The hidden passage led to an underground garage.
Vittorio moved quickly for a seventy-two-year-old man.
I didn't.
I stopped halfway down the concrete stairs.
“Bella.”
“I'm not leaving Dante.”
“He told me to get you out.”
“I don't care.”
“He knew you would say that.”
I stared at him.
Vittorio almost smiled.
“He said you're difficult.”
“He kissed me.”
That wiped away the smile.
I hadn't meant to say it.
Apparently mortal danger destroyed my internal filter.
Vittorio blinked.
“My son?”
“Unless you have another six-foot-three tattooed crime boss upstairs.”
For one bizarre second, Vittorio looked less like a feared former mob leader and more like somebody's confused father.
Then another burst of gunfire echoed.
Reality returned.
“We need to move.”
At the garage, two guards waited beside an armored SUV.
Vittorio gave instructions.
I looked around.
There had to be another way upstairs.
Then I noticed a security monitor.
Multiple camera feeds.
On one, three men moved through a hallway.
On another, Dante and two guards were pinned behind a stone wall near the kitchen.
On a third—
I leaned closer.
A man in a gray jacket entered through the rear door.
I knew him.
“Wait.”
Vittorio turned.
“That's one of Dante's men.”
He looked.
His face hardened.
“Marco Bellini.”
I'd seen Marco at the mansion.
He had been one of the men at Bolero Café.
The one who'd handed me Isabella's note.
He walked through the estate without anyone stopping him.
Then he opened an interior door.
Three armed attackers entered.
“He's the traitor.”
Vittorio grabbed his phone.
No signal.
“They're jamming communications.”
I pointed toward the monitors.
“Can we talk through the security system?”
“Yes.”
“Then tell Dante.”
Vittorio activated an intercom.
“Dante, Marco is compromised. Repeat, Marco is compromised.”
Static.
Then Dante's voice.
“Understood.”
On-screen, Marco froze.
He'd heard it too.
He ran.
Dante appeared seconds later.
The confrontation happened mostly outside camera range.
I saw Marco raise a weapon.
Then Dante knocked it away.
Two guards restrained him.
Minutes later, the gunfire stopped.
Carlo's men retreated.
Dante came into the garage covered in dust, his shirt torn at the shoulder.
I ran to him.
“You're bleeding.”
“Not mine.”
I stared.
He checked himself.
“Mostly not mine.”
“You're unbelievable.”
“You stayed.”
“Obviously.”
“I specifically told you—”
I kissed him.
That ended the argument.
His hands froze at my waist.
Then he kissed me back.
Slower this time.
The adrenaline disappeared, leaving something much more dangerous behind.
When we separated, Vittorio cleared his throat.
“I'm standing right here.”
Dante looked at him.
“Get used to disappointment.”
Despite myself, I laughed.
For a moment, in an underground garage after an armed attack, everything felt strangely normal.
Then Marco was dragged downstairs.
Dante's expression transformed.
“Where's Carlo?”
Marco smiled.
“You think this was about killing you?”
Dante grabbed his jacket.
“Where is he?”
Marco looked at me.
My stomach dropped.
“He's in Chicago.”
Mama.
I lunged for Dante's phone.
“Call the house.”
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Dante was already shouting orders.
We raced back to Chicago.
The drive felt endless.
I called Mama eighteen times.
Isabella twelve.
Nothing.
When the gates finally appeared, one stood open.
A guard lay injured near the security booth.
The house had been breached.
I ran inside.
“Mom!”
“Bella!”
Her voice came from the library.
I nearly collapsed.
Mama sat on the floor beside Isabella.
Both were alive.
I hugged them so hard Mama complained she couldn't breathe.
Then I remembered her oxygen and loosened my grip.
“What happened?”
Isabella answered.
“Carlo came.”
“Where is he?”
“Gone.”
Dante entered.
“What did he take?”
Isabella looked at him.
“The original drive.”
My blood ran cold.
“How?”
Then I remembered.
We had taken the box to Wisconsin.
But before leaving, Dante's people had created a copy and stored the original in his Chicago safe.
Carlo knew.
Marco had told him.
Dante crouched beside his mother.
“Did he hurt you?”
“No.”
Mama spoke.
“He wanted the pendant too.”
My hand flew to my neck.
It was still there.
“He thought Bella had left it here.”
Isabella nodded.
“When he realized she hadn't, he became angry.”
Mama's mouth tightened.
“He has terrible manners.”
I stared at her.
“You argued with a mob boss?”
“He threatened my daughter.”
Dante almost smiled.
I suddenly understood where my personality came from.
“Where's the copy?” I asked.
Dante's expression hardened.
“Safe.”
“So we still have the evidence.”
“Yes.”
A voice came from behind us.
“No, you don't.”
Marco.
He stood in the doorway.
A gun in his hand.
Two of Dante's men lay unconscious behind him.
He must have escaped during the chaos.
Dante moved slightly in front of me.
Marco aimed at him.
“Don't.”
Everything became still.
Marco smiled.
“Carlo was right about you, Dante. Your weakness was never business.”
His eyes moved to Isabella.
“Family.”
Then to me.
“And now her.”
“Marco,” Dante said quietly. “You don't want to do this.”
“I already did.”
He held up a small device.
“The backup drive.”
Dante's jaw tightened.
“How?”
“Your security codes haven't changed in two years.”
Marco backed toward the entrance.
“You're getting sloppy.”
“Where's Carlo?”
“Waiting.”
“For what?”
Marco looked at me.
“For Bella.”
“No,” Dante said.
Marco smiled.
“Then the evidence disappears forever.”
I stepped around Dante.
“Bella.”
I ignored him.
“What does Carlo want?”
“The pendant.”
“He already has the drive.”
“The files are encrypted.”
I touched the necklace.
Of course.
Dad had protected the evidence twice.
The pendant wasn't merely a key to the box.
It unlocked the files.
Marco's smile widened.
“Smart man, your father.”
My anger became calm.
Dangerously calm.
“Tell Carlo I'll meet him.”
Dante turned.
“Absolutely not.”
“I wasn't asking.”
“Bella.”
Marco laughed.
“She's got you trained already.”
Dante's eyes could have killed him.
I kept mine on Marco.
“Where?”
“Old Lakeshore freight terminal. Midnight.”
“Fine.”
Marco backed away.
“And Bella?”
“What?”
“Come alone.”
He disappeared.
Dante rounded on me.
“No.”
“Stop saying that.”
“You're not walking into Carlo's hands.”
“He needs the pendant.”
“He needs you dead once he has it.”
“Then don't actually let me go alone.”
He stared.
I continued.
“He thinks I'm a broke café girl who accidentally stumbled into this.”
“You are.”
“Thanks.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Exactly. He underestimates me.”
“So?”
“So we let him.”
Dante looked furious.
Mama spoke from behind us.
“She gets that from her father too.”
I turned.
Mama was smiling sadly.
“Michael always said the most dangerous person in a room was the one nobody bothered watching.”
Dante rubbed a hand over his face.
“This family is going to kill me.”
Isabella smiled.
“Welcome to motherhood.”
“Mama.”
“What? I'm trying to lighten the mood.”
I looked at Dante.
“We have six hours.”
He studied me.
“This is a terrible plan.”
“Probably.”
“You could get hurt.”
“So could you.”
“I can handle myself.”
“So can I.”
His expression softened.
“That is exactly what worries me.”
I stepped closer.
“You asked me to give you a reason to come back.”
His eyes changed.
“I did.”
I took his hand.
“Then come back with me.”
He squeezed my fingers.
“All right.”
And just like that, the café girl and the mafia boss began planning how to end a war my father had started eleven years earlier.