A Mafia Heiress Poured Ice Water Over the Waitress—Then Her Brother Asked for the Waitress’s Employment File

Leandro led me through a maze of abandoned maintenance tunnels beneath the subway station.

We walked in silence for twenty minutes until we emerged into a deserted underground parking garage. A sleek, bulletproof Mercedes was waiting in the shadows.

He unlocked the doors and shoved me into the passenger seat before getting in behind the wheel. He didn't start the engine. He just gripped the steering wheel, staring straight ahead.

"You saw the ledger," he finally said, his voice terrifyingly calm.

I clutched my bag to my chest. "Yes. You're funding the Rossis. You're tearing down your own father's empire. Why?"

Leandro turned to look at me, his dark eyes hollow.

"Because my father is a monster, Maya. You think he just runs gambling and extortion? Two years ago, he expanded into human trafficking. He buys and sells people." Leandro's jaw clenched. "My mother tried to stop him. She threatened to go to the FBI. A week later, her brakes failed on the highway."

My breath hitched. "He killed his own wife?"

"Yes," Leandro whispered. "Stella doesn't know. She just numbs the pain with pills. But I know. I've spent two years meticulously dismantling his organization, bleeding his funds, and paying off his rivals to corner him. Tomorrow night, the feds raid his main warehouses. He’ll go to prison for the rest of his life, and the Perry syndicate dies with him."

I stared at him, overwhelmed by the magnitude of his secret. He wasn't a traitor. He was an avenger.

"But you threw a wrench in my plans," Leandro continued, reaching out to gently touch my cheek. "You made me care. You made me sloppy. My father knows I'm distracted. He sent Viktor to kill you to bring me back into line."

"So what do we do?" I asked, tears pricking my eyes.

Leandro pulled a burner phone from his pocket and placed it on the dashboard.

"You take the hundred thousand dollars my father gave you," Leandro said softly. "You get in this car, you drive out of the state, and you never look back. You start a new life. And you forget you ever met me."