The neon sign outside Bella Rosa Trattoria hummed softly against the wet pavement as Pamela packed her worn leather purse. The silver-embossed card in her apron pocket felt like a piece of burning coal against her thigh.

BANG!

The body of Richard Vance fell forward into the freezing waters of Lake Michigan, swallowed instantly by the black waves.

Roman didn't watch him sink. He stepped onto the speedboat, giving Donovan a curt nod. The engines roared to life, casting dual plumes of white water into the night as the vessel sliced through the waves, leaving the burning Voss estate behind.

In the cabin below deck, Pamela sat wrapped in heavy wool blankets, holding her three children close. The adrenaline that had carried her through the night was beginning to fade, leaving her trembling uncontrollably.

Roman entered the cabin, wiping blood from a minor scrape on his jaw with a handkerchief. He sat down across from her, his long legs stretching across the small space.

"It's over," Roman said quietly. "My men have wiped every digital trace of your existence from the state databases. Pamela Hayes, the waitress at Bella Rosa, no longer exists."

Pamela looked down at the three sleeping children in her lap. "And what about them? What about Leo, Julian, and Sofia?"

"They are safe," Roman replied. "We are heading to a private airstrip in Wisconsin. A plane is waiting to take us to a private island off the coast of Greece. No FBI. No Chicago mob. No past."

Pamela stayed quiet for a long moment, listening to the hum of the boat's powerful engines.

"Why didn't you leave me behind, Roman?" she asked, looking up at him with clear, searching eyes. "You could have taken the babies and run. You didn't need me."

Roman looked at her—really looked at her—not as a waitress in a stained apron, not as an incubator, but as the woman who had held his children when the whole world was falling apart.

"I spent fourteen months thinking I was raising Elena's children," Roman said softly, reaching out to cover her hand with his own. "I gave them a house, money, security guards... but I couldn't give them a mother. Tonight, when you picked up that bear... I saw my children breathe for the first time in their lives. I'm a man built on blood and power, Pamela. But those children need a soul. They need you."

Pamela felt a warmth bloom in her chest that she hadn't felt since the day she woke up in that cold hospital room.