Three days before my wedding, I was supposed to be finalizing a marriage that would nearly double my criminal empire, but a crumpled medical bill from my maid changed the direction of my night. By 4:11 the next morning, instead of thinking about power, money, or my future wife, I was ordering my lieutenant to find the home of a woman whose private life had never mattered to me before.

The sight of Mara holding a live grenade completely froze every man in the warehouse.

Even Vanessa stepped backward, dropping her arrogant smirk as genuine fear flashed in her eyes.

I knew the fuse on a standard fragmentation grenade was only a few seconds long.

Mara was keeping the spoon depressed with her trembling hand, holding the explosion at bay.

If one of those nervous gunmen shot her, her grip would fail, and everyone would die.

I had to change the dynamic of the room instantly before someone made a fatal mistake.

I stepped out from the shadows on the catwalk, making myself fully visible to the crowd below.

I loudly racked the bolt of my rifle, drawing every gun barrel away from Mara and directly toward me.

I told Vanessa that her war was with me, not with the innocent woman and child.

Vanessa laughed nervously, demanding her men to shoot me off the catwalk immediately.

I warned them that the building was rigged with explosive charges, controlled by a dead-man's switch in my pocket.

It was a complete bluff, but in the mafia world, reputation was everything, and they believed my ruthlessness.

I slowly walked down the metal stairs, keeping my rifle aimed directly at Vanessa’s chest.

I instructed Mara to keep her hand tightly squeezed around the grenade and to stay completely still.

I reached the ground floor and kicked the weapons away from the two closest guards.

Vanessa glared at me, spitting insults about how weak I had become for caring about a maid.

She proclaimed that the Marino family would rule the city and erase the Russo name from history tonight.

She raised her pistol, pointing it squarely at my head, daring me to press my imaginary detonator.

I stared back at her coldly, realizing she was willing to die just to prove she was stronger.

I reached into my pocket, pretending to grip the switch, and closed my eyes for a fraction of a second.

Vanessa sneered and pulled the trigger of her gun, but instead of a gunshot, there was only a hollow click.

She pulled it again and again in blind panic, realizing the firing pin had been secretly removed.

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The head enforcer next to her slowly lowered his weapon and stepped away from her side.

He looked at me, nodded respectfully, and revealed that the Marino family bosses had never actually authorized her childish war.

Chapter 9 - The Broken Detonator