"She thought she could easily silence a helpless nanny, until the terrifying footsteps of the mafia boss echoed from the shadows behind her." THE MAFIA BOSS WALKED IN EARLY AND FOUND HIS FIANCÉE HURTING HIS BABY—THEN THE NANNY’S TESTIMONY EXPOSED EVERYTHING “Stop it, please. You’re breaking his arm.” Lily’s scream tore through the marble foyer of the Blackwood mansion. Baby Ethan was on the floor, crying so hard his little body could barely breathe, while Serena Montigue dragged him by the arm like he was nothing more than a rag doll. His face had gone from red to a frightening purple. His cries were getting weaker. And Lily knew, with a terror that swallowed every thought in her head, that the 14-month-old boy she had loved like her own for six months was slipping into shock. She threw herself forward. Bare feet sliding on the cold marble. Hands reaching for Serena. Heart pounding one single prayer. Save him. But Serena was faster. Her heel drove into Lily’s stomach with brutal force, knocking the air from her lungs and sending her crashing backward onto the stone floor. Pain exploded through her body. But Lily did not care about the pain. She only cared about Ethan. The baby’s arm hung at an unnatural angle. His little face was crumpled in agony. His sobs were fading into small, broken sounds no child should ever make. Serena stood over Lily with cold, perfect eyes. The same woman who smiled at charity galas. The same woman who played the elegant fiancée. The same woman who was about to marry Victor Blackwood, the most feared mafia boss in Chicago. “Touch him again,” Serena said calmly, pressing her heel into Lily’s abdomen, “and I’ll make you disappear. Nobody cares about a nobody like you. You think anyone will believe some cheap nanny?” Lily could barely breathe. But she crawled. One inch. Then another. Her hands shook. Her stomach burned. Her knees scraped against the marble / Chapter 12 / 30

Chapter 12 - THE DATA CENTER

Damien believed records were the same as truth.

Delete the files, burn the backups, and the past would disappear.

He was wrong.

Blackwood National’s primary data center sat beneath an old insurance building downtown. Damien entered with Warren Price’s stolen access card and ordered the night technicians to leave.

By the time police arrived, smoke was pouring from the server room.

Victor stayed at the lake house with Ethan. Lily refused to leave the child, but she helped Quinn by phone.

“Rosa said Warren kept paper copies,” Lily remembered. “He didn’t trust digital storage.”

“Where?” Quinn asked.

Lily pictured the mansion office. Warren had once become angry when she moved a brass model of the Chicago skyline while dusting.

“The model,” she said. “His desk had a metal skyline. Check the tallest building.”

Marco opened the model and found a tiny key.

It fit a locked cabinet behind the library fireplace.

Inside were ledgers, transfer sheets, and signed instructions from Serena, Damien, August, and Warren. There were also payment records connected to judges, inspectors, and two city officials.

The conspiracy was larger than anyone expected.

At the data center, firefighters contained the blaze. Damien escaped through a maintenance tunnel, but he left something behind: a phone with a live map.

One marker blinked at the Blackwood mansion.

Another blinked at the hospital.

A third moved toward Lake Geneva.

“He has three teams,” Quinn said. “He’s not running. He’s attacking everyone at once.”

Victor looked at Ethan asleep in Lily’s arms.

“He wants the ledgers.”

“No,” Lily said. “He knows the police have them. He wants the people who can explain them.”

Rosa was at the hospital.

August Montigue was at the mansion under guard.