THE MAFIA BOSS'S BROKEN VOWS

I didn't stop running until my lungs burned and we reached the safety of the estate's underground garage. Leo was exhausted, crying quietly against my shoulder as I carried him the last few blocks.

The security guards rushed out to meet us, ushering us up into the main house.

We burst through the kitchen doors and into the grand foyer.

Allison and Adrian were pacing near the staircase. When Adrian saw the little boy in my arms, he collapsed onto his knees, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Leo! Oh, God, Leo!"

I set the boy down, and he ran to his father. They clung to each other on the marble floor.

Allison stood a few feet away, her arms wrapped around herself. I saw the conflict raging in her eyes. This child was the living proof of her husband's ultimate betrayal. But when Leo looked over his father's shoulder, sniffling, and met Allison's eyes, her expression softened. She stepped forward, kneeling down, and gently touched the boy's cheek.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" she asked softly.

Leo nodded.

Just then, the front doors blew open.

Luca strode in. His suit jacket was gone, his white shirt stained with soot and blood, but he was alive. His men followed closely behind him.

"The Falcones at the warehouse are handled," Luca announced, wiping a streak of ash from his forehead.

Adrian looked up, his face stained with tears. "Luca... thank you. I don't deserve this. I know what I have to do. I'll leave tonight. I'll take Leo and disappear."

"You're not going anywhere, Adrian," Luca said coldly.

He walked over to the wine cellar doors and signaled a guard. The heavy locks were undone, and Vanessa and Marcus were dragged back into the light. They looked pathetic, stripped of their power and arrogance.

"Your men are dead," Luca told Marcus. "Your leverage is gone. And tomorrow morning, the heads of the Five Families will receive all the files detailing how you tried to orchestrate a hit at a sanctioned wedding."

Marcus paled. In their world, breaking the sanctity of a wedding meant immediate excommunication. The Falcones would be hunted down by every family in the country.

"Please," Vanessa begged, falling to her knees. "Luca, I loved you. Parts of it were real. Please, let me go."

Luca looked down at her. "You humiliated an innocent woman in my home. You threatened a child's life. You plotted to kill me. You have exactly one hour to leave this city before I stop protecting you from the other families."

He gestured to the door. "Get out."

Vanessa scrambled to her feet. She didn't look back as she and her father fled into the night, their empire entirely destroyed in a single evening.