THE MAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH

The radio static hissed in the silent kitchen, snapping us out of the shock of the birth certificate.

Silas.

Marco’s old mentor. The massive, scarred enforcer who had saved our lives in the dining room just three days ago by taking down Daniel. He was Luca’s most loyal general.

Answer one: Silas wasn't here to protect us. Ramming the barricade meant he was here on official, hostile Syndicate business.

Open two: Why would Silas turn on Luca? And how did the Syndicate know where the private safehouse was located?

"Natalie, grab Leo," Luca commanded, his voice cold and precise. He didn't panic. He moved with lethal efficiency, chambering a round into his pistol. "Take him to the panic room behind the wine cellar. Do not come out unless I give you the code word."

"Luca, what is happening?" I cried, scooping a confused Leo into my arms.

"Silas is the old guard," Luca said, his jaw locked tight. "If Vanessa sent this birth certificate to me, she definitely sent a copy to the Commission in Chicago. The old men know Marco has a living heir."

I felt the blood drain from my face. "They want to take him."

"Syndicate law dictates the firstborn male heir must be raised in the Family. By the Family," Luca said, his eyes darkening. "They view you as an outsider, Natalie. A maid. To them, leaving Leo with you is an insult to my brother’s legacy."

"He's my son!" I sobbed, holding Leo so tightly the boy whined in protest. "I raised him! I fed him when he was sick! They can't just take him!"

"They won't," Luca promised, stepping between me and the hallway. "Go. Now."

I ran.

I carried Leo down the long hallway, my bare feet slapping against the hardwood floor. I reached the wine cellar, pulled the hidden latch behind the vintage Bordeaux rack, and slipped into the reinforced steel panic room. The heavy door hissed shut, locking us in absolute darkness before the dim emergency lights flickered on.

I pulled Leo onto my lap on the small cot, burying my face in his hair, listening to my own ragged breathing.

Upstairs, the heavy oak front door was kicked open.

The sound echoed through the ventilation shafts.

"Luca!" Silas’s gravelly voice boomed through the house. "Tell your guards to stand down! I didn't come here to start a war with you!"

"You rammed my gate, Silas," Luca’s voice echoed back, calm but dripping with menace. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't put a bullet in your chest right now."

I strained my ears, clutching Leo tighter.

"Because I'm trying to save your life," Silas replied.

Reversal: Silas hadn't come to kidnap Leo on behalf of the Commission. He had gone rogue to warn his boss.

"The Commission held an emergency vote at midnight," Silas continued, his heavy boots pacing across the hardwood. "Vanessa's lawyer delivered the birth certificate. The old men demanded you bring the boy back to Chicago to be raised by the Don of the West Side. When you didn't answer their calls, they voted you out, Luca. They stripped your title."

"I don't care about the title," Luca sneered. "I care about my family."

"Then you need to run," Silas urged, the tough enforcer sounding genuinely terrified. "They didn't just vote you out. They put a hit on you, Luca. A ten-million-dollar bounty on your head, and another five for the girl. They want you dead so they can take the boy without a custody war."

Tears streamed down my face in the dark panic room. Five million dollars for my head. I was just a housemaid a week ago.

"Let them come," Luca said coldly. "My men can hold this house."

"Your men can't hold against the man they sent," Silas shot back.

Cliffhanger: Silas dropped something heavy onto the kitchen island. It sounded like a thick, metal lockbox.

"I intercepted the Commission's payment drop an hour ago," Silas said. "I found out who accepted the contract to kill you, Luca. It's the same man who convinced the Commission to put the hit on you in the first place. The man who orchestrated Vanessa's downfall just to clear his own path."