THE MAFIA BOSS WATCHED ME CARRY A HEAVY SOUP TRAY PRESSED AGAINST MY HIP—THEN HIS FIANCÉE SAID, “HER HAND GOT CAUGHT IN THE LINEN CLOSET,” BEFORE HE HAD ASKED WHY I COULDN’T HOLD IT NORMALLY.** I almost made it to the table. Six more steps.

“Claire, stop!” Luca shouted, reaching for me, but I was already running down the wooden dock.

Vanessa jumped at the sound of my voice, the pearl-handled revolver wavering for a fraction of a second.

Julian panicked. He took a step backward toward the edge of the dock, holding Leo tighter. My son let out a sharp cry of pain.

“Don’t take another step!” Julian yelled, turning his body so Leo was positioned over the dark, churning water below.

I froze, throwing my hands up in surrender. “Julian, please. He’s just a little boy. He doesn’t know anything about your world. Let him go.”

“He’s my ticket out of here!” Julian shouted, his eyes darting frantically between me, Vanessa, and Luca, who had now stepped onto the dock, his own gun leveled at Julian’s chest.

“You aren’t getting in that boat, Julian,” Luca said, his voice carrying absolute authority over the sound of the sloshing water. “You are surrounded. If Vanessa doesn’t shoot you, I will. The only way you survive the next five minutes is if you put the boy down.”

“You’re lying!” Julian spat. “You read the ledger! You know what I did for your father! You’ll hand me over to her just to keep the peace!”

“I don’t care about the peace,” Luca said softly. “I care about the boy.”

Vanessa let out a ragged, bitter laugh, tears streaming down her face.

“How noble of the Don. But it doesn’t matter. Julian isn’t leaving this dock alive.”

She steadied her grip on the revolver, aiming squarely at Julian’s head.

“Vanessa, wait,” I pleaded, turning to her. “If you shoot him, my son falls into the water. He’ll drown. Please. You know what it feels like to lose a mother. Don’t make me lose my son.”

Vanessa looked at me. For a moment, the cold, vengeful mask slipped, revealing the terrified, grieving girl she truly was. She looked at Leo, shivering in Julian’s grip.

“I have to kill him, Claire,” Vanessa whispered, her voice breaking. “He took my mother.”

“And you took his daughter,” Luca intervened, stepping forward slowly.

Vanessa’s eyes snapped to Luca.

“Mia is safe in Boston,” Luca said. “I freed her tonight. Julian didn’t pull the trigger on me because he loves his child more than he fears you. He’s a monster, Vanessa. He’s a killer. But he is a father.”

Luca slowly lowered his gun, pointing it at the wooden floorboards.

“You came here to destroy my family,” Luca said to Vanessa. “You wanted to burn the Moretti name to the ground because you thought we took everything from you. But you are a Moretti, Vanessa. You share my father’s blood. You aren’t a killer. Don’t become one tonight.”

Vanessa stared at Luca, her chest heaving. The pearl-handled revolver trembled violently in her hands.

“He deserves to die.”

“He does,” Luca agreed softly. “But let the law handle him. I have the ledger. I will turn it over to the FBI myself. I will give them Julian. He will rot in federal prison for the rest of his life. But if you pull that trigger, you go to prison, too. And Mia grows up alone.”

The mention of her sister broke her.

Vanessa let out a devastating, heartbroken sob. The gun slowly, agonizingly, lowered to her side.

She dropped to her knees on the wooden dock, burying her face in her free hand.

I turned back to Julian.

He was staring at Vanessa, stunned that she had actually spared his life.

“Put him down, Julian,” Luca ordered, his voice returning to iron. “The FBI gets you. But if you drop that boy in the water, I will kill you myself, and I will make it last for days.”

Julian looked at the dark water. Then he looked at me.

He slowly loosened his grip.

He set Leo down on the wooden planks.

“Mommy!” Leo screamed.

He scrambled across the dock, launching himself into my arms. I collapsed to my knees, catching him, wrapping my entire body around him. I buried my face in his neck, breathing in the scent of his hair, sobbing uncontrollably.

He was safe. It was over.

Julian dropped the duffel bag. He raised his hands in surrender, looking at Luca in defeat.

“It’s over, Luca,” Julian muttered.

“Yes,” Luca said quietly.

Luca didn’t raise his gun. He didn’t shoot Julian.

He simply pulled his phone from his pocket and pressed a single button.

Suddenly, the doors of the boathouse burst open.

Marcus, the massive head of security, swarmed in, followed by six armed guards.

They had been waiting outside the entire time. Luca hadn’t come to the boathouse alone. He had brought his army, but he held them back to negotiate Leo’s release without a crossfire.

The guards tackled Julian to the ground, zip-tying his wrists behind his back.

Marcus walked over to Vanessa. He didn’t handle her roughly. He gently took the pearl-handled revolver from her limp hand and helped her to her feet.

“The FBI is waiting at the front gates, Boss,” Marcus said to Luca. “Just like you ordered.”

Luca nodded. He looked at Vanessa, who was staring blankly at the floorboards.

“Take her to the feds. Tell them she’s turning state’s evidence against Julian for a thirty-year-old murder. She gets full immunity.”

Marcus nodded and escorted a weeping Vanessa out of the boathouse.

The guards dragged Julian out after them.

Suddenly, the boathouse was quiet again, save for the sound of the water lapping against the wood and my own soft crying as I rocked Leo on the floor.

Luca walked over to us.

He knelt down slowly, his expensive suit trousers soaking up the dampness of the dock. He looked at Leo, then reached out and gently rested his large, warm hand on the back of my son’s head.

“You were very brave tonight, Leo,” Luca said softly.

Leo sniffled, looking up at the terrifying mafia boss with wide, innocent eyes.

“Are the bad guys gone?”

“They’re all gone,” Luca promised.

Luca looked at me. His dark eyes were completely stripped of the cold, calculated walls he had worn all night. He just looked exhausted, relieved, and deeply, deeply human.

“I’m sorry I brought this danger to your door, Claire,” Luca whispered.

I shook my head, wiping my tears. “You brought him back to me. That’s all that matters.”

Luca stood up, offering me his hand.