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A bitter satisfaction courses through me at the news, but it’s quickly overshadowed by my concern for Jess. “And my wife? Any word on Garibaldi’s man?”
There’s a pause, heavy with unspoken worries. “Nothing yet but Matteo and Lucas aren’t responding.”
“I should’ve stayed there,” I mutter, more to myself than to Tony, the weight of my decisions pressing down on me. “What if all of this—every move I’ve made—isn’t enough to keep her safe?”
My voice cracks for the first time since Catherine died. “What if my empire, my power, can’t protect the one thing that truly matters?”
“You couldn’t have known. We’ll handle it. Just get back to her.”
The call ends, leaving me staring out the window at the dark expanse below. The comforting hum of the jet’s engines does little to ease the restlessness that consumes me. I’ve lived my life in the shadows, danced with danger at every turn, but nothing has ever scared me like the thought of losing Jess.
As the miles disappear beneath us, I find myself reflecting on the choices that led me here, to this moment of desperate flight across the world to protect the woman I love.
The mafia world, with its unspoken rules and bloody handshakes, has been my reality for so long, but now, with Jess, the stakes are much higher.
I thought I was helping Catherine when I killed Max. But all I did was shorten her life. Is history about to repeat itself? Since I saved Jess from those debt collectors, I thought I was helping her, but have I merely hastened her own demise?
I lean back against the plush seat, closing my eyes in a futile attempt to find peace in the darkness behind my lids. But peace is a stranger to me now.
My mind replays the conversation with Tony, his report on the destruction of Garibaldi’s stronghold bringing no satisfaction, only a hollow victory tinged with the acid taste of my own hypocrisy.
I’ve always justified my actions, my control over everything and everyone around me, as necessary—measures to protect, to keep safe the world I hold dear.
But in the quiet, unyielding dark, a whisper of doubt creeps in, a serpent coiling around my heart. Is it truly for Jess, for her safety, that I wield my power so absolutely, or is it the darker parts of me, the parts I keep shackled and hidden, that revel in the control, the dominion over life and death?
The thought is a blade, sharp and unforgiving, slicing through the fabric of the lie I’ve woven around myself.
I see my reflection in the darkened window beside me, a ghostly visage staring back with eyes too old, too tired. I see my father’s eyes, the same hardness, the same unyielding will that I despised, that I feared I would one day inherit.
And in that reflection, I’m forced to confront the truth of my nature, the flaw at the core of my being.
My need to control, to dominate, is not just a shield to protect those I love but a sword I wield too freely, too eagerly. It’s a hunger, insatiable, that has driven me to the edge of becoming the monster I swore I would never be.
I think of the joy I felt beating that man, the pleasure his pain brought me. Was it for her that I killed him? Or because I enjoy killing?
A memory surfaces, unbidden yet welcome—a memory of Carcassonne castle, bathed in sunlight, with Jess by my side.
I remember watching her as she stood atop the castle walls, the wind catching her hair, making it dance like wildfire around her face.
She looked so free, so utterly alive in that moment, her spirit untamed by the weight of the world. It was then, watching her embrace the sheer joy of discovery, that I realized how deeply I had fallen for her, how much I wanted to protect that light in her eyes at all costs.
That day at Carcassone, we had been just a couple in love, untethered from the realities of my world. There were no guards shadowing us, no enemies lurking in the shadows—just the two of us and the promise of endless possibilities.
The jet touches down and I make a vow. I will face Garibaldi, end this threat to my family, but I will also face myself, challenge the darkness within and find a way to be the man Jess believes I am, the man I want to be.
For her, for us, I will walk this tightrope between light and dark, find the strength not in the control but in the release, in the trust that love, true love, is the only power I need to protect, to save, to free us both.
NINETEEN
Jess
The quiet of the bedroom feels heavy, suffocating, as I sit alone, tracing the patterns on the bedspread with my fingers. I have the notebook open in front of me, the list of places left to visit.
I don’t want to go to any of them. I don’t want to do anything. All I can think about is Alessandro beating that poor man, yelling in his face.
Matteo is out, fetching a new phone for me, leaving Lucas to patrol the perimeter alone. My heart aches for Alessandro, his absence a constant echo in the hollows of my soul.
I miss him with an intensity that surprises me. I don’t even know why I miss him after what I saw him do.
