Chapter 3 - The Price on Our Heads and the Mafia’s Vow
"Then... why?" I choked out, a cold sweat breaking across my forehead as the nightmare closed in around me. "What does he want?"
Elias walked slowly back to the edge of the bed, his face carved from granite. "He didn't just throw you out because of a gender disappointment, Ava. Two days ago, a rival syndicate put a million-dollar bounty on my bloodline. Your husband found out about it. He figured out that if he couldn't get to me directly, trading his own wife and newborn twins to my enemies as leverage would buy him immunity, protection, and a seat at the table."
My breath caught in my throat. The room spun. The man I had married—the man who had sworn before God to protect me—hadn't just abandoned us to the winter cold; he had actively packaged us as livestock to sell to the most ruthless killers in New York.
"He's currently negotiating the drop-off location with my deadliest rivals," Elias continued, his voice dangerously soft. "As we speak, his men are searching the downtown hospitals and shelters, assuming you froze to death and they can recover the bodies to claim the bounty."
I clutched my head in my hands, hot tears streaming down my face. "We have nowhere to go. He’ll find us. He knows every street in this city."
A large, warm, heavily calloused hand suddenly gripped my shoulder. I looked up. Elias was kneeling beside the bed, his dark eyes burning with a fierce, unwavering intensity that defied everything I had ever heard about the ruthless mafia kingpin.
"He knows this city, Ava," Elias said, his voice dropping into a solemn, unbreakable vow. "But this city belongs to me. No one touches you. And no one lays a finger on those little girls. From this moment on, you live under my roof, behind my walls, and under my absolute protection. Let him come."
The sheer conviction in his voice washed over me like a shield. For the first time since my daughters were born, I felt safe.
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"What do we do?" I whispered.
Elias stood up, pulling a silver pocket watch from his vest and clicking it shut with a crisp snap. "We stop hiding in the shadows. We lay a trap. And we teach your husband and my enemies what happens when you hunt in the Vance family's backyard."
