“Daddy!” A seven-year-old girl screamed as she ran across the orphanage, threw her arms around the most feared man in Chicago, and refused to let go. Everyone stared in disbelief because the man she was calling her father was a powerful mafia boss whose only daughter had vanished six years earlier. Then he opened her intake file and discovered the little girl wasn’t mistaken, and someone he trusted had known the truth all along.

Three beautiful months passed since the violent night at the warehouse.

I had officially stepped down from my dangerous position as the head of the syndicate.

I handed the criminal empire over to a younger, trusted lieutenant who respected the old laws.

I moved my family to a heavily fortified, sun-drenched estate on the quiet coast of Italy.

Alina was finally smiling again, her dark bruises completely faded into distant memories.

Sophia was thriving in her new private school, catching up on the childhood she had been brutally denied.

We spent our evenings walking along the beautiful private beach, watching the golden sunsets together.

I had finally found the absolute peace that I had desperately searched for my entire life.

I was no longer the feared mafia boss, just a loving husband and a fiercely protective father.

One quiet Sunday morning, I walked out to the front gates to retrieve the daily newspaper.

A small, elegant black wooden box was sitting perfectly centered on the marble pillar.

I carefully opened the heavy lid, finding a silver coin stamped with a Russian syndicate crest.

Beneath the coin was a perfectly typed note written on expensive stationary.

When my newborn 'passed away,' my mother-in-law leaned in and said

My Husband Left Me Alone in My Car While I Was in Labor

“You’re Dead When We Get Home,” He Snapped

"Matteo was only a pawn in a much larger game, Marco."

"Enjoy your brief vacation, because the real war has just begun."

Chapter 10 - The Unfinished Game