“UNCLE DOM! MOMMY SAID THE LITTLE BOY IS OUR SECRET!”

Daisy’s tiny voice echoed through the abandoned mansion.

My father stood at the top of the basement staircase, smiling as if he had invited us to an ordinary family dinner.

But somewhere below us, Emily was screaming my name.

And a child was crying.

I had spent five years believing my sister was lost forever.

Now she was only a few feet away.

And my own father was standing between us.

“Move,” I said.

Vittorio shook his head.

“Still impatient, Dominic. That’s why Marcus was so useful. He knew how to keep you occupied.”

I felt rage rising inside me.

“For eleven years, you’ve been manipulating my life.”

“Guiding it,” he corrected.

“You made me believe you were dead.”

“A necessary sacrifice.”

“You let me believe Emily abandoned me.”

His smile disappeared.

“Emily made her choice.”

I stepped closer.

“And now I’m making mine.”

Before he could react, the mansion’s emergency lights switched on.

Antonio’s voice rang through the hidden earpiece beneath my collar.

“Boss, we have the lower exits secured.”

My father’s expression hardened.

“You brought soldiers?”

I smiled faintly.

“You taught me never to enter an enemy’s house without a way out.”

Then I heard the sound of footsteps outside.

A second group of armed men had arrived.

My father looked toward the windows and laughed.

“You were always clever, Dominic.”

He paused.

“Just never clever enough.”

The front doors opened.

A tall man in a charcoal coat entered the hall.

Black hair.

Cold blue eyes.

A dragon tattoo visible beneath his cuff.

Adrian Moretti.

The man named on Daisy’s birth certificate.

The man I had considered my enemy for years.

He looked directly at me.

“Put the child down, Romano.”

I tightened my hold on Daisy.

“Not happening.”

Adrian’s gaze shifted toward her.

Something in his expression softened immediately.

“Princess.”

Daisy gasped.

“DADDYYYY!”

She reached both arms toward him.

But when she noticed my expression, she hesitated.

“Uncle Teddy mad?”

I looked at Adrian.

“You knew my sister was alive.”

“Yes.”

“You knew she had a daughter.”

“Yes.”

“And you let me spend five years searching for her?”

His jaw tightened.

“Your sister begged me not to contact you.”

“Why?”

“Because the person feeding information to your father was inside your organization.”

Marcus.

Everything came together.

The failed searches.

The anonymous warnings.

The reports that always arrived too late.

Marcus hadn’t been helping me find Emily.

He had been making sure I never did.

My father suddenly began laughing.

“How touching. Two rival bosses discovering they have something in common.”

Adrian ignored him.

“Where is Emily?”

Vittorio gestured toward the basement.

“Downstairs.”

I looked at Adrian.

“If you’re lying to me—”

“I’m not.”

For a moment, neither of us moved.

Then Daisy raised her pink toy microphone.

“STOP FIGHTING!”

Both of us looked down.

She frowned with all the authority a two-year-old could possibly possess.

“Mommy says big boys use nice words!”

Adrian closed his eyes.

I almost laughed.

And somehow, that ridiculous little interruption gave us the second we needed.

Antonio entered through the side corridor with two guards.

My father’s men, discovering that their exits were blocked, lowered their weapons.

Vittorio tried to retreat.

Adrian caught his arm.

“Not this time.”

I hurried downstairs.

The basement smelled of dust and old wood.

At the far end stood a heavy metal door.

“Emily!”

A weak voice answered.

“Dom?”

My knees nearly gave way.

“Emily, it’s me!”

The lock required a six-digit code.

Daisy leaned toward the keypad.

“Mommy’s happy number!”

“What number, sweetheart?”

She held up two fingers.

“Two!”

Then three.

“Three!”

Then she began giggling.

I stared at her.

“Daisy, this isn’t a game.”

She pointed at the keypad.

“Mommy say Teddy birthday!”

My birthday.

February twenty-third.

0223.

But there were six digits.

Emily’s birthday was June seventeenth.

I entered 022317.

The lock clicked.

I pulled the door open.

And there she was.

Emily.

My sister.

Older.

Exhausted.

But alive.

She rushed toward me.

For the first time since I became head of the Romano family, I forgot about power, reputation, and the men waiting for my orders.

I was eight years old again.

I wrapped my arms around my sister and held her as tightly as I could.

“You came back,” I whispered.

Emily began crying.

“I never stopped trying, Dom.”

Daisy stretched both arms toward her.

“MOMMYYYY!”

Emily took her daughter and covered her rosy cheeks with kisses.

“My brave baby. My beautiful, brave baby.”

Then I noticed the little boy.

He was sitting on a narrow mattress beneath a blanket.

Dark hair.

Gray eyes.

Perhaps four years old.

He looked at me with an expression that was strangely familiar.

“Emily,” I whispered. “Who is he?”

She looked frightened.

“Dominic, please listen carefully.”

The little boy stood.

“Are you Mister Teddy?”

I couldn’t speak.

He stepped closer and held out a small wooden toy.

A carved bear.

Just like the one our grandfather had made for me when I was a child.

Emily took a shaky breath.

“His name is Nicholas.”

I looked from the boy to my sister.

“Is he yours?”

She shook her head.

“No.”

“Adrian’s?”

“No.”

“Then whose child is he?”

Emily’s eyes filled with tears.

“Dominic…”

She reached for my hand.

“Nicholas is your son.”

Everything went silent.

I stared at the little boy.

“That’s impossible.”

Emily shook her head.

“I know what you were told.”

My voice cracked.

“What are you talking about?”

She looked toward the open door.

“Four years ago, you were told that Sofia and the baby hadn’t survived the accident.”

My legs weakened.

Sofia.

The woman I had planned to marry.

The woman whose loss had turned me into the cold, ruthless man everyone feared.

I had buried an empty coffin because the hospital claimed there had been nothing left to recover.

Emily squeezed my hand.

“The accident was staged, Dominic.”

I couldn’t breathe.

“Where is Sofia?”

My sister began crying harder.

“She’s alive.”

I felt my entire world tilt.

“Where?”

Emily looked toward the staircase.

“She was the woman who screamed backstage tonight.”

I stared at her.

“And Marcus took her before you reached the stage.”

For several seconds, I couldn’t move.

Then the little boy walked up to me.

He raised both arms.

“Uppies, Daddy?”

I dropped to my knees.

My hands were trembling so badly that I could barely lift him.

He wrapped his small arms around my neck.

And whispered:

“Mommy said you were coming.”

I held my son against my chest.

Tears blurred my vision.

For four years, I had mourned a family that had never truly disappeared.

But before I could ask another question, Antonio’s voice crackled through my earpiece.

“Boss, Marcus escaped.”

I went still.

Antonio continued.

“And he just sent us a video.”

My phone vibrated.

On the screen was Sofia.

Alive.

Sitting in a locked room with tears streaming down her face.

Marcus stood behind her.

He looked directly into the camera.

“Congratulations, Dominic. You found your son.”

Then he smiled.

“Now you have one hour to decide whether his mother gets to come home.”

The video ended.

I looked at Nicholas.

He was playing with my teddy-bear pin.

“Daddy,” he whispered, “Mommy needs you.”

I kissed his forehead.

And for the first time in four years, I allowed myself to believe something I had been too afraid to imagine.

My family could still be whole.

But first, I had to bring Sofia home.