The heavy mahogany door swung open without a sound.

He pulled a sleek matte-black weapon from his desk drawer, racking the slide with a sharp, terrifying CLACK.

Outside, the sounds of shattering glass, grenade detonations, and automatic gunfire filled the night air. The Ricci family had launched a full-scale military assault on Marcone Manor to rescue Valentina and erase every witness.

"Sophia! Go to the master suite, grab Lena, and go to the panic room behind the wine cellar!" Lorenzo ordered, grabbing her by her shoulders, his eyes fierce.

"No! I'm not leaving you!" Sophia cried out, grabbing his arm.

"Sophia, listen to me!" Lorenzo growled, his hand cupping the back of her neck, pulling her close. "My soldiers will hold the foyer. I need to know my heart is safe, and my heart is in that panic room with you and Lena! Do you understand me?!"

Sophia gasped, her dark eyes widening at his words. My heart.

"Go!" Lorenzo commanded, giving her a gentle push toward the back corridor.

Sophia ran. She burst into the master suite, scooped up a crying Lena into her arms, and sprinted down the narrow service stairs toward the basement.

Behind her, the manor echoed with the terrifying sounds of war.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Lorenzo stood at the top of the grand marble staircase, firing with deadly, precision accuracy down into the foyer. Four Ricci enforcers fell to the marble floor before they could even cross the threshold.

"Lorenzo!" a harsh, elderly voice boomed from the entrance.

Don Ricci—a sharp-faced, silver-haired man in a dark trench coat—stepped into the foyer, flanked by ten heavily armed Chicago mercenaries.

"Give me my daughter, Lorenzo!" Don Ricci shouted over the gunshots. "Give her to me, and I will let you walk away from this city alive!"

Lorenzo reloaded his weapon in a fluid, practiced motion, his eyes burning with absolute disdain.

"You poisoned my father, Ricci!" Lorenzo shouted back, his voice echoing through the grand hall like thunder. "You used your own daughter as a Trojan horse inside my house!"

"Vito was weak!" Ricci sneered. "He wanted to turn the Syndicate into a legitimate enterprise! He was going to destroy our profits!"