1.The Maid’s Little Girl Said Her Mommy Had Been Missing for Three Days, and the Mafia Boss Found a Betrayal Buried Beneath His Own Home

The heavy fog rolled over Pier 42 like a thick white shroud, swallowing the yellow glare of the halogen lamps and turning the container yard into a ghost town.

A single set of headlights cut through the gloom.

A heavy matte-black SUV drove slowly onto the asphalt of Pier 42, stopping thirty yards from the central shipping container.

The driver’s door opened. Dominic Vale stepped out into the freezing sea night, completely alone, his hands visible at his sides.

Up on the second-floor balcony, Victor Moretti stepped out, smoking a thick cigar. Victor was sixty years old, with slicked-back gray hair, a heavy gold chain around his thick neck, and eyes that had never felt remorse.

"Dominic!" Victor’s voice boomed across the foggy pier, amplified by a bullhorn. "You always were a punctual man! I respect that!"

Dominic stood motionless in the fog. "Where are they, Victor?"

Victor laughed, a dry, rattling sound. "Where are my manners? They're right here... safe and sound. For now."

Victor waved his hand. Two guards stepped out of the central container, dragging Mia. Her hands were bound in front of her, her face bruised, but she held her head high. Behind her, another guard held Harper, who was crying silently, clutching her torn yellow nightgown.

"Dominic!" Mia screamed into the night. "It's a trap! Run!"

A guard slapped her across the face, knocking her to her knees on the cold concrete.

Dominic’s jaw clenched so hard his teeth squeaked, but he did not move. "Let the woman and the child go, Victor. You have me. This war was between us."

"This war was over ten years ago when I blew up your car in Brooklyn, Dominic!" Victor sneered, leaning over the balcony rail. "You survived, but your sweet wife Isabella didn't! And now... you brought another cute little family into your life. You never learn, do you?"

Victor raised his hand, gesturing to the guards holding Mia and Harper. "Kill them."

Before the guard could raise his pistol to Mia’s head, a thunderous crack shattered the night air.

The guard’s head snapped back as a high-caliber sniper bullet from Marcus smashed through his skull. He collapsed instantly.

Simultaneously, a second sniper shot took out the guard holding Harper.

"Breach! Breach! Breach!" Daniel’s voice roared over the megaphones as flashbang grenades exploded across the pier, blinding the Moretti enforcers in blinding white light and deafening sound.

"Kill him! Kill Dominic!" Victor screamed from the balcony, scrambling back into his office as his bodyguards opened fire.

Dominic drew his weapons and dove behind a heavy steel forklift as bullets tore through the metal bodywork, sparks showering over him like fireworks.

"Mia! Get down!" Dominic bellowed over the deafening chaos.

Mia didn't freeze. Despite her injuries, she grabbed Harper, threw her body over her daughter, and rolled beneath the heavy undercarriage of a nearby semi-truck just as automatic rifle fire tore up the ground where they had been standing seconds before.

Dominic kicked off the forklift, firing both handguns with deadly precision. Two Moretti shooters rushed him from behind a blue container; Dominic dropped the first with two shots to the chest, grabbed the second by his vest, and slammed him face-first into the steel wall before putting a bullet through his heart.

"Daniel! Secure the truck!" Dominic yelled into his headset as he sprinted through the crossfire toward the stairs leading to Victor’s office.

"We have the package, Boss!" Daniel’s voice crackled back amid heavy gunfire. "Mia and Harper are secure in the armored car! Clear to engage!"