The Single Mom Sat Alone at Her Sister’s Wedding Until Chicago’s Most Feared Man Asked Her to Pretend She Was His Wife

"Get down!" Giovanni yelled, tackling me to the floor as a hail of bullets shredded the drywall above our heads.

The apartment filled with smoke, dust, and the terrifying screams of my daughter from the bedroom.

"Lily!" I shrieked, trying to crawl toward the door, but Giovanni held me down, shielding my body with his own.

"Marco! Status!" Giovanni shouted into his collar mic.

"We're ambushed, boss! Francesca brought a whole army—they've blocked the street!" Marco's voice crackled through the static over the sound of returning gunfire.

The bedroom door flew open, and Camila crawled out, dragging a crying Lily into the hallway. "Jess! The window in the back opens to the fire escape!"

"Go! Move!" Giovanni commanded, pulling a heavy silver pistol from his jacket. He stood up, firing three precise shots into the front doorway, dropping an advancing hitman in his tracks.

He guided us toward the back window. He smashed the glass with the butt of his gun and helped Camila and Lily out onto the metal fire escape first.

"Jessica, go," he ordered, his eyes locked on mine.

"Not without you!" I cried, grabbing his jacket.

"I have to hold them off so you can get down. Run, Jessica! I will find you!" He pushed me gently through the window.

As I scrambled down the metal stairs, clutching Lily tight to my chest with Camila right behind me, I heard the deafening roar of gunfire from inside the apartment. I looked up just in time to see Giovanni barricading the window, his face grim and covered in soot.

We reached the alleyway just as a black van screeched to a halt in front of us. The side door slid open, and my heart stopped.

Standing inside the van, holding a small gold pistol, was Francesca Fierro. Beside her were two armed men.

"Going somewhere, dear?" Francesca smiled cruelly. "Load them in."

Before we could scream, we were grabbed, blindfolded, and forced into the back of the van. The heavy doors slammed shut, and the vehicle sped away into the dark.

Hours passed in pitch-black terror. When the blindfolds were finally ripped off, we were in a massive, abandoned shipyard warehouse on the outskirts of the city. The cold wind howled through the cracked windows, and the smell of rust and river water was thick.

Lily was crying quietly, clinging to Camila in a corner, while I was tied securely to a wooden chair in the center of the room.

Francesca stood in front of me, swirling a glass of wine. "You see, Jessica, Giovanni’s fatal flaw is his sentimentality. He actually fell in love with you. A stray nurse and her bastard child. It’s pathetic."

"He’s going to kill you," I spat, staring at her with pure defiance.

"He’s going to try," Francesca corrected smoothly. "I sent him a message. If he wants you and the child alive, he must surrender the encryption keys to the Fierro Syndicate’s primary financial accounts and step down publicly. He has thirty minutes to arrive. Alone."

She walked over to Lily, touching her cheek with a long fingernail. Lily flinched away.

"If he doesn't show up, or if he brings his men... well, the Chicago River is very deep, and children don't swim well in October."

"Leave her alone!" I screamed, straining against my ropes until my wrists bled. "Take me! Kill me! Just let my daughter go!"

"Quiet, girl," Francesca snapped, slapping me across the face. The blow cut my lip, the taste of copper filling my mouth. "Your opinion doesn't matter. The reign of Giovanni Fierro ends tonight."

Suddenly, the heavy iron doors of the warehouse groaned. The power grid in the building flickered and died, plunging the entire warehouse into near-total darkness, illuminated only by the pale moonlight filtering through the roof.

A low, terrifying sound echoed through the rafters. It was the sound of footsteps. Slow, deliberate, and entirely unafraid.