HE PAID ME $10,000 A WEEK TO KEEP HIM ALIVE IN THE DARK, BUT OPENING HIS CURTAINS UNCOVERED A DEADLY SECRET THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

Russo dragged himself through the side exit into the freezing rain of the shipyard, clutching a bleeding shoulder, his vision still blurred from the flashbang detonation.

He reached his armored SUV, his trembling hand grabbing the door handle—

CLACK.

The cold muzzle of a Colt .45 pressed firmly against the base of Russo’s skull.

Russo froze, the rain soaking his expensive coat. "Liam... wait. Listen to me. We can split the city. Fifty-fifty. Everything from the docks to O'Hare..."

"Elena was nineteen years old, Victor," Liam whispered into the freezing wind, his voice utterly devoid of mercy. "She had her whole life ahead of her."

"It was business, Liam! Just business!" Russo begged, his teeth chattering in pure, unadulterated terror.

"This is business too," Liam said softly.

A single gunshot echoed out over the dark waters of Lake Michigan, swallowed entirely by the roar of the thunder.

Liam lowered his weapon, standing alone in the pouring rain. He closed his eyes, tilting his face up toward the storm clouds, letting the icy water wash away the blood, the cordite, and three years of suffocating darkness.

Across the city, high above the clouds, a private medical jet climbed steeply into the night sky, carrying Tommy toward Zurich and a second chance at life.