The Mafia Boss Refused to Pick a Woman—Until His Dog Lay Down at a Poor Waitress's Feet

Willa acted on pure, blind adrenaline.

She slammed the latches of the black Pelican case shut, shoved it into her canvas bag, and pulled the zipper tight. She threw the steel screwdriver back into her pocket and grabbed Titan’s heavy leather collar.

"Quiet, boy," she whispered desperately into the mastiff’s ear. "We go out the back."

The cabin had a small rear window that led out onto a steep, rocky drop-off covered in thick briars and fallen timber.

Before she could reach the rear window, the rusted front door was kicked open with a loud, splintering crash.

Two men stepped into the cabin, dressed in heavy black rain parkas, holding tactical flashlights and suppressed handguns.

"There she is!" one of the men yelled, raising his flashlight beam directly into Willa’s face. "Grab her!"

Titan didn't wait for a command.

The massive one-hundred-fifty-pound beast let out a terrifying roar, leaping across the small room with explosive, unstoppable force. He slammed his full body weight into the lead guard, his massive jaws locking onto the man’s arm, sending him crashing backward through the rotting porch floorboards into the mud outside.

The second guard swore loudly, raising his suppressed weapon toward the dog.

"Titan, NO!" Willa screamed.

She lunged forward, swinging her heavy canvas bag loaded with the Pelican case with all her strength. The corner of the hard plastic case struck the second guard sharply across the temple.

The man gasped, his flashlight dropping to the floor, stumbling sideways against the log wall.

"Run!" Willa yelled, grabbing Titan’s collar as the dog released the first screaming guard.

Willa and Titan scrambled out through the front porch, plunging into the freezing, dark storm, sprinting down the steep, slippery mountain slope.

"She’s got the bag!" the second guard yelled, pulling out a walkie-talkie as he stumbled out of the cabin. "Team two, intercept at the perimeter wall! She’s heading toward the drainage culvert!"

Willa ran faster than she ever had in her life. Branches tore at her rain jacket, sharp thorns cut into her cheeks, and mud sucked at her boots, trying to pull her down with every step. Beside her, Titan bounded through the thick brush like a dark phantom, his heavy paws churning up wet earth.

Behind them, flashlights flickered through the dark trees—at least four men were converging on their position from the ridge above.

They reached the northern stone wall, but as Willa slid toward the drainage culvert, two more armed guards stepped out from behind the trees, blocking the concrete pipe opening.

"End of the line, Miss Vance," one of the guards sneered, raising his handgun directly at her chest. "Barrett sends his regards."

Willa backed away slowly, her heel slipping in the mud, her back hitting the cold, unforgiving granite of the perimeter wall. She clutched the canvas bag containing her father's ledger against her stomach, her breath coming in ragged, desperate hitches.

Titan stood directly in front of her, his body trembling with violent rage, a deep, continuous growl vibrating through his chest as he prepared to leap into the gunfire to protect her.

"Shoot the dog first!" the guard ordered his partner. "Then take the girl!"

The guard leveled his sight at Titan’s head.

A single, loud gunshot tore through the forest.

BANG!

It wasn't a suppressed weapon. It was the loud, booming crack of a heavy caliber rifle echoing off the mountain ridge.

The guard holding the gun on Titan gasped, his shoulder exploding in a spray of blood as he was slammed backward into the mud.

Willa screamed, dropping to her knees.

From the dark, rain-soaked woods fifty yards away, three black SUVs blew through the heavy underbrush, their headlights cutting through the storm like blinding white spears.

The passenger door of the lead SUV opened before the vehicle had even come to a complete stop.

Kendrick Ashford stepped out into the pouring rain.

He wore no coat, only his white shirt soaked through with rainwater, holding a heavy tactical rifle in his hands. His face was a mask of pure, murderous rage—a vision of absolute destruction that made the remaining guards drop their weapons into the mud in sheer terror.

Behind him, Lev and six heavily armed Ashford soldiers poured out of the vehicles, instantly disarming Barrett’s men and forcing them to their knees in the mud.

Kendrick ignored the guards completely. He threw his rifle to Lev and strode through the mud toward Willa.

Titan didn't growl. The mastiff let out a long, exhausted whine and dropped his head against Kendrick’s hip.

Kendrick dropped to his knees in the mud directly in front of Willa. He grabbed her shoulders with his broad, warm hands, his dark eyes frantic, searching her face for injuries.

"Are you hit?" Kendrick demanded, his voice thick with a raw, terrifying panic. "Willa! Are you hurt?"

Willa shook her head, tears mixing with the rain streaming down her face. "No... no, I’m not hurt..."

Kendrick let out a long, ragged breath, pulling her violently into his chest, wrapping his strong arms around her shoulders, holding her so tightly she could feel the thunderous beat of his heart against her ribs.

"Thank God," Kendrick whispered into her wet hair, his voice trembling. "Thank God."

Willa sat frozen in his embrace, surrounded by the smell of rain, iron, and his warmth, feeling the canvas bag containing his destruction resting heavily between them.

Kendrick pulled back slightly, his hands cupping her face, his eyes looking into hers with a fierce, burning intensity.

"I saw the security breach on the wall monitor," Kendrick said, his thumb wiping a smudge of mud from her cheek. "I knew Barrett’s men were moving toward the ridge."

He glanced down at the black canvas bag she was clutching.

"You went to the cabin," Kendrick said softly. "You retrieved Marcus Vance’s ledger."

Willa went rigid. Her breath hitched.

"You knew?" she whispered, her voice barely audible over the sound of the rain. "You knew who I was?"