“You’re not leaving,” he said, leaning forward now, his voice tight with anger.“I absolutely forbid it.”
Her eyes softened slightly then.She looked almost doe-eyed.But there was nothing gentle about the words that followed.
“This,” she said quietly, “is exactly the kind of attitude that made De Marco leave us.”
Complete and utter silence followed, so taut you could hear a pin drop.The name moved through the space—felt, not seen.I’d heard that Raze and Tone had a brother I’d never met.
Raze froze.
“So tell me,” she continued, her voice steady, cutting, “is that what you want?Another estranged sibling?”
No one spoke.Obviously because De Marco was a wound they all still carried.I didn’t know much about her brother who’d left the family fold years ago, but obviously, his abandonment was still felt deeply to this day.
What I did know was that he was gone without warning.Without explanation.No contact.No trace.He’d vanished so cleanly it was like he’d erased himself from existence.And none of them—not Atlas.Not Gianni.Nor Marcello.Not even Raze—had been able to find him.
I watched it settle over them.The weight of not knowing.
Raze’s jaw clenched, the fight draining out of him all at once as he leaned back in his chair, dragging a hand over his face.He looked exhausted.Defeated.
“Do what you want,” he muttered finally.
It wasn’t approval.But it wasn’t resistance anymore, either.Because Tone had obviously hit him with the thing she knew would hurt the most.
The room breathed again.
Atlas let the silence sit for a moment before moving on.
“If you leave,” he said, his tone shifting back to business, “we’ll need to discuss a replacement.”
Tone’s head snapped toward him.
“I haven’t even left yet.”
“And if you do,” he continued calmly, “we can’t be without a medic.”
“So you’re already planning to replace me?”
“We’re planning for all outcomes.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“It is when lives are involved.”
Her chair scraped slightly as she leaned forward, anger rising again.
“I’m still here.”
“For how long?”He snapped back at her, suddenly angry.
“Unbelievable,” she muttered.
That was the moment Gianni chose to lose his shit.
“What the fuck do you want, Tone?!”
The outburst cracked through the room, loud and sudden enough to pull everyone’s attention to him.
Even her.
