“Spike.”
“Locking down the compound,” he says.
“Luca,” I call to my ever-present and silent second. “Call the estate. Tell Rosa to prepare rooms for every child and every woman who needs to be moved to the main house.”
“Yes,Don.”
Stefano steps closer. “Brother.”
I look at him.
His expression softens, and that almost undoes me.
“He wants you afraid.”
“He succeeded,” I admit, not caring who hears.
Victor Dane aimed for the one wound that never healed and pressed his thumb directly into the center of it.
“Yes,” I say, looking at every man in the room. “I’m afraid.”
Chris stares at me like he can’t believe the words came from my mouth.
“But fear does not weaken me.”
I pick up my jacket from the back of the chair.
“It enrages me. It sharpens me. It tells me where to aim.”
Stefano’s eyes darken.
“And where are we aiming?” he asks.
“At anyone who can reach what’s mine.”
“Then we start with Ohio,” Foster suggests.
“No,” I say. “We start with home.”
Because Victor has been watching.
Because he knows Amelia.
Because he knows Olivia.
Because he knows the shape of my worst nightmare.
And because if he truly wants to make me relive the night I lost my wife and daughter, he won’t wait for me in Ohio.
He’ll aim straight for the heart.
I turn toward the door.
“Get the estate secure. Now.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Mia
