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The heavy air in the kitchen hung thick with the ghosts of a life Dominic Russo had buried a year and two months ago. Standing in the doorway, his hand slowly slipped away from the Sig Sauer, his knuckles whitening against the checkered grip before he forced his fingers to uncurl. Fourteen months of silence. Fourteen months of walking through a multi-million-dollar tomb on the Long Island Sound where his daughters—his triplets, Lucia, Valentina, and Mia—existed like hollowed-out porcelain dolls. No tears, no tantrums, no laughter. Just breathing shells of children traumatized the night a sniper's bullet took Isabella. / Chapter 7 / 8

Chapter 7 - The Ledger’s Price

Elena stepped out of the panic room, her face pale but her eyes blazing with fierce determination. Behind her, the triplets clung to the hem of her sweater, wide-eyed but safe.

"Is it over?" Elena whispered, looking at the bodies sprawled across the kitchen floor.

"For these three, yes," Dominic said, stepping over a fallen tactical vest to inspect the dead men's comms units. A static-heavy voice was still squawking from one of the radio earpieces on the floor: Alpha team, report in! Status on the target?

Dominic picked up the radio, his voice a cold, razor-sharp growl. "Alpha team is currently indisposed. If you want the girl, and if you want the ledger, send your real hitters. Tell Don Lupertazzi his cemetery plot is already dug."

He crushed the radio beneath his boot heel, smashing the plastic casing into pieces.

Elena stared at him, a mixture of awe and terror washing over her features. "You just declared open war on the most powerful syndicate on the East Coast."

"They declared war the moment they stepped foot on my property," Dominic replied coldly, turning his intense gaze toward her. "And you—you knew damn well what you were carrying when you took this job. Why come here? Why bring a target to my children?"

Elena didn't shrink back. She reached into her canvas tote bag, pulling out a heavy, encrypted flash drive encased in titanium. She held it out toward him, her hand steady.

"Because Arthur Sterling knew you were the only man powerful enough, and ruthless enough, to use this data to burn the syndicate to the ground," Elena said, her voice trembling slightly with emotion. "I didn't come here to use your kids, Dominic. I came here because this house was the only place in New York the Lupertazzi family was too terrified to touch. Until today."

Dominic looked at the flash drive in her outstretched hand, then up into her hazel eyes. The cold, paranoid monster who had ruled his criminal empire with an iron fist suddenly felt a strange, unfamiliar warmth blooming in his chest.

He reached out, taking the drive from her fingers. "Pack your bags, Elena."

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Her face fell. "What?"

"We're leaving," Dominic said, walking over to scoop little Mia into his arms while gesturing for Lucia and Valentina to follow. "My safe house in the Adirondacks. If we're going to wage a war, we do it on our terms."

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