"The Maid Congratulated His Fia.ncée .— The Mafia Boss Saw Her Tears

Matteo stared at his phone screen.

The color drained entirely from his face.

"Boss," Luca said urgently, checking his own encrypted radio. "The safe houses in South Philly are burning. Federal strike teams are hitting every warehouse we own."

"That's impossible," Matteo muttered. "The raids weren't scheduled for another week."

Vance laughed weakly from his bindings against the pillar.

"You underestimated the Bureau, Matteo. I set a dead-man switch. The moment my biometric tracker flatlined or lost connection for more than six hours, the entire federal dossier auto-uploaded to the Department of Justice."

I stepped backward, my heart hammering against my ribs.

"Wait... if the FBI is raiding everything... who sent that text message?"

I pulled out my own phone.

The screen lit up with a new photograph.

It wasn't Vance.

It wasn't Matteo.

It was Richard Collins.

My former manager at Bellaforte.

Standing inside my small, rundown South Philadelphia apartment.

Holding my mother's silver pendant in his bare hand.

Beneath the photo was a message:

You forgot something at home, Tessa. Come back alone, or your apartment burns with everything inside it.

"Richard?" I whispered in disbelief. "My manager is part of this?"

Matteo’s eyes flashed with pure fury.

"Richard Collins isn't a restaurant manager," Matteo hissed. "He’s Vance's chief cleaner."

Vance smiled, blood staining his teeth.

"Richard has been keeping an eye on you for three years, Tessa. Waiting for you to stumble upon your mother's journals. And you walked right into his trap."

Matteo turned to Luca.

"Get the cars ready."

"Boss, every federal unit in the city is blockading the bridges," Luca protested. "We can't get back to South Philly without walking into a blockade."

"I don't care about the blockade," Matteo snarled, grabbing his shotgun and chambering a slug. "They have Tessa's apartment surrounded."

He looked at me.

His dark eyes held no arrogance now.

Only fierce, unshakable determination.

"Tessa. Listen to me very carefully."

"I'm listening."

"Richard is going to kill you the moment you walk through that door. He wants the journals."

I looked down at the battered leather briefcase in my hand.

"Then I won't go alone."

Matteo stared at me for a second, then a grim, dangerous smile touched the corner of his mouth.