The baby had been screaming for forty-three minutes when Liana Graves dropped the linens.

Liana stood her ground, her back pressed against the damp brick wall of the drainage pipe. She pulled Nico tighter against her chest, using her coat and body as a human shield to cover every inch of her baby.

“You killed your own sister,” Liana said, her voice dropping into a steady, hard tone that surprised even herself.

Gabriel snorted with disdain. “Giulia was weak. She thought she could take family money and go play house in the suburbs with a commoner like you. She was a liability to the syndicate.”

“She was your family!” Liana shouted.

“Family is a business, sweetheart,” Gabriel replied coldly, stepping closer. “Now hand over the baby and the black book before I shoot Dr. Mercer through the kneecaps.”

Dr. Mercer fell to his knees in the shallow water, weeping hysterically. “Liana, please! Give it to him! Give him the book!”

Liana looked down at Dr. Mercer, then looked at Gabriel’s gun. She slowly reached her hand into her coat pocket, her fingers closing around the cold leather cover of Giulia’s ledger.

“You want the book?” Liana asked softly.

“Slowly,” Gabriel warned, taking another step forward.

Liana pulled the heavy leather ledger halfway out of her pocket, holding it out toward the open water between the concrete ledge and the boat.

“If you shoot us,” Liana said, her eyes locked onto Gabriel’s face, “I drop this book straight into the river. It’s weighted with iron clasps. It will sink forty feet to the muddy bottom in three seconds. You’ll never find it.”

Gabriel froze. His jaw tightened, his finger hovering uncertainly over the trigger of his gun.

“You’re bluffing,” Gabriel spat.

“Try me,” Liana challenged, her hand hovering directly over the dark, rushing water. “I’ve already lost my child once. I’ve already lived through the worst night of my life. I have absolutely nothing left to lose, Gabriel. Do you?”

Gabriel’s eyes darted frantically between Liana’s face and the heavy black ledger hovering over the abyss. He knew his father, Vincent, would skin him alive if he let that ledger disappear into the river.

“All right,” Gabriel said, lowering the pistol two inches. “All right. Keep the child. Just set the book on the concrete ledge and step back onto the boat.”

“You first,” Liana said. “Drop your gun into the river.”

Gabriel’s eyes flashed with anger. “Don't push your luck, girl—”

BANG!

A loud, unsilenced gunshot shattered the quiet of the riverbank.

Gabriel’s eyes went wide with shock. A small, neat hole appeared in the center of his chest. He let out a wet gasp, dropping his silenced pistol into the water, and stumbled backward off the wooden dock, plunging splash into the icy dark river below.

Standing at the top of the drainage pipe incline behind them was Matteo.

His dark suit jacket was gone, his white shirt torn and stained with dark blood, a heavy tactical rifle slung over his shoulder. He was bruised, bleeding from a deep cut above his temple, but he was standing tall.

“Matteo!” Liana cried out, a wave of intense, overwhelming relief washing over her.

Matteo limped down the incline, his dark eyes sweeping over Liana and Nico. “Are you hurt?”

“No,” Liana wept, rushing forward and leaning her head against his blood-stained chest. “We’re okay. We’re okay.”

Matteo wrapped one arm tightly around both of them, burying his face in Liana’s dark hair for three long seconds.

“My mother and Vincent are dead,” Matteo whispered, his voice hoarse and raw. “They turned on each other when the federal agents breached the front gates. The mansion is surrounded by State Police and FBI.”

Dr. Mercer let out a long, shuddering sigh of relief, collapsing against the brick wall.

Matteo looked down at the sleek black speedboat tied to the dock. He reached down and took the heavy black ledger from Liana’s pocket.

“There’s an FBI tactical team waiting at the marina two miles down river,” Matteo said, looking deep into Liana’s eyes. “Special Agent Miller has been working with me for six months to dismantle both families from the inside. This ledger is the final piece.”