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

The gun felt impossibly heavy in my hands as I aimed it at a ghost.

Elena Caruso looked older, her face hardened by years in hiding, but there was no mistaking the striking beauty that mirrored the little girl clinging to my leg.

"Let him go," I demanded, my voice echoing in the cavernous warehouse.

Dominic stared up at his wife, his face a mask of profound betrayal and heartbreak. He wasn't looking at the gun pointed at his head; he was looking at her eyes. "You let me mourn you for four years, Elena. You let me sit in that library every night, tearing myself apart, thinking my heart broke yours."

"Your world broke me, Dominic," Elena said coldly. "I was pregnant. Anthony found out before you did. He told me the rules of the Five Families—that any heir born to a sitting boss belongs to the syndicate. I didn't want my daughter raised by murderers. So I made a deal with Anthony. I faked my death. I disappeared."

"And what about now?" Dominic rasped, spitting blood onto the concrete. "Why come back? Why send Mia into the walls?"

"Because Anthony stopped paying me to stay away," Elena sneered. "He decided a loose end was too dangerous. He sent Leo to kill us. So I brought Mia back, slipped her into the panic room, and tampered with the fireplace. I knew you'd both go in there eventually. I wanted you both dead so Mia could inherit the Caruso empire free and clear. I would run it through her."

Answer one: Elena hadn't been a victim in the end. She had become exactly what she ran from. Open one: Where was Anthony?

"Mommy?" Mia whimpered, stepping out from behind me.

Elena's cold facade fractured for a second. "Come here, Mia."

Mia didn't move. She looked at the gun in Elena's hand, then at Dominic, bruised and bleeding in the chair. The man who had knelt beside her bed and promised no one would hurt her.

"No," Mia whispered. She ran forward and wrapped her arms tightly around Dominic's bound legs. "Don't hurt my Daddy!"

The sound of that word—*Daddy*—shattered something inside Dominic. A primal, terrifying strength surged through him. With a roar, he twisted his massive shoulders, snapping the wooden back of the chair into splinters.

Before Elena could react to his sudden movement, the warehouse doors blew open. Anthony stormed in with his mercenaries, guns drawn.

"Well, well," Anthony laughed, seeing the standoff. "The happy family reunited."

Total chaos erupted. Dominic lunged, tackling Elena to the ground just as Anthony's men opened fire. I threw myself over Mia, shielding her with my body behind a stack of steel shipping crates.

Through the deafening roar of gunfire, I saw Marcus and a dozen of Dominic's loyal men flood the warehouse. They systematically dismantled Anthony's mercenaries.

Anthony tried to run, but Dominic intercepted him, slamming his younger brother into a steel beam. The fight was brutal, short, and decisive. Dominic held his brother by the throat, his fist raised to deliver a fatal blow.

"Do it," Anthony choked out, laughing blood.

Dominic looked at Anthony, then at Mia, who was watching from my arms. Dominic slowly lowered his fist. He threw Anthony to the ground. "You're dead to me. Let the Five Families have him. They deal with thieves."

Elena had dropped her gun in the scuffle. She stood slowly, looking around at the ruins of her plan. She met Dominic's eyes one last time. There was no love left, only a silent acknowledgement of the monsters they had both become. She turned and walked out into the shadows, disappearing into the Chicago night. She knew she couldn't take Mia. She knew she had lost.

The warehouse fell silent. Dominic walked over to us, his breath ragged. He dropped to his knees, ignoring his injuries, and pulled Mia into his massive arms. The little girl buried her face in his chest, sobbing safely against him.

Dominic looked up at me over his daughter's shoulder. His eyes were entirely entirely clear for the first time since we met.