Chapter 1 - The Shattered GlassThe air inside Harlo’s Diner tasted like hot grease, cheap coffee, and sudden, lethal panic.
As the second round of high-caliber rounds chewed through the diner’s reinforced exterior wall, plaster rained down like gray snow over the sticky linoleum floor. Customers were huddled beneath booths, screaming and weeping in the sudden, violent chaos. Rey Ortiz, the morning cook, had dragged himself behind the stainless-steel grill, clutching a heavy iron skillet as though it could stop a bullet.
Behind the front counter, shielded by thick wooden cabinetry and Damian Duca’s broad, unyielding frame, Vivien Hart felt the familiar, terrifying rush of adrenaline she thought she had buried seven years ago.
"Our people?" Vivien gasped, her fingers digging fiercely into the lapel of Damian’s charcoal suit as she shoved against his chest. "You put armed guards around my daughter's school without telling me?"
"If I hadn't, Vincent Maro's hit squad would have picked her up off the sidewalk thirty minutes before you poured your first cup of coffee this morning," Damian barked, his voice cold, calm, and stripped of all hesitation. His dark eyes were fixed on the shattered front windows where two of his men were already returning fire with silenced submachine guns. "Listen to me, Vivien. Maro didn't just find you. He used a dormant cipher inside my own syndicate to track your financial routing. The moment he realized you had a seven-year-old girl with my eyes, you became a target."
The word hung in the air, heavy and poisonous. My eyes.
Vivien’s breath caught. She had spent seven years convincing herself that Lily belonged only to her—that the quiet life above the laundromat on Clement Street was entirely insulated from the blood-soaked mafia empire Damian ruled.
"You promised," Vivien whispered, her voice cracking beneath the rising terror. "When I left... when I walked away into the dark with a burner phone and nowhere to go... you swore your enemies wouldn't touch my family."
"I swore I would burn Boston to the ground before anyone touched you," Damian corrected, his gaze locking onto hers with a fierce, possessive intensity that made the surrounding gunfire sound miles away. He reached up, his rough thumb wiping a streak of black soot from her cheek. "I didn't let you go, Vivien. You ran. And I spent seven years tearing the underworld apart trying to find where you hid."
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Before Vivien could answer, a loud explosion rattled the street outside. A heavy-duty armored vehicle had slammed through the diner's side patio, and shadowy figures in tactical gear were pouring out.
Damian pulled her up by the waist, effortlessly lifting her behind the swinging kitchen doors. "Stay down. We’re moving."
