Page 98 of Revenge & Ruin

The car speeds down the deserted highway, the hum of the engine the only sound in the silence stretching between us.

Teo’s jaw is clenched, his gaze locked ahead, not sparing me a single glance, but I can feel the anger radiating from him, crackling through the air like electricity.

“Isabella,” he says suddenly, voice low, taut, and it’s enough to make me shiver, “tell me exactly what he said. Word for word.”

I swallow, forcing myself to remember everything he had planned for Phase Two. “He…he wanted to make sure Rocco wouldn’t try to avenge you. He knew protection around him would be lighter now. He was going to attack him at his home.”

“Cas is with him,” Teo growls, his foot pushing the gas ever harder.

Cas…the pregnant wife from the wedding…the thought actually eases some of my anxiety. “He wouldn’t attack if she was there.”

“Forgive me for not believing the Natalis aren’t above murdering women and children.” Teo’s knuckles whiten on the wheel, and the car surges forward with a low growl.

“Leonwouldn’t,”I insist.

But his silence is worse than if he’d shouted. The worst part is, he’s right to blame me. It’s my family, my blood, doing this.

I bite my lip, looking out at the passing lights of the city. They blur as tears gather in my eyes, but I blink them away. This isn’t about me. This is about saving lives—about stopping Leon before he does something we can never come back from.

The minutes drag like hours, each one filling me with dread. I can’t shake the image of Cas and Rocco in their brownstone, blissfully unaware of what’s coming.

I imagine Cas, her hand resting on her belly, maybe reading or drifting off to sleep, feeling safe with her husband by her side. I close my eyes, and it’s all I can do not to scream.

Teo grabs his phone out of his pocket and thrusts it at me. “Call him.”

I do as he says, giving up on my own phone in favor of punching in Rocco’s details.

The phone rings. And rings and rings.

I don’t wait for Teo’s instruction, I find Cassandra’s number and call that next.

Nothing.

“They’re not answering, are they?” Teo says, his voice tight and with barely controlled panic.

A sick feeling settles in my stomach, dread settling over me like a heavy fog. What if we’re already too late? The thought makes me feel faint, and I clutch at my seatbelt, barely able to breathe.

Finally, we turn onto the narrow Brooklyn street, the brownstone just a block away.

But even before we’re close, I see it—orange flames licking up the dark sky, the air thick with smoke. The smell of burning wood, rubber, everything mingles into a thick, acrid scent that fills my nose, my lungs, choking me.

“No,” I whisper, barely able to get the word out as Teo slams on the brakes, bringing the car to a screeching halt in the middle of the street.

He’s out in seconds, running toward the house, not even waiting to see if I’m behind him. My feet stumble as I follow, the ground unsteady beneath me, my heart racing.

Rocco’s brownstone is engulfed, flames curling around the windows, black smoke pouring out. The fire’s so intense it lights up the entire street in a flickering, hellish glow.

I can’t see inside, but I can hear it—the crackle of flames, the shattering of glass. And the terrifying thought that Rocco and Cas are somewhere in there, trapped.

“Rocco!” Teo shouts, voice hoarse as he fights his way toward the entrance. But a wall of fire blocks him, so intense that he has to step back, shielding his face from the heat.

His fists clench, his entire body straining helplessly as he stares at the inferno, chest heaving with ragged breaths.

I take a step toward him, reaching out, but I don’t know what to say. There’s nothing Icansay. The truth is there in front of us, in the destruction, the horror Leon has unleashed.

Teo’s voice breaks as he yells, “Rocco!” over and over, his voice barely carrying over the roar of the flames. He turns to me, eyes wild, pleading. “We have to get them out. Isabella, there has to be a way?—”

But the look on his face says he knows, deep down, that there’s nothing we can do.

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