A Little Girl Told a Mafia Boss Her Sister Never Came Home, and He Followed Her Into the Snow Before His Whole Empire Burned

Victor let out a howl of pain, his grip on Elena slipping as blood gushed from his broken nose.

Dominic didn't hesitate. He fired a single, perfect shot. The bullet struck Victor’s shoulder, spinning him around and knocking his weapon from his hand. Before Victor could hit the floor, Dominic was over him, his boot slamming down on the man's throat, pinning him to the floorboards.

"Marco, get her loose," Dominic ordered, his eyes never leaving Victor’s terrified face.

Marco rushed over, slicing the ropes binding Elena’s wrists. The moment she was free, she collapsed forward, her body shaking as she gasped for air. She didn't run. Instead, she looked up at Dominic, her eyes wide with a mixture of terror and awe.

"Are you... are you Dominic?" she whispered, her voice trembling.

Dominic looked at her. Up close, the resemblance to Sofie was striking. But there was a deep, protective fire in Elena that even the beating hadn't extinguished.

"I am," Dominic said. "Your sister is safe. She’s at my house."

Elena’s eyes filled with tears of pure relief. "Thank God... oh, thank God."

Dominic turned his attention back to Victor, pressing his boot harder into the man’s windpipe until Victor’s face turned a dark, mottled purple.

"Where is the real ledger, Victor?" Dominic asked.

"I... I don't... know..." Victor choked out. "Frankie... he had it... I swear..."

"He’s lying," Elena said, her voice shaking but resolute. She wiped the blood from her lip, standing up on unstable legs. "Frankie didn't have a physical ledger. He told me... he told me he uploaded everything to a secure cloud drive. The access key is tattooed on his arm. Under his watch."

Dominic looked at Marco, who immediately pulled out his phone to contact their medical examiner contact.

"We have the key," Dominic said to Victor. "Which means you are no longer useful to me."

"Wait!" Victor gasped, his hands clawing at Dominic’s boot. "You can't... if you kill me... my father... the rest of the Morettis... they'll burn your whole empire to the ground! They know you're here! They’ve already targeted your warehouses!"

As if on cue, Dominic’s phone vibrated violently in his pocket. He answered it, keeping his boot firmly on Victor’s throat.

"Boss!" the voice on the other end was panicked, filled with the sound of roaring flames and distant sirens. "It’s the West Side warehouse! They hit it with thermite! It’s gone! And the docks... they're attacking the docks!"

Dominic’s face didn't change, but his eyes turned entirely black.

The Morettis hadn't just tried to kidnap a girl. They had launched a coordinated, full-scale assault on his entire operations.

"Let it burn," Dominic said into the phone.

"Boss?"