“They will,” my father responded and went back to tapping his fingers on the tabletop. “They know they’re not ready for full-scale war. This benefits both families.”
This gave us time to watch and see, and allowed us time to decide whether this would become something contained or something that burned everything down with it.
“And who exactly do you plan on offering?” Viktor asked, though the answer was already sitting in the room.
My father didn’t look away from me when he spoke. “Alexei. Anyone else would be an insult.”
I held his gaze, letting the weight of it settle without letting it show on my face.
“What makes you think they’ll offer someone worth that kind of exchange?” Viktor asked.
“They will,” my father said. “They understand exactly what this is. A deal that benefits both sides.”
“Who are you thinking?” I asked finally.
My father didn’t hesitate. “Lucia Rossi.”
Her name settled in the room. The daughter ofthe head of the ‘Ndrangheta crime family was a valuable asset.
I held his gaze, letting that reality sit where it needed to. This wasn’t about whether I agreed or not. It never was when it came to decisions like this. This was about leverage and control.
“A marriage won’t stop what they’ve already started,” I said, my voice even, not challenging, just stating the truth of it.
“No,” my father replied just as evenly, “but it will force them to reconsider how far they’re willing to take it.”
“And if they don’t?” Viktor asked, his tone edged but quieter now, like even he understood where this was going.
“Then we’ll already be in a position to respond before they make their next move,” my father said. “Closer than we’ve ever been.”
I let out a slow breath. I was weighing the decision because I was stepping into it already understanding what this would require and what it would cost. Because there was no version of this where it stayed simple, and there sure as hell wasn’t one where it stayed clean.
“Then we do it,” I said.
There was no hesitation in it, no room left forargument. Dragging this out didn’t change what needed to be done.
My father gave a single nod, like that was the only response he’d expected from me, and just like that, it was decided.
The Rossi family had made their move when they targeted our operation, when they tried to take control of something that wasn’t theirs to touch, and this—this was ours.
Not retaliation. Not yet. But something far more dangerous.
Because if they thought tying our families together would give them an advantage, if they thought this would give them a way to get closer without consequence, then they didn’t understand who they were dealing with.
And by the time they did…
It would already be too late.
Chapter Three
Lucia
The house always looked peaceful from the outside, a beautiful facade of what it actually was inside.
The gardens were trimmed to perfection, stretching out in manicured lines beyond the house, the stone walkways swept clean, and the tall arched windows left open just enough to let in the late afternoon air. The marble exterior and ironwork details were polished to a quiet shine that spoke of wealth without ever needing to announce it.
It created an image people trusted, the kind that suggested stability and control, but that illusion had never fooled me. I’d grown up inside these walls, and I understood better than anyone that quiet didn’t mean safe.
It meant that whatever needed to stay hidden was being handled somewhere else, far enough away that it didn’t disrupt what people were meant to see.
