Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN IN THE RAIN

Two massive cartel soldiers stepped forward, their heavy boots thudding against the wooden pier.

“No!” I screamed, shoving Sophie behind me and backing away until my heels hit the very edge of the dock. The black, rushing river roared below us, hungry and violent.

“Don’t make this difficult, girl,” Donatella sneered, stepping closer under the glaring spotlight. “You’ve caused enough trouble tonight. Hand over the child.”

“You’re a monster,” I spat, trembling with adrenaline. “She’s your granddaughter!”

Donatella’s face hardened into a mask of pure disgust. “She is a bastard. A mistake born of a weak woman and a treacherous bodyguard. But she is the key to keeping Dominic compliant until he signs over the syndicate. Once he signs, I will dispose of her just as I disposed of her mother.”

Sophie buried her face into my back, sobbing.

The first soldier reached out, grabbing my arm with a grip like a steel vise. He wrenched me forward, raising his other hand to strike me.

Before his fist could connect, a deafening explosion shattered the night air.

The spotlight above us exploded into a shower of sparks and glass.

The soldier holding me jerked violently and collapsed to the dock, a red blossom appearing on his chest.

Donatella screamed, dropping her cane as chaos erupted.

“Get down!” a familiar voice roared over the wind.

I tackled Sophie to the wet wooden planks, covering her with my body just as automatic gunfire tore through the pier.

Through the darkness, illuminated only by the muzzle flashes, a lone figure strode out of the tunnel entrance.

It was Dominic.

He was stripped of his suit jacket, his white shirt soaked in blood and rain. He held an assault rifle in his hands, firing with terrifying, lethal precision.

The mafia boss hadn’t just survived the ambush upstairs. He had become a force of nature.

Two more cartel soldiers dropped before they could even raise their weapons. The remaining three scrambled for cover behind heavy wooden shipping crates, returning fire.

Bullets splintered the dock inches from my face. I held Sophie tighter, praying to whatever God was listening.

“Dominic!” Donatella shrieked from behind a metal barrel, her regal composure completely shattered. “Stop this! You’re destroying your own empire!”

Dominic didn’t answer. He moved like a ghost, flanking the crates and taking out two more soldiers with clinical efficiency.

The last soldier panicked. He dropped his gun and ran for the gate. Dominic let him go.

Silence slammed back down over the river, broken only by the sound of the rushing water and my own ragged breathing.

Dominic stood in the rain, the rifle lowered at his side. He slowly walked toward his mother, his boots crunching over broken glass and empty shell casings.

Donatella was trapped. She backed against the railing of the pier, looking terrified for the first time in her life.

“Dominic,” she pleaded, holding her hands up. “My son. Please. Everything I did, I did for the family. The Rossi cartel is too strong. We had to merge. I was protecting our legacy!”

Dominic stopped five feet away from her.

He looked at the woman who had raised him. The woman who had ordered the murder of his wife.

“Clara was my family,” Dominic said, his voice colder than the river beneath them. “Sophie is my family.”

“She’s not your blood!” Donatella screamed desperately, pointing a shaking finger at the little girl trembling beneath me. “She’s Marco’s child! Clara lied to you for years!”

Dominic looked down at me, then at Sophie.

The little girl slowly peeked out from under my arm, her tear-streaked face pale with fear.

Dominic’s expression softened into absolute, unconditional love.

“A father isn’t the man who gives you his DNA,” Dominic said softly, never taking his eyes off Sophie. “A father is the man who stays. The man who protects you in the dark. She is my daughter. And she always will be.”

Sophie let out a small, broken sob.

Donatella sneered, her fear turning into bitter hatred. “You are weak, Dominic. Just like your father. You don’t have the stomach to pull the trigger on your own mother.”

Dominic slowly raised the rifle and pointed it directly at her chest.

“You’re right,” Dominic said softly. “I won’t kill my mother.”

Donatella smiled triumphantly.

“But,” Dominic continued, his voice hardening into steel. “The Rossi cartel isn’t known for leaving witnesses when a coup fails. And when they realize you failed to deliver the syndicate, they’ll come for you. You have absolutely no protection, Donatella. You are stripped of your name, your guards, and your money.”

Donatella’s smile vanished. “You wouldn’t dare. I am a Moretti!”

“Not anymore,” Dominic said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the wooden rosary he had taken from her earlier in the office.

He tossed it onto the wet dock at her feet.

“Run, Donatella,” Dominic whispered. “Run as fast as you can. Because if I ever see your face again, I will forget that you gave birth to me.”

Donatella stared at him, her chest heaving. She looked at the bodies of the cartel soldiers, realizing her power was completely broken. Without a word, she turned and limped into the darkness of the city streets, disappearing into the rain.

Dominic dropped the rifle. It clattered loudly against the wood.

He fell to his knees on the dock, completely exhausted, bleeding, and broken.

“Daddy!”

Sophie scrambled out from under my arms and ran across the dock, throwing herself into Dominic’s chest.

Dominic caught her, burying his face in her hair, pulling her so tightly against him that they looked like one person. He wept. The ruthless mafia boss, the most feared man in New Orleans, sobbed openly into his daughter’s shoulder.

“I’ve got you, baby,” he choked out. “Daddy’s got you.”

I slowly pushed myself up to a sitting position. My knees were scraped, my dress ruined, but I had never felt so much relief in my entire life.

Dominic finally looked up at me.

He reached out a blood-stained hand.

“Hannah,” he whispered.

I crawled over to them and placed my hand in his. He pulled me forward, wrapping his other arm around me, pulling me into the embrace with him and Sophie.

“You saved her,” Dominic whispered into my hair. “You kept your promise to Clara. You saved my entire world.”

“We’re safe now,” I cried, holding them both.

As we sat there in the rain, a sudden, urgent voice echoed from the tunnel.

“Dominic! Hannah!”

I turned.

Anthony stumbled out of the tunnel, clutching a heavily bandaged side. He looked around at the bodies, then down at us huddled on the dock.

“The police are here,” Anthony breathed heavily. “They’re arresting Vanessa and the Rossi men upstairs. I… I told them everything, Dominic. I gave them the ledgers Donatella kept.”

Dominic looked at his brother. “You’re going to go to prison, Anthony.”

Anthony nodded, a sad, resigned smile on his face. “I know. It’s okay. I owe Clara that much. I’m ready to pay for my mistakes.”