My three-year-old daughter found an injured stranger hiding beneath a mansion while armed men searched the property above us—and instead of screaming, she pressed a cartoon bandage against his cheek and whispered, “Shh. Mommy will protect you.” I didn’t know the man was one of New York’s most feared crime bosses until we discovered a hidden recording downstairs proving the person trying to remove him from power was someone inside his own family.

"You think you’ve won?" Bianca whispered, a crazed, terrifying laugh bubbling up from her chest. "You think you can just march into this house and hand me over to the feds?"

She suddenly raised her left hand and slammed her palm down on a red panic button hidden beneath the lip of the desk.

"MARCUS!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "KILL THEM!"

The heavy double doors behind us burst open with violent force.

Marcus Cole, the mercenary chief, stepped into the room holding an automatic rifle. He didn't hesitate—he raised the barrel directly toward Matteo’s chest.

CLICK.

Nothing happened.

Marcus pulled the trigger again. CLICK.

He looked down at his weapon in utter shock. The magazine was gone.

Standing behind Marcus in the hallway was Frankie, holding Marcus’s high-capacity magazine in his hand with a dark, satisfied grin.

"Looking for this, Cole?" Frankie asked smoothly, before slamming a heavy tactical baton across Marcus’s jaw. The large mercenary collapsed like a felled tree, unconscious before he hit the carpet.

Bianca gasped, stumbling backward into the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, knocking over antique vases and crystal decanters in her panic.

Outside the mansion, the night sky was suddenly illuminated by flashing red and blue lights. The deep, rhythmic wail of federal law enforcement sirens echoed across the long estate driveway.

Dozens of armored vehicles were breaching the front gates.

Matteo walked slowly over to the desk, picked up the silver gun from the open drawer, and engaged the safety. He tucked it into his coat pocket.

"The FBI is outside, Bianca," Matteo said softly, looking at his sister one last time. "You have five minutes to gather your dignity before they put you in chains."

Bianca collapsed onto her knees among the scattered money and broken glass, sobbing hysterically, her grand dream of an empire reduced to ashes, handcuffs, and a lifetime in a federal penitentiary.