's little trinket," Marco said softly.

"Luca killed him," I cried, tears blinding me. "Luca shot my brother at the pier."

Marco shook his head slowly.

"Luca didn't shoot Tony, Rebecca."

He leaned in, his voice dropping to a terrifying whisper.

"I did."

The breath vanished from my lungs.

"Tony figured it out," Marco sighed, looking almost bored. "He realized I wasn't trying to arrest Luca. I was trying to steal the eighty million in the Bellini trust for myself. He tried to arrest me at the pier tonight. So, I put a bullet in his chest."

Marco smiled.

"And then I told your sweet, terrified mother that Luca did it. I knew she would run to you. I knew you would turn against him."

My mind shattered.

Luca hadn't murdered my brother. Luca hadn't lied.

Luca had walked into that warehouse to save my mother, and Marco had manipulated the entire scene in the dark to frame him.

"Why do you think Luca took the child’s drawing?" Marco taunted. "He found Tony bleeding on the floor. He tried to save him. Tony gave him that drawing before he died, asking Luca to protect his son."

I had run over the only man trying to protect us.

"Sergeant," Marco snapped. "Arrest her. Put her in holding. I'll deal with the mother and the old man in the car."

Two officers grabbed my arms.

"No!" I screamed, fighting with everything I had. "No, let me go!"

The officers dragged me toward the holding cells. Marco turned and walked casually toward the precinct doors, pulling his weapon to execute my mother and Arthur.

Suddenly, the glass front doors of the precinct exploded inward.

A massive black SUV smashed through the entrance, sending glass and brick flying across the lobby.

The vehicle slammed into the front desk, pinning Marco’s leg against the concrete wall.

Marco screamed in agony, dropping his gun.

The driver's side door kicked open.

Luca Moretti stepped out into the ruined lobby.

He was limping. His shoulder was bleeding heavily where I had hit him. His suit was ruined.

But his eyes burned with the fury of a thousand suns.

He raised his weapon and fired twice into the ceiling.

"EVERYBODY DOWN!" Luca roared.

The corrupt officers dropped to the floor, terrified of the mafia boss.

Luca walked slowly toward Marco, who was writhing in pain against the wall.

"You forgot one thing about my father, Marco," Luca said, his voice echoing in the silent, ruined precinct. "He didn't just buy the criminals in this city."

Luca reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He tossed it onto Marco’s chest.

"He bought the Chief of Police."

The phone was on an active call.

"Captain Marco," a stern, authoritative voice came through the speaker. "Your division is suspended. Tactical units are surrounding the building right now."

Marco went pale, realization dawning on him.

Luca hadn't just survived the crash. He had called in the absolute highest level of his power.

Luca turned and looked at me.

The officers holding me instantly let go and backed away.

I ran to him.

"Luca," I sobbed, looking at his bleeding shoulder. "I'm so sorry. I thought you killed Tony."

Luca gently touched my cheek, ignoring his own pain.

"I know," he whispered. "Your brother was a good man, Rebecca. He died trying to stop corruption. He died a hero."

Sirens wailed in the distance. The real police, the clean units, were arriving.

Luca looked at Marco.

"Have a long life in prison, Captain."

He took my hand, and we walked out of the ruined precinct into the rain.

My mother and Arthur were safe in the SUV.

As I sat in the passenger seat, Luca handed me the bloodstained drawing.

"Your brother asked me to make sure his son was taken care of," Luca said softly. "I intend to keep that promise."

I looked at the man beside me. A mafia boss who had chosen to break the cycle of violence. A man who had lost his empire tonight to save the daughter of his father’s greatest enemy.

The darkness of the past twenty-eight years was finally washed away by the rain.

But as the flashing blue lights illuminated the street, my mother leaned forward from the backseat.

"Rebecca," she whispered.

"It's okay, Mom," I smiled through my tears. "We're safe."