Victor didn’t sleep.
Neither did I.
Finn finally passed out around dawn, curled beneath a blanket on the couch between us.
Victor sat on the floor beside him.
His wounded shoulder had been cleaned and bandaged.
“You should go to a hospital,” I whispered.
“No.”
“Of course not.”
“It’s a graze.”
“You mafia people are exhausting.”
His eyebrow lifted.
“Did you just say ‘you mafia people’?”
“I did.”
“That seems judgmental.”
“I’m comfortable with that.”
A quiet laugh escaped him.
It startled both of us.
Then Finn shifted.
Victor immediately rested a hand on his back.
The gesture was instinctive.
Progress.
“What do we do?” I asked.
Victor’s expression became serious.
“We find out what Dominic and Keller want.”
“You know what Dominic wants.”
“My position.”
“And Keller?”
Victor looked toward the frozen lake.
“Protection. Money. Maybe both.”
“What about Elena?”
His face closed.
“You think they had something to do with her accident.”
“I think Elena wrote that she didn’t trust Dominic three days before she died.”
Victor looked down.
“I should have known.”
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Turn everything into another reason to punish yourself.”
His eyes met mine.
“You think that’s what I do?”
“I think guilt is easier for you than grief.”
That hit him.
I continued.
“If it’s your fault, then you can be angry. You know how to be angry. If it was just something terrible you couldn’t control…”
“Then I’m helpless.”
“Yes.”
Victor looked at Finn.
“I hate being helpless.”
“I noticed.”
Around noon, Adrian arrived.
Victor nearly shot him.
I stepped between them.
“This family desperately needs a healthier communication style.”
Adrian raised both hands.
“She invited me.”
Victor looked at me.
“You invited him?”
“I called him.”
“With what phone?”
“Mine.”
“You weren’t supposed to—”
I held up a finger.
“Think very carefully about your next sentence.”
Adrian laughed.
“I like her.”
Victor glared.
“You shouldn’t.”
Something about his tone made Adrian’s smile widen.
“Oh.”
“Don’t.”
“Oh, this is interesting.”
“Adrian.”
I interrupted.
“Can we save the dysfunctional brother routine until after we figure out who is trying to kill us?”
Adrian became serious.
He brought documents.
Bank transfers.
Property records.
And one old police report.
Elena’s accident.
The official report said her brakes failed while driving along a wet road outside Chicago.
Keller had been one of the responding detectives.
Victor stared at the signature.
“I never knew.”
“Dominic handled the police after the accident,” Adrian said.
Victor’s expression went blank.
Adrian placed another document on the table.
“A mechanic inspected Elena’s car two weeks before she died. Brakes were fine.”
“That proves nothing.”
“No.”
Adrian hesitated.
“But this might.”
He placed a small flash drive beside Victor.
“Elena gave me this with the letter.”
Victor stared at him.
“You had this for two years?”
“I couldn’t decrypt it.”
“And now?”
“I found someone who could.”
Victor plugged it into the laptop.
There were recordings.
Elena had secretly recorded conversations.
Dominic.
Keller.
Men discussing money.
Routes.
Shipments.
Victor’s businesses.
Then Elena’s voice.
“If Victor finds out, he’ll kill you.”
Dominic laughed.
“That’s why he won’t.”
Victor stopped the recording.
His face had turned pale.
Adrian looked away.
“Keep going,” I said.
Victor couldn’t.
So I pressed play.
Dominic spoke again.
“You think your husband built that empire alone? Half the cops in this city take money. Half the politicians know exactly who pays them. Victor thinks loyalty is something men give him because they respect him.”
Elena answered.
“He trusts you.”
“That’s his weakness.”
The recording ended.
Another file began.
Elena sounded frightened.
“I’m taking Finn away.”
Dominic’s voice sharpened.
“You’re making a mistake.”
“I’m protecting my son.”
“If you leave, Victor will come after you.”
“He’ll come after anyone who hurts us.”
“Exactly.”
The file stopped.
Victor stood abruptly and walked outside.
I followed.
He stood at the end of the dock.
Snow moved across the frozen lake.
“Victor.”
“I killed her.”
“No.”
“I created the world that killed her.”
“That’s different.”
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
He turned.
“If I hadn’t—”
“Stop.”
His eyes flashed.
“No. You don’t get to absolve me.”
“I’m not absolving you.”
I walked closer.
“You’ve hurt people. You’ve frightened people. You’ve made choices I probably don’t even want to know about. You are responsible for those choices.”
His jaw tightened.
“But you are not responsible for another grown man choosing to betray you.”
Victor looked away.
“And you don’t get to use Elena’s death as an excuse to never love Finn properly again.”
His head snapped toward me.
“That’s cruel.”
“So was asking who was waiting for me.”
Silence.
“Maybe we both needed to hear something cruel.”
His eyes filled with something I couldn’t name.
“You think I don’t love him?”
“I think you love him more than anything.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“I’m saying he doesn’t know.”
That landed.
“He knows.”
“No, Victor. He knows you protect him. He knows guards follow him. He knows you pay for his school and buy him things.”
I pointed toward the house.
“But when he’s afraid, he calls me.”
Victor looked devastated.
“I don’t want that to hurt you,” I whispered. “I want you to understand why.”
He said nothing.
“He needs his father.”
“I don’t know how.”
There it was.
The most powerful thing Victor Rossi had ever said to me.
Not a threat.
Not an order.
A confession.
“I don’t know how to be what he needs.”
I stepped closer.
“Then learn.”
“How?”
“The same way everyone does.”
He waited.
“Badly at first.”
Victor laughed.
A real laugh.
Then he looked at me.
“You’d help me?”
My heart hurt.
“I already have been.”
His hand rose toward my face.
He stopped before touching me.
Giving me the choice.
So I closed the distance.
His fingers brushed my cheek.
“Harper…”
A car engine roared behind us.
Victor turned.
Adrian shouted from the house.
“Get inside!”
An SUV crashed through the wooden gate.
Men poured out.
Victor pushed me behind him.
Gunfire exploded.
We ran.
Inside, Adrian grabbed Finn.
“Back door!”
Victor fired toward the entrance.
Glass shattered.
I pulled Finn through the kitchen.
“Harper!”
“I’ve got you!”
Then someone grabbed me from behind.
A hand covered my mouth.
Finn screamed.
“Harper!”
I fought.
The man dragged me backward.
Victor turned.
His face changed when he saw me.
“Let her go.”
Dominic stepped into the room.
A gun pressed against my ribs.
For the first time since I had known him, Dominic wasn’t pretending.
“Put it down, Victor.”
Victor slowly lowered his weapon.
Finn screamed from Adrian’s arms.
“Dad!”
Dominic smiled.
“Family makes men stupid.”
Victor’s eyes never left mine.
“No,” he said quietly.
“It gives them something worth becoming smarter for.”
Dominic pressed the gun harder against me.
“Keys.”
Victor threw him the car keys.
Dominic dragged me toward the door.
“Harper!” Finn screamed.
Victor moved.
Dominic fired into the ceiling.
“Next one goes through her.”
Victor stopped.
I looked at Finn.
“Anchor!”
He was sobbing.
“Finn, look at me!”
His eyes found mine.
“One thing you can see!”
“You!”
“One thing you can hear!”
“Your voice!”
“Good boy.”
Dominic shoved me into the SUV.
The door slammed.
As we sped away, the last thing I saw was Victor standing in the snow.
And I knew that look.
Someone was going to pay.
The only question was whether Victor could save me without becoming exactly the man Elena had begged him to stop being.