I don’t hesitate. "I’ll take it."
She hands the folder to me, but her fingers don’t release it at first.
"You understand this makes you invisible. If anything happens to you, no one will know until it’s far too late to care."
"That’s the idea."
She lets go.
I slip the folder into my coat.
"You leave in five days," she adds. "A contact will meet you at Changi. You must inform your brother."
I nod once and turn to go.
Her voice follows me, quieter now.
"If this is about Dante, you should know he’s not the man he pretends to be."
"I know exactly what kind of man he is."
"That’s not what I meant."
I don’t ask her to explain.
I don’t want to know what she’s already guessed.
In fact, I say absolutely nothing as the car returns to the Rossi estate.
Back at the Rossi estate, the tension is immediate.
Rafa is in the gallery, already pacing when I walk in.
He’s holding one of the older ledgers, open to the page that details our holdings in the Venetian corridor, but I know he hasn’t been reading it.
With a little sigh, I deliver information regarding my departure.
As expected, he takes it with all the ease of milk going sour.
"You want to tell me what the hell that’s about?"
I shrug, ensuring my appearance comes off as noncommittal.
"It’s a directive from the Salvatores."
He closes the ledger, not gently.
"You’re not a soldier. They don’t send you places without asking. What did you offer them?"
"Nothing they didn’t already want."
"Gianna—"
"I can’t tell you the details. It’s confidential. Luca and Valentina asked for discretion, and breaking that would mean violating the conditions of the assignment. You know how this works."
"You expect me to believe this isn’t some half-baked move to get you out of the way?"
I meet his glare with one of my own.