Chapter 7 - The Engagement That Started a War
Vivienne moved before anyone else.
She stepped through the hidden doorway.
“Dad.”
Salvatore turned.
Shock crossed his face.
“Vivienne?”
“Put the gun down.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Correcting a mistake.”
His expression hardened.
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
Declan used the distraction to move toward Gabriel and Claire.
Antonio reached beneath his jacket.
Salvatore’s men raised weapons.
“Don’t,” Vivienne said.
Her father stared at her.
“You chose him?”
“I chose not to murder a pregnant woman and a seven-year-old boy for territory.”
“This was never about territory.”
“Then what?”
“Survival.”
Salvatore revealed the final piece.
Antonio Voss had spent years accumulating information on every major crime family in Chicago.
Financial records.
Murders.
Bribery.
Blackmail.
The Carusos were next.
Salvatore believed killing Antonio, Declan, Elena, Gabriel, and eventually Mara’s unborn child would permanently erase the Voss line and destroy the archive.
“You were going to kill me too?” Vivienne asked.
Salvatore hesitated.
That hesitation answered.
Vivienne’s face broke.
Her engagement to Declan had never been intended to protect Mara from outsiders.
Her father had encouraged it because it placed Vivienne close enough to Declan to monitor him.
Everyone had been using everyone.
Except perhaps Mara and Declan.
Their relationship had been engineered.
But the love inside it had not.
Mara stepped into the room.
Declan saw her.
His expression became furious.
“Mara.”
“Not now.”
“Mara—”
“I said not now.”
Even Antonio seemed amused.
Claire turned.
Mother and daughter looked at each other for the first time in thirteen years.
Claire whispered:
“Baby?”
Mara’s anger disappeared for one second.
“Mom.”
Claire crossed the room.
She stopped before touching Mara.
The hesitation mattered.
Mara stared at the woman she had mourned through graduations, birthdays, bad relationships, business failures, Christmas mornings.
“You left me.”
“I know.”
“You watched me?”
“Yes.”
“For thirteen years?”
“Whenever I could.”
“Did you arrange Declan?”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Mara laughed through tears.
“That is a sentence no mother should ever have to say.”
“I thought he would become an asset.”
Declan looked offended despite the guns.
“Thank you.”
Claire almost smiled.
Mara didn’t.
“And when I fell in love with him?”
“I tried to separate you.”
“The anonymous job offer in Seattle.”
“Yes.”
“The break-in at my apartment.”
“I arranged it to scare you into leaving.”
Declan’s expression darkened.
“That was you?”
Claire ignored him.
Mara’s voice shook.
“You manipulated me.”
“Yes.”
“You manipulated him.”
“Yes.”
“You leaked my pregnancy.”
Claire’s silence lasted too long.
“Yes.”
Declan stepped forward.
Mara stopped him with one look.
This was hers.
“Why?”
“To force Antonio into the open.”
“That is my child.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Mara placed both hands over her stomach.
“This baby is not Voss leverage. Not evidence. Not bloodline. Not strategy. Not bait.”
Claire cried silently.
“You are right.”
“I needed you when I was seventeen.”
“I know.”
“I needed you at twenty.”
“I know.”
“I needed you when I started my business with six hundred dollars and no idea what I was doing.”
“I know.”
“And now you show up because my unborn baby became useful.”
Claire’s face collapsed.
“I never stopped being your mother.”
Mara shook her head.
“You stopped being present.”
Gunfire erupted.
Salvatore had decided conversation was over.
Declan tackled Mara behind the stone bar.
Elena pulled Gabriel down.
Claire fired toward the doorway.
Antonio moved with startling speed for his age.
The room became smoke, broken glass, shouted orders.
Vivienne screamed at her father to stop.
He did not.
Declan returned fire.
Mara kept her head down.
A bullet struck marble inches above her.
Declan looked at her.
That bullet changed him.
Mara saw it.
The control disappeared.
He started to rise.
She grabbed his shirt.
“No.”
“He almost hit you.”
“And if you charge him, our baby loses his father.”
Declan froze.
Our baby.
The words reached him.
He stayed.
Together they moved toward the service corridor.
Elena carried Gabriel.
Claire covered them.
Vivienne remained in the room.
“Come on!” Mara shouted.
Vivienne looked at her father.
Salvatore was bleeding from one shoulder.
“Go!” he shouted.
Vivienne hesitated.
Then followed Mara.
Antonio stayed behind.
Declan stopped.
“Father.”
Antonio looked toward him.
For the first time, the old man seemed tired.
“Get them out.”
Declan stared.
Antonio smiled faintly.
“You wanted proof I was capable of one decent decision.”
“Come with us.”
“No.”
“Father.”
“Go.”
Declan moved.
Seconds later an explosion shook the corridor.
The ceiling cracked.
Mara screamed.
Declan covered her.
They emerged into the garden as flames appeared through the first-floor windows.
Elena held Gabriel.
Vivienne sobbed.
Claire stared back at the burning house.
Declan stood motionless.
“Antonio?” Mara asked.
No answer.
Emergency vehicles approached in the distance.
Rourke had triggered the evidence release.
By sunrise, federal agents would have enough records to destroy half the corrupt network Antonio had built.
The old world was collapsing.
Mara should have felt relieved.
Instead she noticed blood on Declan’s shirt.
“Declan.”
He looked down.
A bullet had grazed his side.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“I’ve had worse.”
“Sit down.”
“Mara—”
“Sit.”
He sat.
For once, the feared mafia boss obeyed instantly.
Mara pressed cloth against the wound.
Declan watched her.
“You said our baby.”
She glared.
“You are bleeding and that is what you noticed?”
“Yes.”
“I’m still angry.”
“I know.”
“I still don’t trust you.”
“I know.”
“I don’t know if we’re together.”
His expression tightened.
“I know.”
“But I don’t want you dead.”
“I’ll take it.”
Despite everything, she laughed.
Then Gabriel spoke.
“Uncle Declan?”
Declan turned.
The boy pointed toward the burning mansion.
Someone stood in an upstairs window.
A silhouette.
Impossible.
The flames moved around him.
Then the figure lifted one hand.
Declan stood.
“No.”
Mara followed his gaze.
The man disappeared.
Seconds later Declan’s phone vibrated.
A message came from Antonio’s number.
Only six words appeared:
I WAS NEVER THE FINAL ENEMY.
Attached beneath it was a photograph.
May you like
Mara opened it.
The photograph showed Claire meeting Salvatore Caruso six months earlier.
