Chapter 1: The Extraction
The tactical boots echoed like thunder against the imported Italian marble, but Vance didn’t flinch. He held five-year-old Lily tightly against his chest, her face buried in the crook of his neck, shielded by the pink blanket. Behind him, Eleanor—his mother-in-law and the matriarch of the city’s most ruthless crime syndicate—screamed his name.
""You’re a dead man, Vance! You hear me? Dead!""
Vance didn’t look back at the sprawling mansion, nor at the smashed birthday cake on the floor. He stepped out into the blinding sunlight, flanked by the FBI SWAT team. For ten years, he had been the syndicate's heavy, the man who made problems disappear. But when Eleanor had casually starved Lily as a ""punishment,"" Vance realized the true monster wasn't in the streets; it was in the house. He reached into his pocket and handed the lead agent a encrypted hard drive. Everything was on it. The ledgers, the bribes, the bodies.
""We’re clear,"" the agent said. Vance looked down at his daughter. Her eyes were closed. For the first time in his life, Vance was terrified. He knew how to end lives, but he had no idea how to save one.
