Chapter 1

Evelyn's POV:

When the first bullet hit the car window, Sophia was only a 47-minute drive from the heart that could save her.

The bulletproof glass splintered into a spiderweb of cracks right by my ear.

"Ambush! Get down!"

I threw myself over Sophia and pressed her head to my chest.

A second later, a heavy truck slammed into us from the side.

The roar of crushing steel swallowed my scream.

The critical care ambulance smashed through the guardrail and rolled down the slope.

The world spun. Oxygen tanks, first aid kits, and broken glass slammed into the roof.

When the vehicle finally stopped, Sophia's eyes were closed. She wasn't moving, and her lips had turned blue.

My stomach dropped. I unbuckled my seat belt and crawled toward her.

"Sophia!"

"Mommy..." She managed to open her eyes, and I took her fingers in mine. They were ice-cold.

"Will Daddy be back from Italy for my transplant? I'm scared."

I nodded hard, tears blurring my vision, as gunfire broke out outside the vehicle.

I'd lost count of how many attacks there had been on the Vassallo family.

As the wife of Dante Vassallo, Don of the biggest Mafia family in America, I knew rival families saw Sophia and me as targets.

Of the two black SUVs escorting us, one had been wrecked, and the other had its tires shot out.

Twenty minutes later, the gunfire finally died down. The surviving bodyguards must have taken care of the attackers outside.

I asked Dr. Harris, the doctor traveling with us, to reconnect the monitor leads that had come loose.

"Ventricular tachycardia. Get ready to defibrillate!"

A nurse pulled open the front of Sophia's shirt and quickly stuck on the electrode pads.

Sophia's tiny body jolted with the current.

Once.

Twice.

I knelt beside her, gripping her cold hand, barely daring to breathe.

A few seconds later, a faint, rapid heartbeat reappeared on the monitor.

I'd just let out a breath and was about to tell the driver to get Sophia to St. Gabriel's Children's Hospital as fast as possible.

But Dr. Harris's expression grew even more serious.

"The impact triggered a dangerous arrhythmia. Medication can only control it for now. She could go into cardiac arrest again at any moment. We have to leave now!"

Sophia's lashes fluttered.

"Mommy..." Her voice was so weak I could barely hear it. "Is my new heart still waiting for me?"

"Of course it is, sweetheart."

I bent down and kissed her cold forehead.

"It'll wait for you. Mommy will get you there, I promise."

We'd waited three years for this heart, which matched Sophia's blood type and antibody levels perfectly.

I wasn't going to let anything stand between my daughter and the new life this surgery would give her.

"Ma'am," a bodyguard reported after checking the area, "everyone who needed killing is dead. But the engine's leaking oil, and the front axle's broken. We're not going anywhere in this."

Without a second thought, I grabbed the encrypted satellite phone and called Dante.

"Evelyn?"

In the background, people were arguing in Italian. Then a gunshot went off.

Dante had flown to Sicily a week ago to deal with a revolt at the Palermo docks.

"We were ambushed on the way to the transplant center," I said as quickly as I could.

"Sophia has a dangerous arrhythmia. Send the family's medical helicopter. Now."

His voice dropped at once. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine. But Sophia has to get to the hospital for her transplant within half an hour."

"All right, don't worry, sweetheart." His tone was much calmer than I'd expected.

"Tell me where you are, and I'll send a second critical care ambulance right away."

I watched the red numbers jump on the monitor.

"No. The firefight has already cost us too much time. Sophia's heart could stop at any moment. The donor heart was removed hours ago. It can't wait forever. Dante, we have to fly her there. We can be at the hospital in 20 minutes."

The line went quiet for two seconds.

"There's a massive storm about to hit the city in half an hour. Flying you in is too dangerous. I can't take that risk."

Just then, an emergency weather alert popped up on the nurse's phone.

"But we still have half an hour, don't we? Trust me, Dante, this is Sophia's last chance. You have to decide now!"

"Evelyn, calm down—"

"She's my only daughter!" I finally lost control and broke down crying.

"She waited three years for this heart. I can't calm down! Why does she have to sit here waiting for a damn second ambulance? What if there's another ambush up ahead?"

I heard footsteps on Dante's end. He seemed to have walked out of the room where people were arguing.

When he spoke again, his voice was low. "Listen, I know this sounds bad. Half an hour ago, Leo spiked a high fever after chemo and went into shock. The doctors think he has a serious infection. He's critical..."

My nails dug into my palms, and my chest was so tight I could barely breathe.

Leo was the son of Isabella Ricci, Dante's first love. He had leukemia and was staying at our estate for now.

Dante went on. "For God's sake, I can't leave a child there to die."

Suddenly, I heard the roar of rotor blades in the distance. It drowned out Dante's voice on the phone.

I looked up, the phone still in my hand.

A black helicopter swept past beneath the clouds. The silver falcon on its side, the Vassallo family crest, flashed in the sunlight.

It crossed over the highway and flew straight toward the Vassallo estate.

Dante's voice came through the phone. "So I've already sent the helicopter to get Leo."