Dominic took me back to Chicago.
Not to a warehouse.
Not to some abandoned building.
To the Rossi mansion.
That frightened me most.
He walked through the front door like he owned it.
Maybe that had always been the plan.
“Sit.”
I remained standing.
“You know, Victor hates when people order me around too.”
Dominic smiled.
“I understand why.”
“Glad we found common ground.”
He pointed the gun toward a chair.
I sat.
Detective Keller arrived twenty minutes later.
He looked exactly like the kind of police officer Finn should have been able to trust.
Gray hair.
Calm eyes.
Wedding ring.
That made me hate him more.
“This is the nanny?” he asked.
“Caregiver,” I said.
Neither man cared.
Keller looked at Dominic.
“You were supposed to get the kid.”
My blood chilled.
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“Adrian interfered.”
“You said Victor trusted you.”
“He did.”
“Apparently not enough.”
I listened.
That was all I could do.
They needed Victor to sign control of several legitimate companies to Adrian—or rather, to shell companies they controlled.
But Adrian had refused to cooperate.
So Dominic needed leverage.
Finn had been the original leverage.
Now I was.
“You think Victor will trade everything for me?” I asked.
Dominic smiled.
“I watched him look at you.”
I went quiet.
“He might tell himself you’re hired help,” Dominic continued. “Men like Victor lie best to themselves.”
Keller checked his watch.
“He’ll come.”
I hoped he wouldn’t.
Not because I wanted to die.
Because I knew what coming might cost him.
An hour later, headlights appeared beyond the gates.
Victor entered alone.
No gun visible.
No guards.
He wore the same black shirt from the night everything started.
His gaze found me immediately.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“Touching.”
“Let her go.”
“Sign first.”
Documents waited on the table.
Victor barely glanced at them.
“If I sign, she walks.”
“Yes.”
“You leave Finn alone forever.”
Dominic laughed.
“You’re hardly in a position to negotiate.”
Victor’s expression remained calm.
“I’m always negotiating.”
He signed.
Page after page.
I stared at him.
“Victor, don’t.”
He ignored me.
“Victor.”
Nothing.
Dominic collected the papers.
“Congratulations. You just gave away half your empire for an employee.”
Victor finally looked at me.
“No.”
The room became quiet.
“She was never just an employee.”
My throat tightened.
Dominic rolled his eyes.
“Wonderful. Now we’re sentimental.”
Victor stepped closer.
“Let her go.”
Dominic nodded.
The man beside me released my arm.
I stood.
“Come here,” Victor said.
I walked toward him.
Halfway across the room, Keller drew his gun.
Victor’s gaze shifted.
“You didn’t think we were actually letting her leave.”
Dominic frowned.
“That wasn’t the deal.”
Keller shrugged.
“She knows too much.”
Something changed in Dominic’s expression.
For the first time, he understood that betrayal worked in both directions.
Keller pointed the weapon at me.
Victor moved in front of me.
“Don’t.”
Keller smiled.
“The great Victor Rossi.”
Then sirens erupted outside.
Dozens.
Keller spun toward the windows.
“What did you do?”
Victor smiled faintly.
“Something my wife wanted me to do years ago.”
Police vehicles flooded the driveway.
Not Keller’s people.
Federal agents.
Victor had given them everything.
Records.
Accounts.
Names.
Evidence connecting Keller and Dominic to bribery, extortion, attempted murder, and Elena’s death.
Dominic stared at him.
“You gave them the organization?”
“Yes.”
“Your father built this!”
“My father is dead.”
“You’ll lose everything.”
Victor looked at me.
“No.”
He turned back to Dominic.
“Not everything.”
Keller panicked.
He grabbed me.
The gun pressed against my head.
Victor froze.
“Back up!”
He obeyed.
“Tell them to leave!”
“I can’t.”
“Do it!”
“They’re federal agents, Keller. They don’t work for me.”
Keller dragged me toward the staircase.
Then a tiny voice came from above.
“Let Harper go.”
Every adult in the room froze.
Finn stood at the top of the stairs.
Adrian was behind him.
My heart stopped.
“What are you doing here?”
