The Waitress Finds His Daughter Unconscious.... She Called the Billionaire Devil at Midnight—And Found the Secret Buried Inside His Daughter’s Bracelet

CLACK-CLACK.

Vane turned his head in shock.

Standing at the entrance of the secret escape tunnel—having accessed it via the secondary emergency exit from the wine cellar—was Nora Ellis.

Her face was smeared with soot. Her eyes were burning with a fierce, terrifying light that mirrored Dominic’s own. In her hands, held steady with two hands despite her body trembling, was Matteo’s heavy nickel-plated .45 caliber pistol.

“Nora…” Vane gasped, stepping back in shock. “How did you get up here?”

“My father taught me how to navigate the utility tunnels of this estate when I was ten years old, Vane,” Nora said, her voice ringing out clear and strong over the crackle of the flames outside. “You destroyed my family. You killed my sister. And tonight, you tried to murder her child.”

Vane snarled, raising the detonator. “Shoot me, and my thumb falls on this button! We all die together!”

“No,” a deep voice rumbled behind him.

Dominic moved with the speed of a striking viper.

He crossed the distance between them in a fraction of a second, his massive hand clamping around Vane’s wrist like an iron vise, twisting it upward with a sickening CRACK.

Vane shrieked in pain as his wrist snapped. The detonator slipped from his useless fingers, falling onto the marble floor.

Before the detonator could hit the ground, Nora dropped to one knee, sweeping her foot out and kicking the small device across the room, where it slid beneath the heavy iron safe, completely out of reach.

Dominic didn't stop.

He grabbed Vane by the lapels of his navy coat, lifting the man completely off his feet and slamming him into the reinforced glass window overlooking the courtyard. The glass cracked under the immense force, spiderwebbing out in all directions.

“Please, Dominic!” Vane choked out, his eyes wide with pure, unadulterated terror as he looked down at the fifty-foot drop onto the stone driveway below. “We can share the seventy million! I have accounts in Zurich! In the Caymans! I can make you richer than God!”

Dominic leaned in close, his face inches from the man who had brought so much pain into his life.

“I’m already richer than God, Vane,” Dominic whispered softly. “Because I have a family. And you have nothing.”

Dominic turned his head toward Nora.

She stood twenty feet away, holding the gun down at her side, watching the man who had haunted her nightmares for eight years.

“Nora,” Dominic said, his voice echoing in the ruined room. “Is this justice for your father? For Elena?”

Nora looked at Julian Vane—a pathetic, broken old monster cowering in the grip of the Devil of Broad Street. She thought of her years spent running, hiding in cheap apartments, working late-night shifts at diners, fearing every shadow. Then she thought of little Lia sleeping safely in her arms, and the warmth of Dominic’s hand holding hers in the study.

She took a deep breath, letting the hatred of eight years melt away into the ash of the room.

“Justice isn't killing him, Dominic,” Nora said softly, her eyes clear and untroubled. “Justice is letting him watch us build everything he tried to destroy, while he rots in a cage for the rest of his life.”

Dominic stared at her for a long moment. The fire in his gray eyes slowly receded, replaced by a profound respect.

He pulled Vane back from the cracked window and threw him brutally to the floor at Matteo’s feet, who had just rushed into the room with four tactical officers.

“Take him,” Dominic ordered Matteo. “Hand him over to the Federal Marshals. Give them the master drive and all the evidence of his syndicate operations. Let the law finish him.”

“With pleasure, Boss,” Matteo said, dragging the groaning Vane away in handcuffs.

The room grew quiet.

Outside, the sirens of federal law enforcement and emergency vehicles began to wail in the distance, their red and blue lights flashing through the rain-soaked windows.

Dominic walked slowly toward Nora.

She lowered the gun, setting it gently on a side table. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably now that the adrenaline was fading.

Dominic reached out, taking both of her trembling hands into his large, warm palms. He pulled her close, wrapping his strong arms around her shoulders, burying his face in her hair just as he had done with Lia.

Nora let out a long, ragged sob, resting her forehead against his chest, feeling the steady, powerful thud of his heart against her cheek.

“It’s over, Nora,” Dominic whispered gently, kissing the top of her head. “It’s finally over.”

“I was so scared,” she whimpered softly.

“I know,” Dominic said, pulling back slightly to frame her pale, beautiful face in his hands. He looked into her hazel eyes with an intensity that made her heart skip a beat. “You were the bravest person in this house tonight. You saved my daughter twice. You saved my soul.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the two silver black rose charms—the one from Lia’s bracelet and the one from Nora’s necklace.

He placed them together in her palm. Side by side, the two half-roses fit together perfectly, forming a single, unbroken flower of silver and obsidian.

“Elena gave you half of her heart to keep safe,” Dominic said, his voice rich with emotion. “Now I want you to keep mine.”

Nora looked up at him, tears shining like diamonds in her eyes. “Dominic…”

Before she could speak, a little voice called out from the doorway.

“Daddy? Auntie Nora?”

Lia stood in the entrance, wrapped in a blanket, holding her plush bear. She looked at the two of them standing together in the firelight, her small face breaking into a radiant, beautiful smile.