"The mob boss mocked his clumsy waitress for six months—until bullets flew and she moved like a trained assassin."

The stainless-steel kitchen doors buckled inward under the weight of a breaching charge. Dust and sparks showered over the prep counters as three more Valenti mercenaries kicked through the debris.

"CLEAR THE KITCHEN!" a shooter barked.

Sophia didn't wait for them to aim.

She swept low across the grease-slicked tile floor, pulling a seven-inch combat blade from her boot while firing her suppressed pistol with her right hand.

THWIP! THWIP!

The front two shooters took rounds through their thigh armor, collapsing to their knees. Before the third mercenary could raise his shotgun, Sophia sprang upward like a coiled serpent.

Her combat blade flashed in the dim fluorescent light, severing the shooter's neck artery in one fluid, terrifying sweep.

Blood sprayed across the stainless-steel prep counters as Sophia spun behind the falling mercenary, using his heavy body as a human shield as the remaining two shooters opened fire.

SPAT-SPAT-SPAT-SPAT!

Bullets tore into the dead mercenary's Kevlar vest.

Sophia reached around her human shield's shoulder, aligning her pistol sight with cold, mathematical precision.

THWIP! THWIP!

Two headshots.

The remaining two shooters dropped flat onto the wet floorboards, motionless.

Nicolo stood frozen near the prep sink, his heart hammering against his ribs like a wild drum. He was a seasoned mobster who had been in dozens of street brawls and shootouts, but he had never witnessed violence executed with such horrifying, breathtaking beauty.

She didn't waste a single movement. Every step, every angle, every bullet was calculated down to the millimeter.

Sophia wiped her blade against her pants, stepping over the corpses toward the rear service door that led out into the alleyway.

"Out the back, Bandi," Sophia ordered cleanly, unlocking the steel heavy bar. "We have ninety seconds before their secondary perimeter team seals the block."

They pushed through the heavy door into the narrow, rain-slicked brick alley behind the café.

Outside, the freezing November drizzle painted the red brick walls in dark, glossy coats. Parked twenty feet away was a sleek, matte-black armored SUV with blacked-out windows and reinforced Kevlar plating.

"Get in," Sophia commanded, unlocking the vehicle via her satellite watch.

Before Nicolo could reach the passenger door, a heavy black van slid around the corner of the alleyway, blocking the exit.