“And the last one,” I add, “worked for Matteo directly.They’re getting bold.”
“Too bold,” Luc mutters.
“What do you propose?”asks a grizzled voice near the end of the table.“How do we protect our people?”
“We keep our mouths shut.For now.If this leaks, we’ve got panic in the streets, and they’ll vanish like ghosts.Tell your women to stay in at night, and don’t let them go anywhere alone.Say whatever the hell you want to make it stick.We’re investigating.And if any of you see or hear anything, your first call is to me, Lucas or Matteo.”
Everyone nods.
Everyone except him.Gian fucking Mancini.
He leans back in his chair with the smugness of a man who’s been waiting for his moment.
“You’re saying this has been happening for months, and you only tell us now?”
My eyes lock onto him.Cold.Unblinking.“As I said, we didn’t connect the dots until recently.We didn’t bring this here.”My voice drops.“But now that it’s here, we’ll end it.”
Gian tilts his head, lips curling.“Or maybe you did know, and you’re too weak to deal with it yourself.Maybe it’s time we start thinking about…alternative leadership.”
The air goes razor-sharp.Even the walls seem to hold their breath.
I lean forward, smile slow and dangerous.“Is that your way of nominating yourself?”
He shrugs, casual.“I’m just saying, maybe it’s time for fresh blood.”
I laugh, quiet and sharp, the sound of a predator right before the kill.I shake my head, voice turning ice-cold.“I’m going to let that slide.Once.Chalk it up to your shock.But you challenge me again in front of these men, and I’ll deal with you the way my family’s always handled traitors.You’ll leave this world in pieces even your mother can’t identify.”
No one moves.Gian’s face is pale now.Good.
I stand and let my voice ring across the room like a hammer.“Don’t forget who holds the fucking leash around here.You all owe your power to the alliances my family built.Don’t mistake my transparency for weakness.I brought this to you because it affects all of us.But make no mistake—if any of you cross me, you become the next problem I solve.”
No one argues.No one breathes.“You’re dismissed.”
The chairs scrape back one by one as the leaders file out, silent and subdued.Gian meets my eyes once more before leaving, but there’s no fire left in his gaze.Good.Fire gets people burned.
Luc stays behind with Teo.I get up to look out through the window, wanting to punch something.
“Well,” Luc drawls.“That went well.”
I rub a hand over my face.“Expected nothing less.”I turn back and lock eyes with my enforcer.“Teo, got anything from the letter?”
“Nothing.The paper is not distinctive enough—it could have been torn from any notebook.The ink comes from a ballpoint, you can find a dime a dozen.The writing style gave nothing away either.The fuckers are careful.”
“Goddamnit,” I mutter.Another dead end.
Luc crosses his arms.“They’ll slip up eventually.”
“Yeah,” I say darkly.“But how many more girls will vanish before they do?”
Or worse…
‘…before something precious is taken from you.’
* * * *
When I finally step into the condo, it is well past midnight.My body is numb from exhaustion, but my mind is still thrumming, wired from hours of staring at screens and chasing ghosts that keep slipping through our fingers.
Every night this week has ended the same way—back at HQ, rewinding surveillance footage from the street outside Anastasia’s building, frame by frame.Watching her walk in alone at dawn after her shift.Watching nothing at all afterward.Because she never came out.
