We are on the private jet, and I figured I’d use the seclusion of the flight to break the news to Luc and Teo.
“It’ll be a clusterfuck, I know, but I’m done.I’m stepping down.You’ll do fine as the new Don.And I trust you to keep the wolves at bay.”
“I don’t fucking want to be Don.Ask Teo to do it.”he snarls.I look at Teo, who merely holds up his hands, signaling that he wants to have nothing to do with this conversation.
I’m getting frustrated.“Then fucking give the title to Gian Mancini for all I care,” I grit out.
“No fucking way!”Luc is seething, his hands are balled into fists and I’ve never seen him this pissed.We are both glaring and snarling at each other.
“It’s her, isn’t it?”Teo’s calm voice cuts through the tension like a blade, and both of us snap our heads in his direction.I am the first to break eye contact, my gaze drifting to the window, but that is all the answer he needs.Luc curses under his breath, his face tight with both anger and something raw…hurt.
“Have you talked this over with her first?”Teo asks, his tone steady.
“There is no talking.She doesn’t want this life.”
Luc cusses again, his jaw working, but his expression betrays his hurt.He’s not angry anymore.Only disappointed.
“Look, I know it’s unexpected and I will help you ease into the role.”I try to reason with him.“I will stay until we’ve dismantled this human trafficking ring, and then I’m gone.”
He opens his mouth to protest, but I cut him off, my voice firm, commanding.“I gave you a heads-up out of respect for our friendship,” I say, locking eyes with him.“But don’t forget—I’m still the Don for now.The final decision is mine.”
He leans back in his seat, his jaw clenched, eyes hard.
I sigh and try to defuse the tension.“Let’s focus on the matters at hand.There are lives on the line.This new lead might give us a breakthrough.”
Teo had pulled a few characters from a corrupted message buried deep in the dark web, barely enough to piece together one possible word—Manteca.Now we are en route to California, hoping the city with the same name will give us more clues.We are halfway to Stockton and will land in about three hours.
I look down at my watch and frown.I should have received an update from one of Lily’s bodyguards ten minutes ago.I unlock my phone to check if I missed a notification, but there is nothing.No new messages.
Fifteen minutes later there is still nothing.I try to call Lily on her phone.The line rings until the call goes to voicemail.Dread coils in my gut, dark and poisonous.Teo is already on his phone with his team.When he hangs up, his face is grim, his expression unreadable.“D, there’s been a problem.”
I have the jet turned around in less than five minutes.
* * * *
Too many fucking hours later, we finally arrive at the Bianchi estate.The mansion is already crawling with my men.I’d given strict orders—nothing gets touched, and the authorities are to be kept out of this.
On the flight back and through the drive from the airstrip, I’ve kept myself locked down, detached, cold.Each heartbeat was a countdown toward action, toward war.For now, I must be the Don—focused, deadly.Not the man whose soul is unraveling thread by thread.
The moment the car begins to slow, I’m already out.The door slams behind me as I bolt up the stone steps.The cold wind does nothing to douse the fire under my skin.
My men—her guards—lie motionless at the top of the steps.With execution-style shots clean through the head.They didn’t even have time to reach for their weapons.
Ice slithers down my spine.This was precise and professional.
I storm into the house, my steps echoing off the marble like gunshots.The scent of blood hits me first.Then I see her.
Daria.
Crimson pools around her chest where the bullet entered.Her glazed eyes are locked on the chandelier above, her mouth slightly parted, as if death had caught her mid-sentence.I don’t waste time grieving her.
“Where are they?”my voice comes out rusty and foreign in my ears.
“No trace of them, D.”Luc’s voice is ringing from far away.“Our men looked everywhere.There are no other bodies, and no survivors.It looks like the struggle took place in the living room and the women were taken from here.”
Cold rage seeps into my soul and my vision narrows, I can’t breathe.The walls of the room close around me, the white noise in my ears broken only by Teo’s voice as he relays orders with a clipped urgency, phone glued to his ear.
“There’s no camera feed, nothing outside, nothing inside.Either they were cut or never existed.”
