I press my palms to my face, trying to push down the fury boiling in my chest.“Jesus Christ, Vinnie.Heruncle.”
He nods.“Makes a twisted kind of sense, doesn’t it?He would’ve had access to her.To the house.To Jacinto’s empire.No one would’ve questioned him.He probably cooked for the bastards who paid to hurt her.”
The words make my stomach turn.“So that’s it,” I say hoarsely.“It’s all in the family.”
“Yeah.”Vinnie’s voice is quiet.“Rot runs deep in that one.And that’s coming from me, a man whose family has skeletons in the closet that you can’t even imagine.”
I sink into the chair, staring at the notes without really seeing them anymore.I feel the walls closing in again, the whole picture shifting into something darker.It’s never justoneevil man.It’s always a chain of them, each one passing the sickness down like some kind of perverted inheritance.
And Daniela’s out there right now, facing him.
Her uncle.And she doesn’t even know he’s her uncle.
The rage that rises in me is cold and clean this time—no shouting, no pacing, just an iron weight settling in my chest.
I look up at Vinnie.“You still think we should wait?”
His mouth opens, then closes.He looks away.“Yes,” he says finally, though his voice wavers.“Until Belinda’s safe.After that…we go.”
I nod slowly, even though every nerve in my body screams to move.To act.
Because if Daniela is with him, and he lays one hand on her—uncle or not—I’ll burn the world down to embers.
