Part 2: I never told my Mafia ex-husband about my triplets. Then one of my sons pointed at him across a Manhattan ballroom and asked, “Is that our dad?”

The lights throughout the estate cut out at precisely 3:15 AM.

The silence of the country night was shattered by the distant thrum of heavy helicopter blades beating against the low cloud cover.

I stood in the underground vault, holding Liam, Noah, and Caleb close to my chest. The boys were wide awake now, clutching the soft blankets Mrs. Higgins had provided.

“Mommy, is Daddy outside?” Liam asked softly in the dark.

“Yes, baby,” I whispered, keeping my fingers wrapped firmly around the grip of the revolver tucked inside my sweater pocket.

“Is he going to beat the monsters?” Caleb snuffled, wiping his nose against my arm.

“He is the king of the monsters, sweetheart,” I said softly, realizing with absolute clarity that for the first time in my life, Gabriel’s terrifying reputation was the only thing standing between my children and death. “Nothing can hurt him.”

Above our heads, the battle began.

The muffled concussions of grenade blasts shook dust from the stone ceiling. Rhythmic bursts of heavy rifle fire echoed through the mansion’s ventilation shafts. Screams, curses, and the sound of breaking glass drifted down through the stone foundation.

Ten minutes felt like ten centuries.

Suddenly, footsteps pounded down the stone steps leading into the cellar.

Heavy. Hurried. Irregular.

I shoved the boys behind a stack of wooden crates, stepped forward into the center of the vault room, and raised the chrome revolver with both hands, pointing it straight at the heavy wooden entrance.

The latch rattled.

The door was kicked open.

A man staggered into the doorway, bathed in the dim moonlight filtering down the stairs. It wasn't Gabriel.

It was Victor—Gabriel’s cousin. His suit was rumpled, a bloody cut slashed across his forehead, and in his right hand, he held a heavy Beretta.

“Claire?” Victor gasped, his eyes wild with desperation. “Thank God. Where are the boys? Vincente’s men have overrun the second floor! Gabriel is down! I have to take the kids out through the tunnel!”