636 Victor Moretti was seconds away from ordering his men to throw my sick baby and me out into the freezing snow when he noticed the silver locket around her neck—but when he saw the symbol engraved on its back and heard my mother’s name, the most feared man in New York suddenly looked terrified.

The old Newark iron foundry was a rusted, towering monstrosity of iron beams, broken glass, and abandoned industrial vats sitting along the dark waters of the Passaic River. Snow fell heavily around the decaying structure, turning the rusted red metal into a haunting graveyard of industrial decay.

Four black SUVs slammed to a stop outside the main gates.

There were no stealth tactics, no quiet sneaking. Victor Moretti’s army arrived with absolute, crushing force.

BOOM!

Two armored trucks rammed straight through the rusty corrugated gates, tearing them off their hinges. Dozens of Moretti soldiers spilled out into the snowy courtyard, weapons blazing, laying down a wall of suppression fire against Sofia Valenti’s defenders stationed along the catwalks.

"Cover the left flank!" Marco bellowed, firing his assault rifle into the upper scaffolding.

Victor grabbed my hand, dragging me behind the heavy steel wheel of an armored transport as bullets ricocheted off the metal frame around us with high-pitched PING-PINGS.

"Stay low!" Victor shouted over the deafening noise. "Follow my footsteps!"

I clutched the small compact pistol Nina had given me, my knuckles white, my heart pounding a frantic rhythm. I didn't care about the bullets, the roaring engines, or the smell of gunpowder. My entire existence was narrowed down to one single goal: finding my daughter.

We breached the ground floor of the foundry.

Inside, giant rusted furnaces rose three stories high, illuminated by halogen work lights suspended from the high ceiling. In the center of the vast chamber, surrounded by five armed guards, stood Sofia Valenti.

Beside her, sitting on a wooden crate, was a portable infant carrier.

Lily’s small cries echoed through the vast metal warehouse.

"LILY!" I screamed, trying to break away from Victor, but he caught my arm, pulling me behind a heavy iron smelting vat.

"Hannah, wait!" Victor warned. "It's a funnel trap!"

Sofia stood near the crate, holding a remote detonator in her hand. Her white cashmere sweater was splattered with oil, her face twisted in desperate madness.

"STAY BACK, VICTOR!" Sofia screamed, her voice echoing off the corrugated iron walls. "I have wired the entire lower catwalk with plastic explosives! Step any closer, and I blow this whole room—including the baby!"

The gunfire outside slowly died down as Moretti’s men secured the perimeter, surrounding the central chamber. Dozens of rifles were aimed directly at Sofia and her remaining guards, but no one dared fire while she held the detonator over Lily's carrier.

Victor stepped out from behind the smelting vat, raising his hands slowly, stepping into full view of Sofia.

"Sofia," Victor said, his voice calm, steady, and terrifyingly cold. "It's over. Your men outside are dead or captured. You have nowhere to go."

"I don't need anywhere to go!" Sofia shrieked, her hand shaking on the detonator switch. "Give me the digital key! Transfer the Rossi accounts to my offshore server right now, or I press this button!"

I stepped out behind Victor, tears running down my cheeks, looking past Sofia at the little infant carrier. I could see Lily’s tiny red mittens waving in the air as she cried.

"Please..." I begged, my voice cracking. "Please, Sofia... take the locket. Take the money. Take everything! Just let me take my baby!"

Sofia sneered at me, her eyes filled with bitter jealousy. "Look at you... a worthless cleaner who swept floors yesterday, now begging for a empire's fortune! You don't deserve that bloodline! You don't deserve Victor's protection!"

While Sofia was focused on screaming at me, Victor took a tiny, imperceptible half-step to the left, positioning his broad shoulder to block Sofia’s view of the upper catwalk directly above her head.

High up on the dark iron beams overhead, Nina was crawling silently through the shadows, a suppressed sniper rifle locked onto Sofia’s arm.

Victor caught Nina’s subtle signal from above. He looked back at Sofia, his eyes hardening into ice.

"You're right about one thing, Sofia," Victor said softly, drawing her full attention back to him. "Hannah didn't ask for this bloodline. But she is ten times the woman you will ever be."

"Shut up!" Sofia screamed, raising her thumb to press the red button on the detonator. "I'll kill her! I'll kill them all—"

THWIP!

A soft, suppressed gunshot echoed from the high ceiling.

Sofia’s right wrist exploded in a spray of blood. She shrieked in agonizing pain, dropping the detonator onto the metal floor.

"NOW!" Victor roared.

Before the detonator hit the ground, Victor lunged forward like a striking predator. He tackled the nearest guard, grabbing the falling detonator out of mid-air with incredible reflexes, rolling across the concrete floor, and ripping the battery out of the device.

RAT-TAT-TAT!

Moretti's tactical team flooded the room, instantly eliminating Sofia’s remaining four guards before they could raise their weapons.

I didn't watch the violence. I sprinted across the concrete floor, throwing myself beside the infant carrier.

"LILY! OH GOD, LILY!" I sobbed, tearing open the straps and snatching my baby into my arms, pulling her tightly against my chest.

Lily buried her small face into my neck, her tiny arms wrapping around my hair, her crying instantly subsiding into soft, hiccuping gasps as she recognized her mother's scent.

I sank onto the concrete floor, kissing her forehead, her cheeks, her hair, weeping so hard my whole body shook. "I have you... Mommy's here... Mommy's here..."

Shadows fell over us.

I looked up. Victor stood over us, his tactical vest dusted with powder, his gun lowered. Blood trickled down his neck from a minor graze, but his blue eyes were soft, filled with a deep, radiant warmth as he looked down at me and Lily.

He slowly dropped to one knee beside us in the dust of the ruined foundry. He reached out his large, blood-stained hand and gently smoothed down Lily’s blanket, making sure she was warm.

"Is she unhurt?" Victor asked softly, his voice trembling slightly.

"She's fine... she's okay," I choked out, wiping my tears with the sleeve of my jacket. "Victor... you saved her... you saved both of us."

Victor looked at me, his eyes shining with an emotion he no longer tried to hide.

"I promised I would protect Elena's girl," Victor whispered gently. "I just didn't realize until tonight... that you are the only family I have left to fight for."

Behind us, Nina and Marco dragged a weeping, bleeding Sofia Valenti away in cuffs.

"What about her, boss?" Marco asked, pointing toward Sofia.

Victor didn't even look back at Lorenzo's defeated daughter.

"Hand her over to the federal authorities along with her father," Victor stated coldly. "The Valenti syndicate is finished in New York. Erase their name from the Commission."