Chapter 4

Back at the DeLuca estate, I repaired Noah's urn with painstaking care.

The cold beneath my fingertips did nothing to quench the fire inside me.

When I finished, I fell asleep with tears still on my face.

I had no idea how long I slept before frantic barking, snarling, and ripping sounds jolted me awake.

Instinctively, I looked toward the table.

In the next instant, every drop of blood in my body ran cold.

Noah's urn was gone.

Lilia's laughter rose above the barking, sharp enough to pierce my skull.

A terrible premonition seized my heart.

I followed the barking to the back courtyard, and what I saw dragged me straight to hell.

Lilia was lounging on a garden swing, watching her pit bulls tear at something in a frenzy.

It was Noah's urn!

The box had been chewed to pieces. My son's pale ashes were scattered across the ground.

Those animals were lapping the powder off the dirt with greedy tongues!

"No!!"

A roar filled my head. The last thread of my reason snapped.

I pulled the Browning from my waistband, aimed at Lilia with red-rimmed eyes, and screamed.

"Lilia, I'll kill you!"

Bang!

A gunshot rang out.

The bullet didn't hit Lilia. It hit me.

The round tore through my wrist. Searing pain shot up my arm, and the Browning clattered to the ground.

Matteo's towering frame stepped in front of Lilia.

"In my Family, no one kills without my permission, Sera."

Lilia peeked out from behind him, tears streaming down her ashen face.

"Sera, I was just feeding my dogs their calcium supplements. How could you try to kill me over that?"

Calcium supplements?

I clutched my bleeding wrist and used every last scrap of sanity I had left to call the Family doctor.

After examining the powder, the doctor went white. He turned to Matteo. "Don DeLuca, these appear to be human cremated remains..."

"It's Noah." I cut the doctor off, my eyes burning, biting out every word. "Matteo, these are the ashes of your child and mine. Noah."

Lilia swayed on her feet, crying harder, and buried herself in Matteo's arms.

"Matteo, I'm so sorry... I really didn't know... Wasn't Noah's urn supposed to have fallen into the sewage canal..."

Matteo held her tight, one hand stroking her hair, and glared at me with venom.

"Enough, Sera!" he snarled. "This is your fault! You never told us you'd recovered the urn!"

"This ends here. Not a word to anyone!" His voice carried absolute authority. "You don't want the entire East Coast laughing at us because the DeLuca heir's ashes were eaten by dogs, do you?"

For Lilia's sake, he had ground my dignity and my son's into dust. Again.

Hatred cracked through the numbness and spread through me like vines overtaking a wall.

I didn't cry.

I had no tears left.

From here on, there would only be blood. My enemies' blood.

That evening, Lilia came to my room, red-eyed, claiming she wanted to apologize.

She handed me a heavy wooden box.

"Sera, I'm sorry... I... I sent people to the sewage canal, and they managed to salvage some of Noah's belongings."

I snatched the box from her hands. The moment I flipped the latch, Lilia spun away.

A blinding flash of white light exploded in my face.

Searing agony tore through my eyes, and I understood instantly.

Inside the box was a compact flashbang device, rigged to detonate on opening!

I spent three days in a hospital bed.

When the bandages came off, my world had turned gray, like an old black-and-white film.

Matteo made a point of visiting. "I've already asked. Lilia didn't know about it either. I'll get to the bottom of this."

"Take your time. No rush."

I sent him away and called my attorney to speed up the asset transfer.

After hanging up with the lawyer, I dialed Victor.

"Don Moretti, I'm prepared to hand you half of the DeLuca Family's assets."

I paused, then spoke each word with care.

"In return, I want your full backing."