Chicago’s Most Feared Billionaire Was Put to Work by a Sassy 9-Year-Old—Until He Discovered Her Mother Was the Widow He’d Spent 12 Years Searching For!

Mason burst into the library with three tactical shotguns, kicking the steel secondary door shut and engaging the hydraulic panic locks with a heavy thud.

"They breached the lobby guards, Boss!" Mason shouted, racking a shell into the chamber.

"Victor brought former private contractors from Eastern Europe. They cut the building’s power grid and bypassed the service elevator override!"

Lucy shrank back against Natalie's chest, burying her face into her mother's sweater, trembling violently.

"Mom! What's that noise? Who is that man on the TV?"

Natalie wrapped her arms tightly around her daughter, kissing the top of her head repeatedly.

"I'm here, baby. Look at me, Lucy. Look only at me."

Adrian walked to the gun locker hidden beneath the bookcase, pulling out two heavy automatic handguns with silencers attached.

He slipped one into his shoulder holster and checked the magazine of the second with chilling calmness.

"Mason, take Natalie and Lucy into the reinforced panic vault behind the wine cellar," Adrian ordered, his voice cold as a winter gale over the lake.

"Boss, I'm staying with you to hold the hallway," Mason insisted.

"No," Adrian said, turning his piercing gaze onto his security chief.

"Your only mission tonight is keeping Daniel's family breathing. If Victor's men breach this floor, you lock that steel door from the inside and wait for the tactical unit to arrive."

"Adrian, no!" Natalie cried out, rising to her feet and reaching for his arm.

Her fingers caught his wrist, feeling the thunderous pulse beneath his skin.

"You can't fight six armed men alone! Victor will kill you!"

Adrian stopped, looking down at her hand on his sleeve.

For the first time in fifteen lonely, violent years, someone was looking at him not with fear or greed, but with genuine terror for his life.

He reached up, his warm hand gently cupping the side of her face.

"Daniel spent his last breath making sure you lived, Natalie," Adrian said softly, his thumb brushing away a stray tear from her cheek.

"I won't let his sacrifice be in vain. And I have something to live for tonight."

He looked down at Lucy, offering the little girl a reassuring, crooked grin.

"Keep an eye on that timer for me, boss. My shift isn't over yet."

Lucy gave a small, brave nod through her tears.

"Don't get your apron dirty," she whispered.