“Open your mouth.” Every man in Adrien Moretti’s study stopped breathing.

By midnight, the internal cleansing of the Moretti syndicate was complete.

Vincenzo and his loyalists were locked in a secure, soundproofed basement facility outside the city, awaiting permanent exile or worse. Isabella Romano and her aunt Beatrice had received midnight notices freezing their corporate assets, revoking their security clearances, and banning them from entering any borough where a Moretti banner flew.

The empire was shaken, but it had never been more secure. And for the first time in his life, Adrien Moretti felt like the house he was guarding was actually a home.

When he returned to the Red Hook estate, the grand foyer was dimly lit.

Elena was sitting on the bottom step of the staircase, her hands clasped tightly in her lap. When the heavy front door swung open and she saw Adrien walking through with Mia sleeping soundly in his arms, she stood up so fast she nearly lost her balance.

She didn't care about protocol anymore. She didn't care about the rules, the syndicate, or the guards watching from the shadows.

Elena rushed forward, her hands trembling as she took Mia from Adrien’s arms, pulling her daughter against her chest with fierce, sobbing relief.

“She’s safe,” Adrien said quietly, his hand hovering near Elena’s shoulder before dropping back to his side. “She’s completely safe.”

Elena buried her face in Mia’s hair, crying tears of sheer exhaustion and gratitude, before looking up at Adrien. Her eyes were red, but the walls she had built around her heart had finally crumbled.

“Thank you,” she whispered, her voice cracking. “You saved her life.”

“She saved mine,” Adrien replied honestly.

He looked at the two of them—the woman who wanted nothing from him, and the child who had taught him how to smile again.

“You don't have to clean floors anymore, Elena,” Adrien said softly. “You don't have to work another shift in this house unless you want to. You both have a home here, on your own terms.”

Elena looked at him for a long moment, seeing past the mafia boss, past the armor of power and fear, to the lonely boy who had lost his mother twenty-four years ago in a fire.