1The man in seat 2A had less than a minute to breathe, and Evelyn Foster was the only person on the plane who noticed.

"Get her back to the safe room!" Antonio ordered Marco, his moment of tenderness vanishing as his boss persona locked back into place.

"No!" Evelyn grabbed Antonio’s forearm. "Sofia told me earlier... she said there's a traitor in the villa!"

Antonio froze, turning back to her, his brow furrowing. "My mother spoke to you?"

"Yes! She said someone close to you helped Leo set up the hit at JFK!"

Before Antonio could answer, the heavy double doors of the villa’s main entrance were blown off their hinges with a deafening roar. Debris, wood splinters, and glass rained down into the grand foyer.

Dozens of armed men clad in tactical gear flooded into the villa, opening fire with automatic weapons.

"Fall back!" Marco screamed, firing his submachine gun into the smoke.

Antonio pulled Evelyn behind a marble pillar just as a spray of bullets chipped the stone above their heads. The villa had become an absolute war zone within seconds.

From the top of the grand staircase, a voice echoed over the gunfire:

"Antonio! Give it up! You're outnumbered!"

Evelyn looked up through the smoke to see a heavily built man with silver hair and a cruel face walking down the stairs, flanked by four armed guards.

Leo Vitelli.

Beside Leo stood Sofia Vitelli—Antonio’s mother. She wasn't being held at gunpoint. She was holding a pearl-handled pistol, walking calmly beside her brother-in-law.

"Mother?" Antonio whispered, his voice cracking with a sudden, devastating betrayal.

Sofia looked down at her son from the stairs, her expression cold and devoid of maternal affection. "You were always too weak, Antonio. You wanted to legitimize our business. You wanted to pay taxes and build hospitals. Your father didn't build the Vitelli empire for you to turn it into a charity!"

"You tried to kill me," Antonio said, stepping out slightly from behind the pillar, his eyes blazing with fury. "You swapped the kit."

"Leo promised to give your cousin Gianna control of the European routes," Sofia said without an ounce of remorse. "You were in the way. And this flight attendant..." Sofia pointed her gun directly at Evelyn. "...ruined everything."