THE NURSE BROKE THE MAFIA BOSS’S ONE FORBIDDEN RULE—THEN DISCOVERED WHY HIS FIRST WIFE NEVER LEFT THAT ROOM ALIVE

"Don't move!" the detective barked, his weapon aimed squarely at Dominic's chest.

Dominic didn't flinch. He slowly raised his hands, his eyes locked on mine. "Do not let them take Mia, Claire. Do you understand me? Marcus, protect them."

"You don't give orders anymore, Caruso," the detective sneered, shoving Dominic against the wall to cuff him. "We received an anonymous tip with audio recordings of you threatening your wife the night she died. You're going away for good."

I watched in horror as they dragged Dominic down the stairs. The mansion, usually a fortress of power, felt entirely violated. As the front doors slammed shut, I grabbed Marcus's arm.

"Those weren't real cops," I whispered, my heart hammering in my throat.

Marcus stared at me, his jaw tight. "What makes you say that?"

"The lead detective. He cuffed Dominic with standard Smith & Wesson handcuffs, but he didn't double-lock them. No veteran cop forgets to double-lock a mafia boss. And his boots—they were tactical, but they had red clay mud on the treads. It hasn't rained in Chicago in days, and there's no red clay here. They came from outside the city."

Marcus's eyes widened. "Mercenaries. Anthony hired them to bypass my security team."

"They're going to kill him," I panicked. "And they're coming back for us next."

"Not if we aren't here," Marcus said grimly. He grabbed my hand. "Get the kid. We're going to the library."

"The library? Are you insane? It's filled with carbon monoxide!"

"The ventilation system flushed it out an hour ago. Move!"

I ran into the bedroom, scooped Mia into my arms, and followed Marcus down the hall. We pushed through the walnut doors. The room smelled of chemical neutralizers and burnt wood. Marcus didn't stop. He marched straight to the hidden panel in the bookshelf—the panic room we had pulled Mia from.

He shoved us inside the claustrophobic space.

"What are you doing?" I cried as he began to close the heavy steel door from the outside.

"Keeping you alive," Marcus said softly. "Lock it from the inside, Miss Bennett."

Answer one: the police were fake, hired by Anthony to abduct Dominic. Open one: how would Marcus get Dominic back? Open two: why trap us in the room Mia was just rescued from?

The heavy door clicked shut, plunging us into total darkness before the emergency fluorescent lights flickered on. The panic room was no larger than a walk-in closet. It was lined with concrete and steel, cold and unforgiving.

Mia whimpered, clutching my leg. I knelt down, pulling her into a tight hug. "It's okay, baby. It's a game of hide-and-seek. We're winning."

I scanned the tiny room. There were military rations on a shelf, bottled water, and an oxygen filtration system on the wall. But tucked into the corner was something that didn't belong in a sterile bunker.

It was an old, heavy winter coat. A woman's coat. The fabric was rich green wool, faded by time.

I reached out and touched it. The pocket felt heavy. I slipped my hand inside and pulled out a small, crinkled photograph.

I held it up to the harsh fluorescent light. My breath caught in my throat.

It was a picture of a woman tied to a wooden chair, her face bruised. It was Elena Caruso. And standing beside her, holding a gun to her head, was the man with the jagged red scar on his face. The same man from Mia's crayon drawing.

But it was the handwriting on the back of the photo that made my blood run cold.