Chapter 2

Victor knocked the phone from my hand.

“You still calling people?”

He smirked.

“You really don't know when to stop.”

I looked at him.

“You injured my daughter.”

“And now you want us to apologize?”

Chloe rolled her eyes.

“Everyone at school knows what happens when someone annoys me.”

She looked at Lily.

“Tell him.”

Lily's face went white.

Her breathing changed.

I immediately understood.

I crouched in front of her.

“Lily.”

“Look at me.”

Her eyes filled with tears.

“Dad…”

“They make me crawl around the athletic field.”

“Chloe rides on my back.”

My jaw locked.

“How many times?”

She didn't answer.

That told me enough.

Victor laughed.

“Kids fool around.”

I stood.

He continued casually.

“If your daughter behaved, none of this would happen.”

I hit him.

One clean punch across the mouth.

Victor stumbled backward.

The entire pool went silent.

He touched his split lip.

Then looked at the blood on his fingers.

“You hit me?”

“I should have done worse.”

His face twisted.

“Lock the building down.”

Seven armed men moved immediately.

The exits were sealed.

Outside, black SUVs blocked the driveway.

“No ambulance enters,” Victor ordered.

“No one leaves.”

Lily's body was growing hotter in my arms.

The longer the leeches remained attached, the more blood she lost.

I carried her toward the door.

Two guards blocked me.

Victor stepped into my path.

“Apologize.”

“No.”

“Kneel.”

“No.”

He smiled.

“Then watch your daughter suffer.”

I stared at him for several seconds.

Then said quietly,

“This city has survived because the Caruso family allows it to.”

“You are standing in Caruso territory.”

“You are blocking Caruso doctors.”

“And you are hurting the only Caruso heir of her generation.”

Victor blinked.

Then laughed so hard he nearly doubled over.

“You?”

“The Caruso family?”

He looked around.

“Did everyone hear that?”

The parents laughed with him.

One woman covered her mouth.

“He actually thinks he's the Don.”

Victor waved a hand.

“Break him.”

His men came at me together.

Three years ago, that would have been a mistake.

Today, carrying an injured child, it became a problem.

They forced me down.

My knee struck the tile.

Victor grabbed my hair.

“Ninety-nine times.”

He pointed at the floor.

“Make him bow.”

My forehead slammed against the marble.

Once.

Twice.

Again.

Blood slid down between my eyes.

Lily screamed.

“Dad!”

She tried to crawl toward me.

Chloe kicked her away.

Lily collapsed.

Something in me went cold.

Victor pulled out his phone.

“Watch this.”

He called Selena.

She answered almost immediately.

His voice softened.

“Baby, someone hit me.”

Selena sounded furious.

“Who?”

“I don't know. Some nobody.”

“He says his name is—”

“I don't care who he is.”

Her voice sliced through the speaker.

“No one in New York gets to touch my man.”

“Do whatever you want.”

“I'll come after the meeting.”

The parents around us smiled.

Victor bent close to my ear.

“Still want to pretend you're important?”

Lily crawled to Chloe.

“Please.”

Her voice shook.

“I'll let you ride me again.”

“As many laps as you want.”

“Just don't hurt my dad.”

Chloe kicked her in the shoulder.

“Too late.”

Then a voice thundered from the entrance.

“Take your hands off him.”

Every head turned.

An elderly woman in a black coat walked into the pool hall.

Silver hair.

Straight back.

Black cane.

Rosa Caruso.

The woman who had served my grandfather, my father—

and now me.