Three gold coins lay on the marble table when I told my maid’s three-year-old daughter she could have any three wishes she wanted. Ellie ignored every toy around her and asked only one question: “Why does Mommy have to say sorry when she didn’t do it?” The moment she said it, I stopped looking at the child and looked at my brother Dante.

I ripped the note off the floor, my blood boiling with an unimaginable, terrifying rage.

The handwritten message demanded that I bring the black ledger to the abandoned shipyard at midnight.

If I failed to show up alone, Dante promised to send Ellie back to us in small pieces.

Clara grabbed my bloody shirt, begging me on her knees to save her innocent daughter.

I looked her in the eyes and swore on my dead daughter's soul that Ellie would survive this.

I helped Clara to her feet and led her safely through the dark tunnels to a hidden extraction vehicle.

I drove her to a secure underground bunker managed by my last few remaining loyalists.

I handed the black ledger to my top lieutenant and ordered him to make highly encrypted digital copies.

I was not going to walk into Dante's deadly trap without a massive insurance policy.

I spent the next several hours arming myself with military-grade tactical gear and heavy explosives.

Clara watched me load my weapons, refusing to sit quietly while her child was in danger.

She demanded a weapon, stating that she was going to fight by my side tonight.

I saw the absolute fierce, maternal determination burning brightly in her dark eyes.

I handed her a compact submachine gun and quickly taught her how to release the safety.

I told her we were going to march into hell and completely burn Dante's empire to the ground.

We arrived at the foggy, abandoned shipyard exactly ten minutes before the midnight deadline.

The massive steel shipping containers cast long, eerie shadows across the wet concrete docks.

I held the black ledger up high, walking slowly into the center of the dark clearing.

Dante stepped out of the shadows, flanked by twenty heavily armed, elite cartel mercenaries.

He was holding a terrified, crying Ellie tightly by the collar of her small jacket.

Dante smiled arrogantly and demanded that I toss the book across the wet pavement immediately.

I told him to let the little girl walk over to me first, or I would burn the book right here.

Dante laughed cruelly and pressed the cold barrel of his pistol directly against Ellie's head.

He completely ignored my demands and ordered his men to execute me on the spot.

Before his mercenaries could even raise their heavy rifles, a massive spotlight blinded them all.

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

The deafening horn of a massive cargo ship echoed loudly right behind Dante.

Victor and fifty heavily armed Chicago syndicate soldiers poured out of the shipping containers.

Chapter 7 - The Desperate Trade