For two exhausting hours, the Mafia boss’s triplets screamed while nannies, doctors, and expensive specialists tried everything. Nothing worked. Then four-year-old Sophie, the maid’s quiet daughter, wandered into the nursery carrying an old cloth doll. Within minutes, all three children became completely silent. Everyone assumed Sophie had somehow comforted them—until she tilted the doll in her lap. Click. The strange sound made her face change instantly. What she discovered next revealed why the triplets had really been crying.

My bullets struck three of the mercenaries before they could even open their eyes.

Dante fought through his agonizing shoulder pain and fired with his left hand, taking down two more.

The tunnel was filled with the deafening roar of gunfire and the agonizing screech of the sonic device.

Victor stumbled backward blindly, desperately reaching for a weapon on the ground.

I sprinted forward and kicked the assault rifle away from his grasping hands.

I grabbed Victor by the collar of his expensive coat and slammed him violently against the concrete wall.

He coughed up blood but still managed to grin at me through broken teeth.

"You are too late, Adrien," Victor wheezed, his eyes filled with madness.

He pulled back his sleeve to reveal a blinking dead-man's switch strapped tightly to his wrist.

"I wired the mansion's main gas line to a remote detonator," he laughed crazily.

Before I could stop his hand, his thumb pressed down hard on the heavy trigger.

A massive, earth-shattering explosion rocked the ground directly above our heads.

The entire estate was instantly consumed by a catastrophic fireball.

The sheer force of the blast cracked the ceiling of the concrete tunnel, sending massive chunks of debris raining down.

A heavy stone beam collapsed directly between me and Victor, separating us completely.

Flames began pouring into the tunnel from the ventilation shafts, rapidly consuming the remaining oxygen.

"Adrien, the roof is caving in!" Dante yelled, dragging Elena and the children toward the exit.

I looked through the rubble at Victor, who was now trapped beneath a massive pile of burning concrete.

He wasn't laughing anymore.

I turned my back on my former mentor and sprinted desperately toward the cold night air.

I tackled Dante and Elena out of the tunnel exit just as the entire subterranean structure violently collapsed behind us.

We tumbled down the muddy embankment into the dark forest, completely surrounded by falling ash.

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

I scrambled to my feet, frantically searching the darkness for my children.

But as the smoke began to clear, I realized someone was missing.

Chapter 8 - The Tunnel of Fire