The maid’s three-year-old daughter knocked the cake from a mafia boss’s son’s hands just before he took a bite—then she revealed the man who had poisoned it was someone the family trusted most.

The blast of automatic fire echoed from the vents above. Sophia’s heart slammed against her ribs like a trapped bird.

"Mommy!" Lily cried out, her small hands clutching Sophia’s collar so hard her knuckles turned white.

"I've got you, baby, I've got you," Sophia whispered desperately, dropping to her knees to keep a low profile against the concrete wall.

"This way!" Ethan yelled, grabbing Sophia’s sleeve with surprising strength. The eight-year-old boy wasn't crying anymore. The fear that had paralyzed him earlier was replaced by an instinct honed from years of living in the Moretti fortress. "The wine cellar passage! Come on!"

Dante fired two rapid shots down the narrow corridor where Julian had vanished. Sparks flew off the steel conduit pipes, followed by a curse and the sound of a heavy steel hatch slamming shut. Julian had sealed himself into the maintenance vents.

"Dante!" Victor yelled from the elevator door, firing three controlled bursts through the reinforced elevator shaft as bullet holes punched through the steel doors from the outside. "They’re in the foyer! Castellano’s men! Julian let them through the service gates!"

Dante turned toward Sophia and Ethan, his face illuminated by the pulsing red emergency beacons. He sprinted over, grabbing Ethan by the shoulder and pulling Sophia to her feet.

"Listen to me," Dante commanded, his voice slicing through the chaos with absolute authority. "The cellar tunnel leads to the boat house by the bay. There is an armored runabout tied to the dock. Take the kids and run. Do not look back. Do not stop for anyone."

"What about you?" Sophia cried over the deafening rattle of gunfire upstairs. "You can't fight an army by yourself!"

"This is my house," Dante said, slamming a fresh magazine into his pistol with a brutal snap. "And every man who breached my door is going to die here. Ethan, take Sophia’s hand. You know the keypad code for the cellar door?"

"Zero-nine-one-four," Ethan said instantly. "Mother's birthday."

"Good boy," Dante said, his hand briefly cupping the back of his son's head. "Go. Now!"

Dante shoved them toward the heavy blast door at the rear of the vault, turning back just as the elevator doors groaned and buckled under a heavy breach charge.

*BOOM!*

The concussive wave knocked Sophia off balance, but she caught herself against the brick wall. Shrapnel and concrete dust billowed into the vault. Dante didn't flinch; he raised his weapon and opened fire into the smoke, engaging three heavily armed mercenaries who tumbled out of the ruined lift.

"Run!" Ethan screamed, pulling Sophia through the narrow brick corridor.

Sophia sprinted, holding Lily against her chest with one arm while Ethan guided her with the other. The passage was narrow, wet, and smelled of centuries-old brick and damp moss. Overhead, the floorboards of the manor shook with the ferocious gun battle unfolding above.

Lily buried her head in Sophia’s neck, whimpering softly. "Mommy, the bad man is coming. I smell him."

Sophia froze in the dim corridor, halfway toward the cellar exit. "What did you say, Lily?"