The Waitress Took Four Bullets for the Mafia Boss’s Seventy-Two-Year-Old Mother—So He Married Her to Make Her Untouchable, Never Expecting She Would Become the Only Woman Who Could Save His Heart

The intelligence came from an unexpected source: an encrypted audio file delivered directly to Chloe's private email account at midnight.

Chloe sat at her desk in the west wing, wearing her reading glasses, listening to the file through her headphones. The audio was slightly static, but the voices were undeniably clear.

“Vincent is moving the primary weapons shipment through the south rail yards at three in the morning,” a man’s voice said.

“Are you sure?” Dante Marcone’s voice replied.

“I watched him sign the dispatch orders myself. He’s taking only eight men. He thinks the Marcone family is retreating. Strike him there, and the Rossi empire falls before sunrise.”

Chloe’s blood went entirely cold.

The traitor wasn't a low-level associate. The voice belonged to Frank Vance—Julianna Vance’s father, one of Vincent’s oldest and most trusted capos, a man who sat at the head of the Rossi council table.

She looked at the clock on her computer screen.

2:14 AM.

Vincent had already left the estate forty minutes ago.

Panic clawed at her throat. She slammed her hand down on the wrist transmitter Vincent had given her, double-clicking the button. Within forty seconds, Mateo burst through her door, his sidearm drawn.

"Mrs. Rossi! What’s the emergency?!"

"Where is Vincent?" she demanded, grabbing her coat.

"He’s at the south rail yards inspecting a cargo shipment," Mateo said, frowning. "Why?"

"Frank Vance sold him out," Chloe shouted, shoving her phone into Mateo’s hands. "Listen to this! Dante Marcone has set a trap at the rail yards right now!"

Mateo pressed the phone to his ear. As he listened to the audio, his face turned the color of ash. "Mother of God... Vance?"

"How many men did Vincent take?"

"Eight," Mateo choked out. "Marcone will have fifty men waiting in those shipping containers!"

"Call him!"

"I tried! The rail yards are an iron dead-zone for cell signals! He won't get the call!" Mateo turned toward the door. "I'm rallying the main guard squad!"

"It will take twenty minutes to assemble them!" Chloe cried, pulling on her boots. "Vincent will be dead in ten! We take the fast cars now!"

"Mrs. Rossi, no! You stay here! It’s too dangerous!"

Chloe stepped up to Mateo, her eyes flashing with a terrifying, absolute authority that rivaled Vincent's own. "I am Vincent Rossi’s wife. If he dies tonight, this entire family dies. You get in the armored SUV, and you drive me to those rail yards NOW!"