The Mafia boss was about to buy a starving 6-year-old a sandwich, until she pointed at a black car and whispered, "They still have my mommy."

The peace lasted for twenty-one days, until the night before Sarah and Emma were scheduled to move into their new, permanent home in Vermont.

At 11:00 p.m., the estate's security alarm shrieked through the house.

WAI-WAI-WAI.

Red emergency lights flashed through the hallways as heavy gunshots shattered the glass windows of the conservatory downstairs.

Dmitri Volkov had reneged on his agreement. Knowing Sarah’s testimony could still dismantle his syndicate's customs fraud if she ever spoke to federal prosecutors, he had hired a team of fifteen foreign mercenaries to launch a desperate, suicidal assault on my estate.

"Frankie! Secure the perimeter!" I roared through my radio, drawing two heavy handguns from my desk drawer. "Marco, get Sarah and Emma into the panic room upstairs!"

I sprinted into the grand hallway as three masked mercenaries armed with automatic rifles reached the top of the stairs.

I didn't give them a chance to set up a line of fire.

I opened fire with devastating speed and accuracy, dropping all three men onto the marble floor before they could pull their triggers.

BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.

I moved through the upper corridor like a storm of lethal precision, clearing room after room as my loyal house guards fought off the remaining mercenaries in the courtyard below.

When I reached the master bedroom, I found the door kicked open.

Inside, a giant mercenary in dark tactical gear had grabbed Sarah by her hair, holding a combat knife to her throat, while Emma cowered under the bed, crying out in terror.

"Drop the guns, Moretti!" the mercenary shouted in a thick accent, pulling Sarah backward toward the balcony window. "Or I cut her throat right now!"

I didn't lower my weapons.

I looked past the mercenary, making brief, intense eye contact with Sarah.

She saw the cold, absolute certainty in my eyes and gave a subtle, microscopic nod.

Sarah suddenly slammed her head backward with all her strength, smashing her skull directly into the mercenary's nose.

The mercenary stumbled backward, his grip loosening for a fraction of a second.

It was the only window I needed.