Page 112 of The Hitman's Secret Baby
Luca sits at the far end, beneath a massive oil painting of his father. His expression is unreadable.
His hands rest lightly on the arms of his chair, but no one who knows him is fooled by that pose.
Marco leans against the far wall, his arms folded across his chest, a storm barely contained. Sofia sits beside him, all grace and glass, her wine untouched. She nods at me faintly but says nothing. I feel the judgment in her silence.
Enzo steps forward. He does not flinch. He does not glance back at me. He only says the words as if he has already bled them.
"I will not kill her."
Luca lifts one brow. Just one. The silence that follows is thick, long, the kind that coils around the throat and waits to see who breathes first.
"I did not ask whether you would," Luca replies. "I asked whether you could."
Enzo's jaw tightens, but he doesn't blink. "I cannot."
The air hums. Marco's mouth moves into something that might be a sneer. Sofia closes her eyes, barely.
"She is guilty," Marco says quietly. "She helped Valentina escape."
"I know what she did," Enzo says, and his voice is colder now, carved from something more dangerous than rage. "And I also know what she risked by coming back."
Gabriel steps slightly in front of me. He does not speak, but Luca's eyes land on him now. And stay.
"Yours?" Luca asks.
Enzo doesn't look away. "Yes."
There is a moment—just one—where Luca's gaze narrows.
He shifts back slightly in his chair, like the weight of the truth has just pressed deeper into his chest.
He is calculating. Always calculating.
"I see," Luca murmurs.
"You want to punish someone?" Enzo says. "Punish me."
"And if I had asked you to prove your loyalty?" Luca asks, his voice deceptively soft. "If I had put a gun in your hand and told you to finish what was started?"
"I would have put it to my own head before I touched her."
The words are not loud.
They don't need to be.
Everyone in the room hears them.
Gabriel hears them too. I feel him look up at me, his hand still clutching mine.
"That won't be necessary."
Every head turns.
The doors swing open, and Valentina steps inside.
20
ENZO
