"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 16 / 30

Chapter 16 - THE MAN ABOVE SERENA

Warren’s warning changed everything.

If Serena had not ordered Amelia’s death, someone else had.

Victor wanted to go to the church. Quinn wanted time to surround it. Lily wanted him to stop letting guilty people choose the rules.

“Damien asked for the ledgers because he doesn’t know what they contain,” she said. “Send copies. Keep the originals.”

Quinn placed a tracker inside a duplicate case. Victor entered the abandoned church wearing a wire while officers moved through neighboring buildings.

Damien waited near the altar.

Warren sat tied in the first pew.

“Who ordered the crash?” Victor asked.

Damien smiled. “Still asking the wrong question.”

Warren shouted, “August Montigue!”

Damien struck him across the mouth.

Victor understood. Amelia had discovered the bank’s laundering operation. Serena helped cover it up, but her father made the final decision.

August had sacrificed Victor’s wife to protect his bank.

Damien opened the case and found the copied ledgers. “You always did believe paper could save you.”

“No,” Victor said. “People save people.”

Police lights flooded the broken windows.

Damien grabbed Warren and dragged him toward a side door. Victor followed. The chase ended in the bell tower, where rotten stairs shook beneath their weight.

Damien slipped near the top and caught a railing with one hand.

Victor could have walked away.

Instead, he grabbed his brother’s wrist.

Damien stared at him. “After everything?”

“I’m not letting you turn me into you.”

Officers pulled Damien to safety and arrested him.

Warren began naming everyone involved.

But when Quinn called the mansion to arrest August Montigue, the guards gave terrible news.