The mansion plunged into darkness.

A second later, gunfire erupted outside.

“DOWN!”

Dante grabbed my waist and pulled me behind a marble pillar.

Orion positioned himself directly in front of us, his massive body trembling with fury.

Footsteps thundered through the corridor.

“Boss!” a guard shouted. “The east gate has been breached!”

Dante drew his phone.

“Lock down the property. Nobody leaves.”

Then he looked at me.

“Olivia, stay behind me.”

I shook my head.

“No.”

His eyes narrowed.

“This isn’t a negotiation.”

“My mother is alive, and those numbers mean something. I’m not hiding while someone else decides what happens to her.”

For a moment, Dante looked furious.

Then Orion barked sharply.

Dante glanced at him.

“Apparently, I’m outnumbered.”

Despite everything, I almost smiled.

We moved through the darkened mansion toward the basement.

Orion led the way.

At the bottom of the staircase, we found a heavy steel door marked with a small brass number.

217.

My heart stopped.

“This is it.”

Dante stared at the door.

“I’ve owned this house for eleven years. I’ve never seen that number.”

I touched the brass plate.

It moved.

Behind it was a tiny keyhole.

I remembered something my mother used to tell me.

“When you are lost, sweetheart, remember what hangs closest to your heart.”

My necklace.

The necklace that had disappeared.

Suddenly, I understood why someone had stolen it.

“It wasn’t just jewelry,” I whispered.

“It was a key.”

Dante’s phone rang.

Victor Salvatore.

Dante answered on speaker.

“Victor.”

A familiar voice laughed softly.

“Hello, old friend.”

“Where is my sister?”

“Alive. For now.”

I clenched my fists.

“What do you want?”

Victor paused.

Then he said something unexpected.

“Olivia Marshall. I’ve been waiting eighteen years to hear your voice.”

My blood turned cold.

“Who are you?”

“The man who paid for your childhood.”

Dante’s expression darkened.

Victor continued.

“Your mother stole something from me. Something worth more than the entire Moretti empire.”

“What?”

“A ledger.”

Dante went still.

I looked at him.

“What ledger?”

He didn’t answer.

Victor laughed again.

“Ask Dante about the night his father disappeared. Ask him who inherited the money. Ask him why Isabella ran.”

The call ended.

I slowly turned toward Dante.

“Is there something you’re not telling me?”

His silence answered before his words did.

“My father was involved in something terrible,” he admitted. “Isabella discovered financial records connecting several powerful families to an international trafficking operation. She tried to expose them.”

“And Victor?”

“He helped my father hide it.”

I stared at him.

“Your father knew?”

Dante looked away.

“Yes.”

The truth struck me like a physical blow.

The family that had terrified New York for decades had also been responsible for destroying my childhood.

I backed away.

“You knew your family was involved?”

“I knew my father was corrupt. I didn’t know Isabella had a child.”

“Then why did you keep working with Victor?”

Dante’s face hardened.

“Because I was trying to find proof that would put him away.”

Before I could respond, Orion suddenly began barking at the ventilation shaft.

A faint metallic sound echoed inside.

Something dropped onto the floor.

A silver necklace.

My necklace.

Attached to it was a tiny folded note.

I opened it with trembling fingers.

Three words were written inside.

“TRUST THE DOG.”

Then a second line.

“THE TRAITOR WEARS BLUE.”

I looked up.

Dante was wearing black.

The guards outside wore black.

But the man standing at the bottom of the staircase…

The man who had escorted me into the mansion…

Was wearing a dark blue suit.

His name was Gabriel Ross.

Dante’s head of security.

His most trusted friend.

Gabriel slowly raised his pistol.

“Very clever, Olivia.”

Dante stepped in front of me.

“Gabriel.”

The man smiled.

“Sorry, boss. Victor pays better.”

He aimed directly at Dante.

“Give me the necklace.”

I gripped it tightly.

“No.”

Gabriel’s smile disappeared.

“Then I’ll take it.”

He stepped forward.

And Orion attacked.

The enormous dog launched himself at Gabriel’s arm, knocking the weapon aside.

A deafening shot struck the ceiling.

Dante lunged forward and wrestled Gabriel to the ground.

Within seconds, the traitor was disarmed.

But Orion had been injured.

Blood darkened the fur along his shoulder.

“No!” I screamed.

I dropped beside him.

“Orion! Sweetheart, look at me!”

His amber eyes slowly found mine.

His tail moved once.

Dante knelt beside us.

“Get the veterinarian. NOW!”

I pressed my hands gently against Orion’s wound, tears streaming down my face.

“Please don’t leave me.”

Dante placed his hand over mine.

“He won’t.”

But his voice shook.

For the first time, the most feared Mafia boss in New York looked genuinely terrified.

As the veterinarian’s team rushed inside, Gabriel began laughing from the floor.

“You still don’t understand, do you?”

Dante turned.

“What?”

Gabriel smiled through bloodied lips.

“Victor never wanted the ledger.”

I froze.

“Then what does he want?”

Gabriel looked directly at me.

“He wants the person who can open it.”

Dante’s face changed.

Gabriel continued.

“Olivia isn’t Isabella’s daughter.”

The room fell silent.

“She’s the daughter of the man your father betrayed.”

He laughed again.

“And Dante…”

His next words made my entire world collapse.

“Your father didn’t disappear eighteen years ago.”

Dante stood perfectly still.

Gabriel’s smile widened.

“He’s the one holding Isabella prisoner.”