THE MAFIA BOSS’S FIANCÉE ORDERED ME TO GET RID OF HIS OLD DOG BEFORE THEIR ENGAGEMENT DINNER—BUT WHEN I CARRIED HIM INTO THE DINING ROOM, THE MOST FEARED MAN IN CHICAGO GOT DOWN ON HIS KNEES.

The world dissolved into a blinding white flash and a deafening, concussive roar that shattered every window in the boathouse.

The floodlights exploded in showers of sparks, plunging the entire shoreline into pitch-black chaos. Men screamed, temporarily blinded, firing their weapons wildly into the night.

"Go!" Luca roared over the din, tackling the nearest two guards into the lake before they could acquire a target.

I grabbed Clara’s arm with all the strength in my body and pulled her through the shadows toward the boathouse entrance. Barnaby was beside us, a silent, terrifying shadow in the dark, tearing into any guard who stumbled across our path. Gunfire ripped through the wooden siding of the boathouse, splinters flying everywhere like shrapnel.

We tumbled inside, slamming the heavy reinforced wooden door behind us and sliding the iron crossbar into place.

"The key!" Clara cried, her hands shaking so hard she could barely breathe. "Where is the key?!"

I sprinted toward the yellow emergency locker, smashing the glass with my elbow, heedless of the cuts across my forearm. I snatched the ignition key and the override card for the dual-engine cigarette boat moored inside the boathouse slip.

Outside, the door rattled violently. Heavy axes began hacking into the oak timber.

"Open the damn door, Clara!" Salvatore’s voice bellowed through the wood, warped with terrifying, unhinged rage. "You are my daughter! Disobey me and I will burn you alive just like I burned your mother!"

Clara froze, staring at the door in utter, paralyzing shock. "What... what did he say?"

I turned, stunned to the core. "Clara..."

"My mother didn't die of cancer," Clara whispered, her eyes wide with a horror that surpassed anything we had faced tonight. "He told us she died of sickness... but he burned her. He burned the lake house with her inside..."

The door groaned as another heavy blow from a sledgehammer cracked the central beam.

Suddenly, the side window overlooking the water shattered, and Luca rolled through the frame, covered in mud, blood streaming down his left temple, his coat shredded.

"Start the boat!" Luca yelled, coughing up lake water. "Start the damn boat now!"

I jumped onto the teak deck of the speedboat, jamming the key into the console and flipping the twin ignition switches. The massive 800-horsepower engines roared to life with a deep, throaty growl, vibrating through the entire boathouse floorboards.

"Luca, come on!" I screamed, extending my hand toward him across the dock.

Luca grabbed Clara and shoved her into the passenger seat beside me. But as he turned to leap aboard himself, the heavy boathouse doors finally gave way with a deafening crash.

Salvatore strode into the boathouse, flanked by five armed enforcers, his cane abandoned, an automatic shotgun leveled directly at the boat’s cockpit.