Page 50 of Coerced Queen

His voice is resigned.“I’m not sure.Soon.Sav hasn’t shared all the details with me yet.”

I push down my mounting anger and anxiety, trying to keep calm.“How’s it supposed to work?”

He sucks air through his teeth, fixing his gaze on the window before he looks back at me with a labored exhale.“Sav is going to set a trap.He’s going to let information leak about a meeting with the cartels opposing the Morellis at an abandoned location.When Raphael strikes, he’ll have him and his men surrounded.”

I know exactly what weapons we have at our disposal because I saw the lists that went with the payments, and it’s not nearly enough.With the territory Raphael stole from Luigi, the Morellis’ area is twice the size of Saverio’s now.Plus, they have the cartels backing them while we have a vastly diminished and weakened army.

“There’s no way Saverio can go up against the Morellis and win.”

Dante only watches me.

It takes me all of a second to understand.“No.”I back up, shaking my head.“Saverio is going to sacrifice himself.”

“You don’t know that.”Dante’s argument is weak.“Sav has always been a clever strategist.”

“He’ll be totally outnumbered,” I exclaim.“I know him, Dante.He won’t offer up his men.He’ll never lead them into a death trap.He’s going in alone.He’s going to walk into that fake meeting, luring out Raphael, and die in there to give his men a chance to surround from the outside.”

Dante studies me with a brooding expression.

“Where are you supposed to be when this ingenious plan goes down?”I ask.

“Leading the men from the outside,” he says with reluctance.

“Exactly.”I nod several times, close to tears.“It’s a suicide mission.”

“You don’t know that,” he says again.

“How could you let him plan something like this?”I cry out.

Dante stands there stoically, compassion washing over his features.“He wants what’s best for you and Claire.”

“Getting himself killed isnotwhat’s best for us.”

“Raphael won’t stop, not until he has everything.And God forbid the day that happens, because he doesn’t take prisoners.If he ever manages to get his hands on Sav’s territory, he’s not going to mercifully let you live.People like him don’t fuck with revenge.They don’t take chances.He’s too thorough to leave any loose ends.”

“I won’t let Saverio do it.”Inside, I’m hysterical.The fact that I manage to continue calmly is a miracle.“Saverio doesn’t have to be bait.We can attack and fall back, letting them waste their ammunition while saving ours.Then we hit them before another shipment arrives.”

“You’ll never deplete their bullets and grenades with a single mock charge.”

“But a series of attacks will.If we target them every time they’re on the move and push them into a corner, they’ll have to fight back.”

“They’ll go for Sav, and if they can’t get to him, they’ll go after you and Claire.They’ll use anything and everyone he cares about.”

I lift my chin.“They won’t.”

Dante laughs.“Don’t you get it?They’ll torture you.They’ll send him pieces of your body until he gives himself up, and then they’ll kill you.”

The thought makes me shiver.“It won’t get to that.”

“What makes you so sure?”

Needing the contact, I lay a shaking hand over the blanket that covers Claire.“I won’t let it.”

He gives me a baffled look.“How exactly are you going to wangle that?”

“I’m going to make his pregnant wife disappear.”

Dante reels.“Excuse me?”

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