On Christmas Eve, Mafia boss Dominic Moretti found his maid’s three-year-old daughter sitting alone beneath the grand staircase, clutching a photograph and whispering, “I’m waiting for my mom.”

By dawn, the snowfall had stopped, leaving New York blanketed in blinding white.

I sat in my father’s old war room at the safe house, reviewing security feeds and asset reports. Enzo entered, holding a secure satellite phone.

"Boss," Enzo said quietly. "Your mother is on line one. She’s at the main estate in Long Island. She says Salvatore Vitale’s men have surrounded the property."

I took the phone and placed it to my ear.

"Dominic?" Victoria’s voice was trembling, stripped of all her usual poise and arrogance. "Dominic... Salvatore knows you broke the treaty. His men are at the gates. They aren't just here to talk. Isabella told him everything... she told him that you found Sophia and the girl."

"Why are you calling me, Victoria?" I asked coldly. "You built this alliance with the Vitales. You traded my happiness for their protection."

A long silence hung over the line, broken only by the sound of glass shattering downstairs at the Long Island mansion.

"I was wrong, Dominic," Victoria wept softly, her voice breaking with real, raw remorse. "I thought I was keeping you alive after your father died... I thought if you married into the Vitale family, no one could touch you. I didn't realize Isabella was a monster... I didn't realize she threatened Sophia's life behind my back."

"You enabled her," I said.

"I know," Victoria sobbed. "And I will answer for it. But please... save yourself and your child. Don't come here. It's a trap."

Before I could answer, the line went dead.

I looked up at Enzo. "Get the strike team ready."

Sophia walked into the room, holding a mug of warm tea. She had heard enough to understand what was happening. "Dominic, you can't go back there. It's too dangerous!"

"Victoria made terrible mistakes, Sophia," I said, walking over to her and taking her hands in mine. "She almost destroyed our lives. But she is still my mother, and she is a Moretti. I will not let the Vitale family execute her in her own home. Once I end this, we will finally be free."