692 The mafia boss’s baby refused every person in the restaurant—until a broke waitress picked him up and he clung to her like he had finally found home.

Chaos erupted instantly.

"GET MARA TO THE SAFE ROOM!" Lorenzo ordered, pulling two handguns from his shoulder holsters.

"What about Leo?!" I screamed over the blaring sirens.

"He's already in the reinforced nursery! Go!" Lorenzo pushed me toward Marco, but before we could even step into the hallway, heavy gunfire rattled through the ceiling.

Two masked men clad in tactical gear burst through the top of the stairs, automatic weapons raised. Marco immediately fired, dropping the first man, but the second hitman sprayed bullets down the corridor.

Lorenzo grabbed me by the waist and threw us both behind a heavy oak bookshelf as plaster and glass rained down around us.

"They brought a small army," Marco yelled, ducking behind the doorframe. "It’s a full-scale assault! Someone gave them the master security codes!"

"Take Mara through the servant's passage to the nursery!" Lorenzo commanded, his eyes burning with lethal fury. "I'll draw their main force to the courtyard."

"Lorenzo, no! You'll get killed!" I yelled, reaching out to grab his arm without thinking.

Lorenzo looked back at me. For a brief second, the terrifying, ruthless mafia don vanished, replaced by a man looking at a woman he was willing to burn the world to protect. He placed his hand over mine, squeezing it tight.

"They can't kill me, Mara," he said, a cold, deadly smile gracing his lips. "I am the devil they pray against. Now GO!"

He stepped out from behind the bookshelf, firing with terrifying speed and precision, driving the attackers back down the hallway.

Marco grabbed my hand. "Come on!"

We sprinted through a hidden door behind a tapestry, moving fast down a narrow, dark stone staircase that led straight into the master nursery.

When we burst through the door, my heart nearly stopped.

The nanny was lying unconscious on the floor. Standing over Leo’s crib was a tall man in an expensive tailored suit, a silver suppressor attached to his pistol. He was reaching into the crib to grab the crying infant.

It was Lorenzo’s chief advisor—the man who had been sitting to his right at the restaurant!

"YOU!" Marco roared, raising his gun.

The traitor whirled around and fired instantly. The bullet struck Marco square in the chest. Marco collapsed against the wall with a heavy thud, dropping his firearm.

"Marco!" I screamed.

The traitor turned his cold, arrogant eyes onto me, raising his silenced pistol directly at my head.

"Well, well," he sneered, a cruel laugh escaping his lips. "The dead sister returns from the grave. A pity you had to show up tonight, Mara. It makes cleaning up this family so much more tedious."

"Why are you doing this?!" I cried, stepping between him and Leo's crib, shielding the crying baby with my body. "Lorenzo trusted you!"

"Lorenzo is weak!" the man spat. "He let grief ruin his mind after Elena died! The Moretti family offered me fifty percent of the Vance empire to hand over the boy and execute Lorenzo. And now, you're going to join them."

He pressed the finger against the trigger.