"A Three-Year-Old Came Knocking at the Mafia Boss’s Bedroom at Midnight—But the Name She Whispered Was the Same Name His Father Had Ordered Everyone to Forget. "

Antonio gasped for air, his eyes bulging as Roman's right hand—the arm wrapped in the black-and-gray tattoo of the lion—choked the life out of his throat.

Antonio tried to raise his revolver, but Roman grabbed his wrist and snapped it sideways with an effortless, sickening CRACK.

The gun clattered down the stone stairs.

"Roman..." Antonio wheezed, blood spurting from his lip. "We're... we're family... your mother's blood..."

"My mother was a killer," Roman whispered into his uncle's ear, his blue eyes burning with an ancient, terrifying frost. "My father was a coward. And you... you're just a parasite who lived off their lies."

Roman drove his tactical blade deep into Antonio’s side, lifting the man off his feet before letting his body collapse onto the cold, broken tile of the hallway.

Antonio twitched once, his eyes going glass-flat, staring up at the collapsed ceiling of St. Jude's.

Roman stood over his uncle's corpse, chest heaving, blood dripping from his shoulder wound onto his black coat.

Outside, the heavy roar of helicopter blades cut through the storm.

Bright white spotlights cut through the high arching windows of the asylum hall, illuminating the dust and smoke.

"Boss!" Luca’s voice finally burst through the comms radio, clear and frantic. "The perimeter jamming is down! We've secured the courtyard! We have air support!"

Roman pressed his hand against his bleeding shoulder, leaning heavily against the granite pillar.

"Luca," Roman said, his voice steady despite the agony in his collarbone. "Send two teams down to the sea caves on the north cove. Secure the vessel."

"Yes, Boss! And the Moretti family?"

Roman looked down at Antonio’s lifeless body, then toward the moonlit ocean visible through the broken windows.

"The Moretti alliance is over," Roman declared quietly. "Clean the house. Every lieutenant who took orders from Antonio is to be stripped of his position by sunrise."