The chain snapped. 120 lbs of pure muscle and teeth lunged across the velvet ropes, tearing a mahogany table from its heavy iron base.

The silence that followed Marco’s announcement was terrifying.

Mave stood up so fast Brutus scrambled to his feet beside her, instantly sensing the sudden surge of shock and rage radiating from his handler.

"What do you mean he bought the mortgage?" Mave demanded, her voice shaking violently as she stepped toward Marco. "It's a private medical facility! You can't just buy a hospital!"

"When you have twenty million dollars in dirty cartel funds, you can buy whatever corporate paper you want," Marco explained grimly. "Rossi’s lawyers executed a forced foreclosure buy-out at midnight. As of two hours ago, Salvatore Rossi owns the building, the land, and the operating contracts for Saint Jude's Care Center."

Mave turned her head slowly toward Gallagher. Her face was deathly pale, her eyes wide with absolute, gut-wrenching terror.

"My mother..." Mave choked out. "She's in an ICU bed... she can't be moved... if they cut her power—"

"They won't cut her power," Gallagher interrupted, his voice dropping into a register so dark, so heavy, that even Marco instinctively took a half-step back. "Rossi didn't buy that facility to kill an old woman. He bought it to use her as leverage against you—and through you, against me."

Gallagher walked across the room, stopping directly in front of Mave. He grabbed her trembling shoulders with his broad hands, forcing her to look up into his fierce gray eyes.

"Listen to me, Mave," Gallagher commanded softly. "Look at me."

She looked at him, tears of panic finally brimming in her eyes.

"I gave you my word that your mother would be protected," Gallagher said, his jaw locked tight. "Rossi thinks he just found my weakness. He thinks he can force me to hand over the eastern shipping docks in exchange for your mother's safety."

"Then give him the docks!" Mave sobbed, gripping his lapels. "I don't care about your docks, Declan! I don't care about your empire! Don't let him hurt her!"

It was the first time she had called him by his first name.

Gallagher's expression softened for a fraction of a second, his fingers tightening gently on her shoulders. "If I give him the docks, Mave, he kills us all anyway. That's not how men like Rossi work. Weakness fuels them."

He let go of her shoulders and turned toward Marco.

"Assemble the entire strike team," Gallagher ordered, his voice echoing like thunder through the library. "Call every loyal crew from the docks to the yard. We move on Saint Jude's in one hour."

"Declan, that's a public medical facility," Marco warned. "If we hit Rossi there, the police—"

"I don't give a damn about the police!" Gallagher roared, slamming his fist onto the library table so hard the heavy wood cracked. "Rossi crossed a line! He dragged a defenseless woman into my war! By sunrise, Salvatore Rossi will either be dead or begging for a cell!"

Mave wiped her tears, her panic rapidly transforming into a cold, lethal determination. She turned toward the doorway where Brutus was waiting.

"I'm going with you," Mave said flatly.

Gallagher turned, frowning sharply. "No, Mave. It's too dangerous. You stay here under guard."

"She's my mother, Declan!" Mave yelled, stepping right up into his space, her chin lifted high. "You think I'm going to sit in this fortress while you shoot up the hospital where my mom is sleeping?! I know the floor layout, I know the staff access codes, and Brutus listens to me, not your enforcers! You take me, or I take a car and go by myself!"

Gallagher stared down at her fierce, unflinching face. He saw the raw, unstoppable courage that had made her step between a giant pit bull and a helpless kid three nights ago.