I Touched New York’s Most Feared Mafia Boss to Wipe Blood From His Face… Minutes Later, He Ordered His Men to Bring Me to His Mansion Alive

Dominic's convoy swept through the entrance, drawing the attention of a security guard who immediately abandoned his coffee.

Marcus took the lead. Two men followed us through the emergency department, where fluorescent lights buzzed overhead and the air smelled of antiseptic.

I tried to keep pace with Dominic.

“Did they confirm her identity?”

“They confirmed that a woman named Claire Carter checked in.”

“That's not the same thing.”

“No.”

“Do you think it's my mother?”

He didn't answer.

We stopped outside a private examination room. A nurse stood beside the door, holding a tablet.

“She's awake,” the nurse said. “But she refused to speak to anyone except Lily Carter.”

My knees nearly buckled.

Dominic glanced at me.

“Are you ready?”

“No.”

“Neither am I.”

For the first time, I realized he was afraid.

Not of the men who wanted him dead. Not of the threats, the guns, or the possibility of betrayal.

He was afraid of what might be waiting behind that door.

I entered alone.

The woman lying in the hospital bed had gray threaded through her dark hair. Her face was thinner than the face in my memories, and a deep scar crossed her right cheek.

But her eyes were the same.

The same warm brown eyes that had watched over me when I was little. The same eyes that had looked at me across kitchen tables and tucked blankets beneath my chin.

For several seconds, neither of us moved.

Then she whispered my name.

“Lily.”

The glass of water in my hand slipped and shattered against the floor.

“Mom?”

She covered her mouth.

Tears rolled down her cheeks.

I crossed the room so quickly that I nearly tripped over the chair. She held out both arms, and I fell into them.

She smelled different. Hospital soap, rain, and something faintly floral.

But she was real.

She was alive.

I clung to her while fifteen years of grief seemed to collapse inside my chest.

“You're alive,” I sobbed. “You were alive all this time.”

“I know.”

“You let me believe you were dead!”

“I know, sweetheart.”

“You let me bury an empty coffin!”

Her face crumpled.

“I had no choice.”

I pulled away.

“Everybody has a choice.”

She looked at me with such sorrow that my anger faltered for a moment.

Then I remembered the empty years. My birthdays spent staring at a photograph. The rent I had struggled to pay. The nights I'd cried because I couldn't remember the sound of her voice without listening to old recordings.

“Why?” I demanded. “Why didn't you come back?”

My mother gripped my hand.

“Because the men who killed your father promised to kill you next.”

A shadow appeared in the doorway.

Dominic stood there, his face unreadable.

My mother saw him.

Every trace of color vanished from her face.

“No,” she whispered.

Dominic took one step forward.

“Claire.”

She recoiled against the pillows.

“Get away from me.”

He stopped immediately.

I looked between them.

“You know each other.”

My mother's eyes filled with terror.

“Lily, listen to me. You need to leave with me. Right now.”

“Leave where? You've been missing for fifteen years!”

“Because I was hiding from him.”

She pointed at Dominic.

The silence that followed was absolute.

Dominic's jaw tightened.

“Claire, I never ordered anyone to hurt you.”

“You didn't have to. You let Silas convince you I betrayed your family. You handed him every piece of information he needed to find me.”

His expression changed.

“I believed you had stolen the ledger.”

“You believed what your uncle wanted you to believe.”

“Why didn't you come to me?”

My mother laughed bitterly.

“Because the last time I trusted you, three men came to my house and set it on fire.”

I felt the blood drain from my face.

Dominic stared at her.

“I didn't know.”

“You never asked.”

A nurse entered, startled by the tension. Dominic stepped aside and let her check my mother's vitals.

When we were alone again, he spoke quietly.

“Who sent you here?”

My mother looked at me.

“I received a letter two days ago. It said Lily was in danger, and that the only way to protect her was to find Dominic Vale.”

She swallowed.

“I thought it was a trap.”

“Why come anyway?” I asked.

“Because the letter contained something nobody else could have known.”

She reached beneath her pillow and removed a small photograph.

It showed me standing outside the diner, wearing my uniform and carrying a bag of groceries.

On the back was a message written in red ink.

YOUR DAUGHTER WILL DIE UNLESS YOU GIVE US THE LEDGER.

I stared at it.

“What ledger?”

My mother closed her eyes.

“The one your father spent his life protecting. It contains the names of everyone who helped Silas murder Dominic's father. It also contains the account numbers used to finance the operation.”

Dominic leaned forward.

“Where is it?”

My mother turned toward him.

“Your father hid it before he died. Daniel helped him.”

“And you know where it is?”

She shook her head.

“No. But I know who does.”

I felt my heart pounding.

“Who?”

My mother looked directly at me.

“You.”

I took a step backward.

“That makes no sense.”

“When you were little, your father gave you something to protect. He told me never to tell you what it was unless the Vale family came looking for it.”

I remembered a blue wooden music box. My father had given it to me on my ninth birthday, shortly before he supposedly died.

I had kept it in a cardboard box beneath my bed for years.

Then I moved apartments, and it vanished.

“Where is it?” I whispered.

My mother stared at me.

“I don't know.”

A sudden commotion erupted outside the room.

Marcus shouted Dominic's name.

Then came the sharp crack of a gunshot.

The lights flickered.

My mother seized my wrist.

“Lily, hide!”