527 The doctors gave my three-year-old son just fourteen days to live, and i believed nothing could hurt me more than that. Then a quiet maid served him a red velvet cake made from my murdered wife's secret recipe, placed a letter in front of him in her unmistakable handwriting, and whispered that Sofia had known who was going to kill her.

The air in the room shattered.

Before Dr. Pierce could utter another sound, Marcus drew his silenced pistol and fired two quick rounds into the doctor's chest. Crimson sprayed across the white marble fireplace.

"Traitor!" Marcus screamed, turning his weapon toward me.

In a fraction of a second, Dominic threw his heavy glass of scotch into Marcus's face, distracting him just long enough for me to dive across the desk. I tackled Marcus to the floor, the sound of gunshots echoing wildly inside the enclosed study. We wrestled for control of the weapon, Marcus's strength powered by the absolute desperation of a man who knew he was already dead.

"You ruined everything, Moretti!" Marcus snarled, his teeth bared. "Sofia was supposed to die alone! You were supposed to fall apart, and the syndicate was going to take Chicago without a war!"

"You touched my son," I growled, my hands locking around his throat with crushing force.

I twisted his wrist until the bone snapped with a sickening crack. The gun clattered to the floor. Dominic scooped it up immediately, but I didn't need a weapon. The fury of a father whose child had been tortured pushed me beyond reason. I slammed Marcus's head into the floor again and again until he went completely limp beneath me.

Chest heaving, I stood up, blood splattered across my crisp white shirt.

Dominic stood nearby, holding the gun, staring at Marcus's unconscious body in disbelief. "Marcus... he was head of security for six years. He was working for the New York syndicate the entire time."

"He wasn't acting alone," I said, catching my breath. I wiped the blood from my face and looked at Dominic. "Marcus didn't have access to Sofia's secret recipe. He didn't know about Elena. Someone else is pulling the strings from the top."

"What about the boy?" Dominic asked frantically. "If Marcus was in on it, the entire security guard detail outside might be compromised!"

My heart cold as ice, I turned and bolted out of the study, sprinting up the grand staircase toward Matteo's bedroom. "ELENA!" I yelled, throwing open the door.

The bedroom was dead silent.

The balcony doors were swinging wide open in the howling wind and rain. The curtains flapped wildly. The bed was empty. Matteo's favorite stuffed lion lay abandoned on the floor.

And sitting on the edge of the bed was Elena, holding a blood-stained knife, a deep cut running along her arm. At her feet lay two of Marcus's elite security guards, unmoving.

"Where is my son?" I demanded, panic gripping my chest like a vise.

Elena looked up, her breathing heavy, wiping sweat from her forehead. "He's safe. I hid him in the panic room behind the wardrobe the moment the gunshots started down below."

I rushed over to the secret panel, punching in the emergency code. The heavy steel door slid open, revealing Matteo sitting safely inside, wrapped in a warm blanket, clutching a small vial of red liquid.

"Daddy!" Matteo cried out, running into my arms.

I scooped him up, holding him so tight I thought I might break him. "I've got you, buddy. I've got you. You're safe."

Elena walked over, pressing a heavy cloth to her wounded arm. "We don't have much time, Luca. Marcus was just a soldier. The micro-toxin he used on Matteo was developed by a pharmaceutical firm fronted by the Valenti crime family in New York. The final dose was supposed to be given tonight. Without the complete antidote, the damage to Matteo's heart will become permanent within forty-eight hours."

I looked at the vial in Matteo's hand. "Is that the antidote?"

"Only part of it," Elena admitted. "Sofia synthesized half of it before she was taken. The rest of the ingredients—and the master key to exposing the entire Valenti syndicate—are locked inside a vault at Sofia's family estate in Lake Forest."

I looked at Elena, seeing the fierce determination in her eyes. "Why did Sofia never tell me about you?"

Elena's expression softened slightly, a hint of deep sorrow touching her eyes. "Because Sofia was trying to protect me from your world, Luca. But when she realized your world was going to consume her and her son, she knew I was the only one who could operate in the shadows to save him."

I took a deep breath, setting Matteo down gently. "Dominic!" I called out to the hallway.