I stopped recording and played it back.Perfect.Just enough fear underneath the defiance to be convincing, just enough clarity to prove he was conscious and coherent.Caterina would know her brother was in real danger.
Now for my part.I started a new recording, made sure my face was obscured by the lighting.I’d changed after arriving at the warehouse.Gone was the expensive suit, replaced with dark clothing that would be more intimidating.I’d pulled a baseball cap down over my face, shadowing all by my mouth and chin.With the background and my nondescript attire, it would take them a bit to figure out who had Luca, which meant a rescue wouldn’t be possible before the deadline approached.
“Caterina.”I kept my voice level, conversational, and altered my tone slightly.“As you can see, I have your brother.He’s unharmed currently, and he’ll stay that way if you follow my instructions exactly.”
I walked the phone closer to Luca, let the camera capture his bound form, his face set in lines of fury and fear.Then back to myself.
“Your marriage to Dante De Luca was a mistake.You made the wrong alliance for your family.”I let some of the obsession seep into my voice, let her hear what had been festering inside me since I’d first seen her.“So here are your options.Leave De Luca by midnight tomorrow.Walk away from the marriage, file for annulment, whatever legal fiction makes it official.Return to your father’s house and wait for further instructions.”
I moved closer to the camera, let my face fill more of the frame.“Do this, and Luca will be returned unharmed.Your family is reunited, the mistake is corrected, and we can discuss a more appropriate arrangement.”
I pulled back slightly.“But if you choose to stay with Dante -- if you put your husband before your brother -- then the Lombardi family loses their precious son.Permanently.I’ll send him back to Giuseppe in pieces small enough to fit in a dozen different boxes.And you’ll spend the rest of your life knowing you could have prevented it.”
I checked my watch on camera, let her see the time.“It’s midnight now.You have twenty-four hours to decide what matters more -- your marriage to a man who controls you, or your brother’s life.Choose wisely, Caterina.”
I ended the recording and reviewed both videos carefully.They conveyed exactly what I needed -- Luca alive and afraid, my ultimatum clear, the consequences explicit.Giuseppe would see these first since I was sending to his number, but they’d reach Caterina within minutes.I knew the moment Giuseppe saw it, he’d forward it to her.She’d see her brother bound and terrorized, hear my demands, and she’d understand that I was serious about every word.
I opened my contacts and found Giuseppe’s personal number -- the one he used only for family and closest associates, the one that went directly to him without screening.Attached both videos to a message and typed:Your son for your daughter’s marriage.She has twenty-four hours to choose.Make sure she sees this.
My finger hovered over the send button for just a moment.This was the point of no return.Once I sent this, war was inevitable.The alliance would shatter.Dante would come for me.Giuseppe would mobilize his entire organization.The consequences would be catastrophic for everyone involved.
But I’d been humiliated at that dinner.Been made to look weak in front of the woman I wanted.Been dismissed as irrelevant when I should have been respected as dangerous.
I hit send.The message showed delivered within seconds.
I turned to Luca, who’d been watching the whole exchange with growing horror.“Now we wait to see how much your sister truly loves you.Whether she’s willing to trade one cage for another.Whether family or obligation wins when she’s forced to choose.”
“She won’t choose you.”Luca’s voice was steady despite his circumstances.“Even if she leaves Dante, she’ll never come to you willingly.You’re fucking delusional if you think terrorizing her brother will make her want you.”
“Want is irrelevant.”I pocketed my phone and moved toward the warehouse exit.“Compliance is what matters.Once she’s out of Dante’s protection, once the alliance is broken, her options become very limited.Giuseppe will need to secure a new arrangement quickly to prevent looking weak.And I’ll be right there, offering the solution to the crisis I created.”
“You’re a monster.”
I paused at the door and looked back at him.Young, defiant, still believing that righteousness meant something in our world.“No, Luca.I’m just a man who understands that sometimes you have to break things to rebuild them correctly.Your sister will understand that eventually.After she watches you die if she makes the wrong choice, she’ll understand it very clearly.”
I stepped out into the night and pulled the heavy door closed behind me.Ricci was waiting with the others, their expressions carefully neutral.
“He stays secure but unharmed unless I give different orders,” I told them.“Full shifts, no gaps in surveillance.He tries to escape, restrain him but don’t damage him.We need him pretty for the next video if this doesn’t go according to plan.”
“Understood.”
I walked to my Maserati and slid into the driver’s seat, started the engine, and pulled out my phone again.No response yet from Giuseppe, but it had only been three minutes.Give it time.Give him time to watch the videos, to feel the horror of seeing his son bound and threatened, to call Caterina and Dante and start the panic that would consume both families.
I pulled out of the warehouse district and headed back toward my penthouse, taking streets that were empty at this hour.The city looked peaceful.Quiet.Completely unaware that I’d just ignited a war that would reshape the criminal landscape.
By tomorrow night, Caterina would have made her choice.And either way, Dante De Luca would learn that taking what was mine came with consequences he couldn’t control or contain.
I smiled at my reflection in the rearview mirror.Let the waiting begin.
* * *
The laptop screen split into six windows, each showing a different security camera feed I’d spent months gaining access to through a combination of bribery, blackmail, and technical expertise.The Lombardi estate’s main entrance.Giuseppe’s study.The De Luca compound’s security office.Dante’s penthouse building lobby.Various strategic locations where the chaos I’d created would play out in real time.
I poured myself another Macallan and settled into my leather chair, the city lights spread below me.My phone sat beside the laptop, already buzzing with encrypted messages from my contacts embedded in both families.The videos had been delivered forty minutes ago.By now, Giuseppe would have watched them.Would have called his wife, his security chief, probably Dante.The dominoes were falling exactly as I’d planned.
The first visible reaction came from the Lombardi estate feed.Cars arriving in rapid succession -- expensive vehicles with tinted windows carrying men whose body language screamed emergency even through grainy security footage.Giuseppe was calling in his inner circle.War council.Crisis management.All the theatrical responses that came from having your heir kidnapped and your careful alliance threatened.
I zoomed in on the study feed -- I’d paid Giuseppe’s IT specialist thirty thousand dollars for backdoor access to the estate’s entire security system six months ago, money well spent -- and watched figures move behind the ornate desk.Giuseppe pacing.Mama standing near the window with her arms wrapped around herself.An older man I recognized as Antonio Rossi, Giuseppe’s consigliere, speaking with animated gestures that suggested he was advocating for immediate action.
