THE MAFIA BOSS’S SECRET VOW AND THE MAID WHO SAVED HIS HEIR

The gunshot tore through the hallway, loud as a cannon blast.

The guard holding Ava stiffened. The cruel smile vanished from his face, replaced by a look of total shock. A red blossom bloomed high on his right shoulder, exactly where Dante had aimed to avoid hitting Ava.

He dropped the knife and collapsed backward onto the carpet with a heavy thud, howling in pain.

Ava screamed, falling to her knees.

The second guard didn't even try to reach for his dropped weapon. He took one look at the lethal, dead-eyed expression on Dante’s face, threw his hands in the air, and dropped to his knees, pressing his face to the floor in total surrender.

Dante didn't look at them. He sprinted down the hall and fell to his knees beside his daughter.

He pulled Ava into his chest, wrapping his massive arms around her, burying his face in her hair.

“I’ve got you, little bird,” Dante choked out, his voice thick with emotion. “Daddy’s got you. You’re safe.”

I collapsed against the marble pillar at the bottom of the stairs, sliding down until I hit the floor. The adrenaline left my body all at once, leaving me shaking violently. My side burned where Meredith had kicked me, and my uniform was soaked in red wine and concrete dust.

Dante picked Ava up in his arms and carried her down the stairs. He stepped over the dropped guns without a glance.

He stopped in front of me, his dark eyes scanning my bruised face and bloodstained clothes.

“Jenna,” Dante said, his voice raw. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m okay,” I breathed, forcing myself to stand. “Dante, Sarah is in the wine cellar. She’s badly hurt. Meredith locked her down there.”

Dante’s jaw tightened. He handed Ava to me. “Take her to my study. Lock the door. Do not come out until I tell you.”

I nodded, taking the trembling little girl into my arms. Ava wrapped her legs around my waist, burying her wet face in my neck.

I hurried into the study, locked the heavy mahogany doors, and sat on the leather sofa, rocking Ava and whispering promises that it was almost over.

Outside, I heard Dante’s voice booming orders. The loyal perimeter guards had finally realized what was happening inside. I heard the sounds of the traitorous guards being dragged away, and the frantic calls for a private medical team.

Ten minutes later, Dante unlocked the study doors.

His white shirt was smeared with Sarah’s blood, but his expression was fiercely relieved.

“My medics have Sarah,” Dante told me, crouching in front of the sofa. “She’s unconscious, but she’s stable. They’re transporting her to my private clinic. She’s going to live, Jenna.”

I let out a sob of relief, burying my face in Ava’s curls.

Dante gently rubbed Ava’s back until her crying subsided into exhausted hiccups.

“Where is Meredith?” I asked quietly, not wanting to frighten Ava further.

Dante’s eyes went dark. “Gone. The cellar door was open when I got down there. She escaped through the underground delivery tunnels. My men are sweeping the city, but she’s gone into the wind.”

He stood up and looked down at me. The immense weight of his empire seemed to rest entirely on his shoulders in that moment.

“You saved my daughter’s life tonight, Jenna,” Dante said softly. “You saved Sarah’s life. You stood down armed men with an unloaded shotgun.”

A tiny, tired smile touched my lips. “I was really hoping they wouldn't call my bluff.”

Dante knelt down again, placing his hand gently over mine, where I was holding Ava. His touch was warm, grounding me in the chaotic aftermath.

“I will never forget what you did for my family tonight,” he vowed.

Before I could reply, Marcus’s voice crackled violently over Dante’s dropped security radio on the desk.

“Dante Costa,” Marcus’s voice echoed in the quiet study.

Dante stood up and walked to the radio, pressing the transmit button. “You’re a dead man, Marcus.”

“Save the threats, boss,” Marcus laughed. It was a jagged, desperate sound. “Meredith and I are at the private airfield. The jet is fueled. But we have a problem.”

“Run while you can,” Dante said coldly.

“We can’t run. Because your ex-wife is smarter than she looks.”

Dante frowned, leaning closer to the radio. “What are you talking about?”

“The offshore accounts, Dante,” Marcus snarled. “Meredith tried to wire the three hundred million from your syndicate accounts to Zurich. But Sarah changed the biometric access codes yesterday when she visited the estate. She locked the accounts down.”

I looked at Dante in shock. Sarah hadn't just been a victim. She had discovered Meredith’s financial theft and actively stopped it before she was caught and beaten.

“We need the codes, Dante,” Marcus said over the radio. “And we know you have them.”

“I’m not giving you a dime.”

“I think you will,” Marcus replied smoothly. “Because before Meredith left the house, she paid a visit to the nursery on the third floor. The one you keep locked. The one with your grandmother’s heirloom collection.”

Dante’s face drained of color.

“She took the necklace,” Marcus said. “The Costa Diamond. The one your father swore on his deathbed would never leave the family.”

Dante closed his eyes, his fists clenching so tightly his knuckles turned white. The necklace was worth fifty million dollars on the black market, but its sentimental value to the Costa family was immeasurable. To lose it to a rival family was a disgrace Dante could not survive in the syndicate.

“Bring me the biometric codes, Dante,” Marcus demanded. “Just you. Come to Hangar 4 in twenty minutes. You give us the codes, we give you the necklace, and we leave the country. If you bring your men, or if you don’t show up… Meredith drops the necklace into a vat of hydrofluoric acid.”

The radio clicked off.

Dante stood entirely still in the center of the study.

He looked at Ava, who was finally falling asleep in my arms, exhausted by the terror of the night.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a heavy black keycard. The master access to the estate. He walked over and placed it gently in my hand.

“Keep her safe, Jenna,” Dante whispered.

“Dante, no,” I pleaded, standing up carefully with Ava in my arms. “It’s a trap. They’re going to kill you as soon as you give them the codes.”

“It’s my grandmother’s necklace, Jenna,” Dante said, his voice thick with generations of mafia pride and burden. “It’s the symbol of my family’s honor. If Meredith destroys it, the rival families will see it as weakness. They will move on my territory. Ava will never be safe.”

He turned and walked out of the study, the heavy doors closing behind him with a final, terrifying click.

I stood in the silent room, holding the little girl who had already lost so much tonight.

I looked down at the keycard in my hand.

I couldn't just sit here and let him walk into his own execution.

I gently laid Ava on the leather sofa, covering her with a blanket. I kissed her forehead.