“Cassian said you were here to protect me. ”
He chuckled—low, humorless. She heard the distinct sound of a silencer being screwed onto a pistol barrel. “Cassian is a fool.
He let his obsession blind him. Vincent Romano offered me three million and a territory in Queens to open the door from the inside. The Teterboro attack was bait to get the boss out. ”
Her breathing grew shallow.
“You’re betraying him. ”
“Vincent doesn’t want you dead yet. He wants the ledger your father hid. The master account numbers for the Swiss and Cayman shell corporations.
Thomas Hayes was paranoid. He left it with you. ”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just a musician.
I’ve been blind since I was twelve. ”
Daniel grabbed a fistful of her hair, yanking her head back. “You’re going to tell me how to access those accounts, or I start breaking those delicate fingers one by one. ”
He made his first fatal mistake.
He assumed her blindness equaled helplessness. “Please,” she sobbed, dropping her cello bow. Her hand scrambled across the floor, reaching for her white carbon fiber cane. “I’ll tell you whatever you want.
”
“That’s a good girl. ” He loosened his grip, arrogance peaking. Her fingers wrapped around the rubber grip. “The ledger isn’t a book,” she whispered, her voice suddenly flat.
The trembling stopped. “What did you say? ”
“I said it’s not a book, you pathetic amateur. ”
She exploded upward.
Her left palm drove into the nerve cluster under his jaw with bone-rattling force. He choked, vision flashing white. Her right hand whipped the cane through the air. Her thumb depressed a concealed button—eight inches of razor-sharp titanium blade shot from the tip.
She slashed upward. The blade severed the flexor tendons in his right wrist. A gurgling scream tore from his throat. The pistol clattered to the marble floor.
He stumbled back, clutching his bleeding arm. She stepped forward, swept his legs out from under him with a brutal kick to his knee. He crashed onto his back. She calmly stepped over him, pressing the blade against his carotid.
“My father didn’t hide the ledger. He encoded it. It’s hidden in the sheet music of an original concerto he composed for me. I memorized every account number, every routing code, every shell corporation when I was fifteen.
I have held the financial reins of the Moretti and Romano empires in my head. ”
Daniel stared up at her unseeing eyes, absolute terror setting in. “I’ve known Cassian was watching me for ten years. I allowed his men to shadow me.
I allowed myself to be brought here because I knew Vincent Romano would eventually try to finish what he started, and I needed Cassian’s resources to wipe the Romanos off the map. ”
The mahogany doors burst open. Cassian stormed in, suit jacket discarded, shirt stained with blood, his P226 raised. Mateo and three guards flooded in behind him.
He froze. His fragile, terrified Lydia was standing over his top captain, a blooded titanium blade pressed to the traitor’s throat. “Lydia. ” His voice cracked.
She didn’t turn. “He sold you out to Vincent for three million and a slice of Queens. He came for the ledger. ”
Mateo stared, jaw slack.
“Boss, she completely neutralized him. ”
Cassian’s shock melted into something darker—a magnificent, dangerous smirk spreading across his face. The obsession he held for the innocent girl morphed into profound, terrifying awe for the queen standing before him. “Take Daniel to the soundproof room.
He gets to live until he tells us exactly where Vincent Romano is sleeping tonight. Then he doesn’t. ”
Mateo dragged the weeping traitor out. The doors clicked shut.
Cassian holstered his weapon, walked toward her. Lydia pressed the button on her cane—the blade retracted. He stopped inches from her, framed her face with bloodstained hands. “You played me,” he murmured, thumb tracing the scar on her jaw.
There was no anger—only reverence. “For a decade I thought I was the guardian angel protecting a helpless girl in the dark. ”
“I was never helpless, Cassian. You just preferred the illusion.
My father was the smartest man in your syndicate. Did you really think he would leave me defenseless? ”
He leaned down, lips brushing hers in a fierce possessive promise. “Vincent Romano dies tonight.
Every warehouse, every safe house, every soldier with his blood burns before the sun comes up. ”
“I know. ” Her hands slid up to grip the lapels of his ruined shirt. “And when the ashes settle, we will rebuild this empire together.
”
He kissed her deeply, sealing a pact forged in blood and deception. New York City didn’t know it yet, but the mafia hierarchy had just violently shifted. The untouchable Don Moretti had finally met his match.
And the most dangerous person in the criminal underworld was the one nobody saw coming.