**“Dance Like You Love Me… There’s a Sniper on Your Forehead”: The Waitress Who Saved Miami’s Most Feared Mafia Boss and Changed His Empire Forever**

The ship tilted sharply as smoke began to billow through the ventilation shafts. Panic erupted on the upper decks as the sounds of gunfire echoed across the water. Dominic’s tactical strike team had breached the hull.

In the confusion of the blast, Emma dropped low, grabbing a heavy metal fire extinguisher from the wall and swinging it with all her strength into the nearest guard’s knee. The man collapsed with a roar of pain. The second guard lunged, but Emma dove beneath the server desk as a burst of gunfire shattered the glass racks above her.

"Emma!" Dominic’s voice roared over the ship's comms, raw with terror.

"Server deck, lower level!" she cried into her lapel. "Moretti is here!"

The heavy steel door of the data room flew off its hinges. Dominic charged into the room like a tempest of wrath, firing two rapid shots that dropped the remaining guard instantly.

Moretti scrambled backward, drawing a heavy revolver, but Dominic was faster. He closed the distance in a heartbeat, slamming Moretti against the server rack and driving a vicious forearm into his throat. Moretti gasped, his weapon clattering to the floor.

"You touched what's mine," Dominic snarled, his eyes pitch-black with murderous fury.

"Do it, Rossi," Moretti choked out, grinning through bloody teeth. "Kill me. The ship is sinking anyway. We all drown together."

Dominic raised his weapon to Moretti’s forehead, his finger tightening on the trigger. His knuckles were white, his entire body trembling with the urge to execute the man who had terrorized his family and threatened Emma.

"Dominic! No!"

Emma grabbed Dominic’s arm, pulling his focus away from the edge of the abyss. Her face was smudged with soot, her eyes pleading. "If you kill him in cold blood, you remain the monster they want you to be. Take him alive. Use the ledger. Break his syndicate legally and bury him in a federal cell forever. Be better than him."

Dominic stared at Emma. For three agonizing seconds, the war inside him raged. Then, slowly, the cold fury in his gaze receded, replaced by reason. He slammed the butt of his pistol across Moretti’s jaw, knocking the older man unconscious.

"Marco!" Dominic barked as his second-in-command appeared in the doorway. "Cuff Moretti and get him to the extraction chopper. The engine room is flooding."

Dominic turned, scooping Emma into his arms and pulling her tightly against his chest. His heart was hammering wildly against hers. "Are you hurt?"