"Lena thought someone had kidnapped her baby, until she followed a trail to the forbidden door and found the most feared man in Chicago cradling her daughter like she belonged to him. ""She thought she was about to lose her job, her home, and her daughter—until she walked through a door she had been warned never to touch.

Six months later, the spring thaw finally hit Chicago, washing away the remnants of the brutal winter and bringing a vibrant, green life back to the Gold Coast estate.

The mansion no longer felt like a fortress or a gilded cage. It felt like home.

In the sunlit courtyard, surrounded by blooming tulips and weeping willows, eight-month-old Nora—now fourteen months and stumbling clumsily on her chubby legs—was chasing a bright red rubber ball across the grass.

Sitting on a wrought-iron bench nearby, Lena watched her daughter laugh, the sound bubbling up like music in the warm spring air. She was wearing a simple, elegant summer dress, her hair falling softly over her shoulders, looking nothing like the terrified, broke waitress who had once hidden a baby in a restaurant supply closet.

Footsteps crunched softly on the gravel path behind her.

A pair of strong, familiar arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her back against a hard, solid chest. A warm chin rested comfortably on her shoulder, and a familiar voice murmured in her ear.

“She’s going to be a runner,” Dante said, smiling as he watched Nora tackle the red ball with triumphant determination. “I give it two years before she’s running the entire estate better than Mrs. Gable.”

Lena leaned back into his embrace, turning her head to press a soft kiss against his jaw. “If she inherits your stubbornness, Mrs. Gable won't stand a chance.”

Dante chuckled, a rich, genuine sound that only Lena was ever privileged to hear. He tightened his arms around her, resting his cheek against hers as they watched the sun dip lower over the Chicago skyline, casting a golden glow across the lake.

The underworld still whispered about Dante Vance—about his ruthlessness, his unbreakable grip on the city, and the absolute terror he struck into his enemies. But inside these gates, none of that mattered.