Adrian looked apologetic.
“He got out of the car.”
Of course he did.
Finn Rossi had apparently inherited every stubborn gene available.
Keller swung the gun upward.
Victor moved.
Everything happened at once.
I drove my elbow into Keller’s stomach.
The gun fired.
Victor tackled him.
Agents stormed through the doors.
Dominic dropped to his knees.
Keller fought.
Victor pinned him to the marble floor.
His fist rose.
Once.
Twice.
Keller’s face bloodied.
“Victor!” I screamed.
He didn’t hear me.
This was the man Elena had feared he would become.
“Dad!”
Finn’s voice stopped him.
Victor looked up.
Finn stood on the staircase crying.
Victor looked at his raised fist.
Then at Keller.
Slowly, he lowered his hand.
He stood.
“Take him.”
Federal agents handcuffed Keller.
Dominic was arrested beside him.
Victor didn’t watch.
He walked toward Finn.
His son stood perfectly still.
Victor stopped one step below him.
“I’m sorry you saw that.”
Finn’s chin trembled.
“Are you going away?”
Victor looked toward the agents.
“I don’t know.”
That answer terrified all of us.
Victor had made deals with prosecutors before arriving.
He had offered evidence against corrupt officers and criminal associates.
But he had also admitted his own involvement in crimes.
There would be consequences.
For the first time in his adult life, Victor wasn’t trying to escape them.
Finn came down one step.
“Why?”
“Because I did things I shouldn’t have done.”
“Bad things?”
Victor nodded.
“Yes.”
Finn began crying.
“Are you bad?”
The question that had haunted him for months.
Victor crouched.
“I’ve done bad things.”
Finn waited.
“But I want to do better.”
“Because of Harper?”
Victor looked at me.
“Because of you.”
He touched Finn’s chest.
“And because your mom was right.”
Finn sniffled.
“Mom?”
“She wanted me to be your dad before I tried to be everybody else’s boss.”
Finn stared at him.
Then threw his arms around Victor’s neck.
Victor closed his eyes.
He held his son.
Really held him.
I turned away because suddenly I was crying too.
An agent approached Victor.
“We need to go.”
Finn tightened his grip.
“No!”
Victor whispered into his hair.
“It’s okay.”
“No!”
“Finn.”
“You promised you’d come back!”
Victor’s face twisted.
“I’m going to try.”
Finn looked at me.
“Harper!”
I came closer.
Victor reached for my hand.
“Take care of him.”
Fear turned instantly into anger.
“No.”
Victor frowned.
“No?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Harper—”
“You don’t get to hand me your child like a final instruction and disappear.”
“I may not have a choice.”
“Then tell him that. But don’t turn this into some tragic goodbye because you think suffering makes you noble.”
One of the federal agents looked like he was trying not to smile.
Victor stared at me.
“What do you want me to say?”
“The truth.”
He looked at Finn.
Then me.
“I don’t know what happens next.”
“Good start.”
“I may face charges.”
Finn clung tighter.
“But I’m going to cooperate. And I’m going to do everything legally possible to come home to you.”
Finn sniffled.
“And Harper?”
Victor’s gaze met mine.
“If she’ll still have me in her life…”
My heart stopped.
“…I’d like to come home to her too.”
Nobody spoke.
Finn looked at me expectantly.
This child had terrible timing.
I touched Victor’s cheek.
“Come back first.”
He covered my hand with his.
“Is that a yes?”
“It’s a ‘come back first.’”
For once, Victor accepted an answer he couldn’t control.
He kissed my forehead.
Then he left with the agents.
Finn and I stood together in the ruined mansion.
Broken glass covered the marble.
Furniture was overturned.
Men were being led away in handcuffs.
The empire Victor had spent his entire adult life building was collapsing around us.
Finn slipped his hand into mine.
“Harper?”
“Yeah?”
“Are we still family?”
I looked toward the open door Victor had just walked through.
Then down at the little boy who had once believed family was something his father could take away with a sentence.
I squeezed his hand.
“Yeah, sweetheart.”
“We are.”
What I didn’t know yet was whether Victor Rossi would ever be allowed to come home and become part of it.