Chapter 9 - The Last Enemy Came From Inside His Own HouseDamian's cooperation remained secret for six weeks.
Then someone leaked it.
Everything exploded.
Newspapers reported that the Russo organization was collapsing.
Several captains disappeared.
Others were arrested.
Two fled overseas.
Legitimate businesses lost contracts.
Damian surrendered controlling interests in companies used for laundering money.
He accepted that prosecutors would eventually charge him.
Then someone tried to kill Sienna.
Again.
The first shot shattered the window of her Brooklyn apartment at 2:13 a.m.
Damian pushed her to the floor.
The second bullet struck the wall.
Security responded.
The shooter escaped.
Sienna sat on the kitchen floor afterward, shaking.
Damian held her.
"This ends tonight."
She knew that voice.
"No."
He looked at her.
"Don't."
"Sienna—"
"You don't get to destroy everything you've done because you're scared."
"They shot at you."
"And if you murder whoever did it, what changes?"
"They stop shooting."
"Someone else starts."
Damian looked away.
She touched his face.
"Find another way."
By morning, investigators identified the rifle.
The weapon belonged to a Russo security armory.
Internal.
Damian gathered the remaining senior members.
Six men.
One woman.
Sienna insisted on attending.
Damian hated it.
She attended anyway.
They met at the Oyster Bay estate.
The same house where Sienna had once arrived as something Damian claimed.
Now she entered beside him voluntarily.
The difference was everything.
Damian placed the rifle report on the table.
"Someone here authorized the weapon."
Nobody spoke.
Then Rosa entered.
The older housekeeper.
The woman who had brought Sienna coffee and clothes on her first morning.
She carried a tray.
Damian looked toward her.
"Rosa."
Something changed in her expression.
Sienna noticed first.
"Damian."
Rosa's hand moved beneath the tray.
Sienna shouted.
"Gun!"
Everything happened instantly.
Rosa fired.
Damian turned.
The bullet struck his side.
He fell.
Security drew weapons.
Sienna threw herself over him.
"Don't shoot!"
Rosa stood frozen.
Her gun remained raised.
Tears covered her face.
"Move, Sienna."
"No."
"He destroyed everything."
Rosa sobbed.
"My sons served his father."
Damian pressed a hand against the blood spreading through his shirt.
"Rosa."
"One died for Vincenzo."
Her hand shook.
"The other went to prison for you."
Damian's face showed recognition.
"Anthony."
"Twenty-two years."
Rosa cried harder.
"And now you're giving names to prosecutors."
Damian struggled to sit.
"Anthony killed three people."
"He was loyal!"
"No."
Damian's voice weakened.
"He was violent."
Rosa aimed again.
Sienna remained between them.
"Rosa."
She spoke softly.
"Don't make this the last thing your family becomes."
The older woman's face collapsed.
For one second, Sienna thought she would surrender.
Then Rosa's finger tightened.
Leo tackled her from the side.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Security moved.
Rosa was restrained.
Sienna stared at Leo.
"What are you doing here?"
He breathed heavily.
"Trying to fix my life."
Despite everything, Sienna almost laughed.
Then Damian collapsed.
"Damian!"
Blood soaked his shirt.
The ambulance arrived in eight minutes.
Sienna rode with him.
His hand remained locked around hers.
At the hospital, surgeons operated for three hours.
The bullet had damaged his liver.
He survived.
When Damian woke, Sienna sat beside him.
"You look terrible."
His eyes barely opened.
"Romantic."
"Very."
"Did Rosa—"
"Alive."
He closed his eyes.
"Good."
Sienna smiled through tears.
"Look at you."
"What?"
"Progress."
Damian weakly squeezed her hand.
Leo appeared at the doorway.
Damian looked at him.
"You tackled a sixty-two-year-old woman."
Leo shrugged.
"Heroically."
"She weighs ninety pounds."
"Still counts."
Sienna laughed.
For the first time in years, she looked at her brother without feeling responsible for him.
He had entered treatment for gambling addiction.
Found legitimate work.
Cooperated fully with prosecutors.
He wasn't fixed.
Neither was she.
Neither was Damian.
Maybe adults weren't supposed to become fixed.
Maybe they were supposed to become accountable.
Two weeks later, prosecutors formally charged Damian Russo.
Racketeering.
Money laundering.
Conspiracy.
Obstruction.
He surrendered voluntarily.
Cameras surrounded the courthouse.
Sienna walked beside him until security stopped her.
Damian turned.
"This could take years."
"I know."
"You don't have to wait."
"I know."
His eyes searched hers.
Sienna smiled.
"That's why it matters."
He understood.
Choice.
Again.
Always choice.
Damian leaned forward.
They kissed once.
Then he surrendered.
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For the first time in his adult life, Damian Russo entered a building where his name could not open the door.
And Sienna watched him go willingly.
