I RECOGNIZED THE MAFIA BOSS'S PITBULL AS MY STOLEN PUPPY - THEN ONE LAUGH IN HIS DINING ROOM MADE MY BLOOD TURN COLD

Midnight at Pier 42 was pitch black.

Rain fell in heavy sheets, slanting off the corrugated iron walls of the abandoned shipping warehouses. Fog rolled off the East River, thick and smelling of salt and rust.

Inside Warehouse 9, yellow halogen lights flickered overhead, casting long, grotesque shadows across rows of wooden shipping crates.

Dominic Vance stood near the center of the warehouse, surrounded by eight armed men wearing heavy leather coats. Across from him stood Mario Moretti, an aging mob captain with silver hair and a silk scarf.

"You're late, Dominic," Moretti barked, pulling his coat tighter against the draft. "Where are the files?"

"Relax, Mario," Dominic rasped, that same hideous chuckle escaping his lips. "Enzo is distracted. He’s busy playing hero to some low-class catering girl he found in his dining room. The drive is being decoded as we speak by my man inside his network."

"You're sure Enzo doesn't suspect?" Moretti asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Enzo trusts me like a brother," Dominic bragged, pulling an expensive cigar from his pocket. "He’s soft. His father was a lion, but Enzo is weak. By tomorrow morning, Enzo will be dead, and I’ll be running the Dante syndicate."

"Is that so?"

A voice echoed from the dark rafters above.

Dominic froze. The cigar slipped from his fingers, falling into a puddle on the concrete floor.

Clack. Clack. Clack.

Out of the shadows stepped Enzo Dante. He wore a long black trench coat, carrying no visible weapon, his hands casually shoved into his pockets. Behind him, emerging from the dark corners of the warehouse, were twenty of Enzo's most loyal soldiers, their automatic weapons trained directly on Dominic’s men.

"E-Enzo..." Dominic stammered, his face turning the color of chalk. "What are you doing here? This... this is just a routine negotiation with Moretti for territory!"

"Is it?" Enzo asked smoothly, stopping ten feet away. "Funny. Because I have an audio recording here of you talking about my murder."

Enzo stepped aside.

I stepped out from the shadows right beside him. Beside me, wearing a reinforced tactical harness, was Cerberus.

The moment Cerberus saw Dominic, his coat bristled. He didn't bark. He lowered his head, his dark eyes fixed entirely on Dominic’s throat.

Dominic stared at me, his eyes wide with shock and hatred. "You... you little bitch. You brought her here?!"

"I brought her to watch you fall," Enzo corrected coldly. "Seven years ago, you murdered Arthur Vance. You stole his daughter's dog. You tried to ruin two families for money. You are a rat, Dominic. And in my city, we exterminate rats."

"Kill them!" Dominic shrieked, pulling a hidden pistol from his waist.