Page 97 of Daddies of the Underworld

My vision blurred. I ordered men into death without blinking. I faced knives, guns, betrayal, and a father who believed cruelty was perfectly normal. None of that prepared me for Sofia staring at me with Dante’s blood on her clothes.

The medic team rushed past with Dante on a stretcher. Blood smeared the edge of his mouth. One hand hung off the side of the gurney, fingers twitching like he was still trying to reach for Sofia.

“Daddy.” Sofia lunged for him.

Nina held her back. “No, baby. Let them take care of him.”

I’d seen full grown men blanch at easier sights than the one Dante presented. And yet, my daughter threw herself at him without hesitation. She was already a force to be reckoned with. I couldn’t wait to see what she became.

“I want Daddy.” Sofia sniffled into Nina’s shirt.

“I know.” Nina stood as the medics loaded Dante into the armored medical vehicle.

A medic climbed in after him, both hands pressed against the wound. The door slammed, and Luca ran after them with his laptop tucked under his arm. “I’m going with them. I can run comms from the vehicle." He climbed in, not waiting for my agreement, and the vehicle tore away toward the hospital with two escort cars behind it.”

I should have cleared the road so the medical team could be closer. Once I’d known for sure where Sofia was, I should have…I shoved the thought away. Regrets never saved anyone.

Dante was too stubborn to die. I had to believe that. I still had work to do. I stood beside Nina and Sofia, putting one hand on Sofia’s head. “Get them in the car.” I did not have to call a name. My men moved, closing in around them.

Nina’s head snapped up. “Matteo.”

“Sofia leaves now. You go with her.”

She looked ready to fight until Sofia whimpered and buried her face deeper in Nina’s shoulder. That ended the argument before it began. As I’d known it would. Nina might feel the need to stay with me out of love and respect, but we all knew that Sofia came first. “It’s okay. Go.” I kissed the top of Sofia’s head. “Stay with your mother.”

Nina caught my wrist before I could turn away. “Come back.”

I closed my hand around hers, letting some of my arrogance leak out when I smiled. “It will take a better man than Viktor to make me leave you.”

Paolo met me near the command center with blood on his sleeve and Dante’s rifle slung over his back. “Viktor is not in the tower.”

I’d geared up with the rest of them, but I added one more pistol to the holster at my back as my earpiece crackled. Luca’s voice came out rough amid the medics shouting at each other. “Matteo, Marco says Viktor won’t use the roads.”

I turned toward the transport where Marco had been kept under guard during the assault. I’d told him he did not have to come, but he’d been adamant that he needed to see Viktor’s dead eyes before he would ever be able to sleep in peace. “Luca, patch him through.”

We’d let Marco listen in but he’d only been able to talk to Luca unless I ordered otherwise.

Marco wheezed in my ear, his panic evident in every breath. “There’s an old aqueduct under the east vineyard. He kept it off the blueprints. It runs from the lower cellar to an old pump house. It floods in winter, which isn’t a problem now.” Like Nina, Marco tended to prattle when nervous. “Two men can fit at a time. He’s a coward at heart. He’s probably already on his way there.”

I faced the east slope where smoke curled above the main house.

“Look for the stone shed below the vines.” Marco wheezed again. “He’ll have another door. He always keeps more than one way out. There’s a cistern access beneath the pump house. If he reaches it, he’ll come out near the ravine.”

Like the rat he was, Viktor was not the kind of man who stepped into battle himself. He preferred to run and hide, to escape and try again another day.

Not this time.

Marco cleared his throat. “I want to come with you. I can show you.”

“You can barely walk.” I moved toward the vineyard.

“Please, Matteo.”

I read the underlying plea and hesitated. “Nina will kill me if she finds out.”

“She’ll understand.”

“Let him out.” I might regret it, but some part of me believed that Marco hoped to redeem himself today. I understood that. He’d hurt the only person who loved him. I waited until he shuffled out of the van and close to my side before I stopped him. “Stay behind me.”