Ten days. That was all the doctor believed my six-year-old twins had left, and for the first time in my life, all the money, guns, fear, and power I had built as one of Chicago’s most feared mafia bosses meant absolutely nothing. By three that afternoon, while death waited inside my mansion, a penniless woman stood outside my gates refusing to leave, and I had no idea she was about to change everything.

I threw the cell phone onto the dashboard and pushed the heavy SUV to its absolute maximum speed.

The dark city streets of Chicago blurred past the windows as I drove like a complete madman.

Elara sat quietly in the passenger seat, loading fresh magazines into her weapons with mechanical precision.

I tried calling Dr. Yates on the emergency encrypted channel, but the line returned nothing but dead static.

I silently prayed to a God I had long ignored, begging for just a little more time.

We reached the Mercer estate and found the massive iron gates completely blown off their hinges.

The beautiful front lawn was littered with the bodies of my loyal men and Volkov's mercenaries.

I drove the SUV straight through the ruined front doors, crashing into the grand foyer.

We jumped out of the smoking vehicle and immediately opened fire on the Volkov men guarding the stairs.

The sheer ferocity of our assault overwhelmed them, and we quickly cleared a path to the basement.

We rushed down the spiral staircase, stepping over the debris from the earlier suicide blast.

The heavy steel blast doors of the medical wing were wide open, confirming my absolute worst fears.

I entered the sterile white hallway with my assault rifle raised and my finger tight on the trigger.

Lying in a massive pool of blood near the entrance was the lifeless body of Prescott Hale.

I felt a sharp pang of sorrow, despite his unforgivable betrayal, but I kept moving forward.

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

We reached the observation glass outside the twins' isolation room and froze in our tracks.

Viktor Volkov was standing inside the sterile chamber, holding a silver handgun directly to Dr. Yates's head.

Chapter 7 - The Race Home