THE MAFIA BOSS WATCHED ME STRUGGLE TO CARRY A HEAVY SILVER CENTERPIECE WITHOUT STRAIGHTENING MY BACK—THEN HIS FIANCÉE SAID, “SHE FELL IN THE UPSTAIRS GUEST ROOM,” BEFORE HE HAD ASKED WHY I WAS HURT. I almost made it to the table.

The air in the narrow booth felt instantly toxic.

Through the wooden lattice of the confessional, I could see the silhouette of Agent Harris.

He didn't sound like an FBI agent anymore.

He sounded like a predator who had just cornered his prey.

"Daniel isn't coming, Sophie," Harris said softly.

My heart hammered so hard it hurt my ribs.

"What did you do to him?" I whispered, pulling Leo behind my back.

"Daniel was loyal to Luca," Harris replied smoothly. "Unfortunately, loyalty is a dangerous trait in our line of work. Hand over the drive, Sophie."

I pressed my back against the wooden wall.

There was no way out.

The door was locked from the outside.

"If Eleanor's ledger is real," I stammered, stalling for time, "why do you need this?"

Harris chuckled. A cold, hollow sound.

"Because Eleanor's ledger is a carefully crafted piece of fiction. It implicates Luca and absolves her. But your husband was meticulous, Sophie. The drive in your hand contains the original bank transfers. Eleanor's signatures. If that drive reaches a judge, Eleanor's immunity deal burns. And I go down with her."

He tapped the barrel of his gun against the wooden screen.

Tap.

"Open the door, Sophie. Or I start shooting through the wood."

I closed my eyes.

I was going to die in here.

And worse, Leo was going to die with me.

"Okay," I choked out. "Okay. I'll give it to you. Just don't hurt my son."

"Slide it under the door," Harris commanded.

I knelt on the floor.

My hand trembled as I held the tiny USB drive.

I lowered it toward the gap beneath the door.

But as my fingers brushed the floorboard, I noticed something.

A heavy, iron floor grate, right beneath the confessional bench.

An old heating vent.

My mind raced.

If I gave him the drive, he would kill us anyway. We were witnesses.

I needed leverage.

I pulled my hand back.

"If I slide it out, you'll shoot," I said.

"You don't have a choice," Harris growled.

"Yes, I do," I said, my voice suddenly steady. "Because I'm holding it over a heating grate. It drops straight down into the church furnace. If you pull that trigger, I drop it. It melts. You go back to Eleanor empty-handed."

Silence.

For three agonizing seconds, Harris didn't speak.

Then, he sighed.

"You're bluffing."

"Try me."

Suddenly, a loud crash echoed through the church.

Wood splintered.

Someone shouted.

Harris cursed and spun away from the confessional.

Through the screen, I saw shadows moving rapidly across the flickering candlelight.

Gunfire erupted.

Deafening, terrifying shots that made my ears ring.

I covered Leo's ears and pressed him to the floor, shielding him with my body.

"Mommy!" Leo cried.

"Shh, baby, stay down! Stay down!"

More shouting.

The sound of heavy bodies hitting the marble floor.

Then, silence.

A terrible, suffocating silence.

Footsteps approached the confessional.

Heavy. Deliberate.

A key turned in the lock.

The door swung open.

I braced myself, waiting for the bullet.

But it wasn't Harris.

It was Luca.

His white shirt was torn, his knuckles were bleeding, and he was holding Harris's badge in one hand and a gun in the other.

Behind him, Agent Harris lay unconscious on the floor, handcuffed to a pew.

"Luca," I sobbed, scrambling up from the floor.

He dropped the gun and caught me with his free arm.

For the first time since I met him, the cold mafia boss looked completely unraveled.

He pulled me against his chest, holding me tight.

"Are you hurt?" he asked, his voice rough.

"No," I cried. "We're okay. How did you get out?"

Luca looked toward the front doors.

Daniel walked in, bleeding from a cut above his eye, but very much alive.

"I told you Daniel was loyal," Luca said. "He had a team waiting outside the station. They intercepted the transport van before Harris could get me to a secure facility."

Luca knelt down to look at Leo.

"You're a brave kid," Luca said softly.

Leo sniffled and nodded.

Luca stood up and looked at me.

"Do you have it?"

I opened my hand.

The small USB drive rested in my palm.

"David died protecting this," I said.

Luca gently took it from my hand.

"David died protecting my family," Luca corrected. "Tonight, I finish what he started."

He turned to Daniel.

"Where is she?" Luca asked.