Page 32 of Stefano
Alceu clears his throat, his tone clipped.“They’re regrouping.Small shipments through the eastern docks, testing our response time.They want to see how far we’ll push back.”
“Then we push hard,” I snap.“We break their bones, cut their throats, burn every last trace of them until their mothers forget their names and they learn that the cartel is not welcome inside our territory.”
Severu finally speaks, his voice calm but sharp.“And while you’re busy painting the docks with blood, what about her?”
My head whips toward him, rage snapping hot.“What about her?”
“You parade her in front of the family, you fuck her, you stake your claim, now every man alive knows exactly where to hit you.She’s the bull’s-eye on your chest.”
“She was already a target,” I bite out, stalking toward him.“At least now she knows it.At least now she’s standing beside me, not hiding in shadows like some secret I’m ashamed of.”
Severu’s eyes flash.“And when the bullets come for her head?”
I step close, my voice a lethal whisper.“Then I’ll take them for her.”
Mancuso breaks the tension with a lazy grin, tossing his knife so it embeds in the map.“I say we bleed them dry.Hit their warehouses, torch their shipments, and string their men up by their fucking entrails.They want war?We’ll give them hell on earth.”
I almost smile.At least someone understands.
But Alceu shakes his head, ever the strategist.“That’s reckless.We don’t need chaos, we need precision.One wrong move, and they’ll scatter into the wind, making it harder to pin them down.We have to think bigger.Smarter.”
“They already drew first blood,” I growl.“They took her.They laid hands on her.And while you sit here drawing neat lines on paper, she still wakes up screaming my name in the middle of the night.You think I’ll let them live?Would you be this calm if it had been Guilia tied to a chair in a dingy warehouse?”The room goes quiet.I know I hit my mark.“And you Severu?”I ask turning my glare on him.“What if Lyrik had been taken and you couldn’t find her?”
The fury pouring out of me leaves nothing but silence in its wake.I slam my fists into the table, maps and markers scattering.“No more waiting.We strike.Not just to protect Andrea but all our women, and the children.To protect our family and our territory.”
Alceu’s gaze sharpens.“Then we do it right.We use her.”
The words hit like a blade to my gut.“What the fuck did you just say?”
“Not like that,” Alceu says quickly, his tone cold but calculating.“They’ll come for her again.We can control when and where.Use their obsession against them.She’s the bait that draws them into the kill box.”
Every muscle in my body goes rigid.The thought of Andrea in their crosshairs again makes bile rise in my throat.Rage snarls inside me, black and consuming.
“No.”
Severu exhales, shaking his head.“You can’t shield her forever.You think you’re protecting her, but the more you lock her away, the more she becomes the prize.Alceu’s right.Use her.End this war before it swallows us all.”
Mancuso shrugs.“Either way, Andrea’s in the middle.Better we set the trap than let them choose the ground.”
I want to tear their throats out.To carve the suggestion out of their tongues.But the brutal truth gnaws at me.They’re not wrong.If we don’t end this fast, Andrea will never be free of danger.And she deserves peace, even if I don’t.
My fists shake, my teeth grinding.“She is not bait.”
A soft knock breaks the tension.The door opens slowly, and Andrea steps inside.
Her hair is loose, tumbling over her shoulders.She’s pale, but her eyes burn.She wears one of my oversized sweaters with skinny jeans, sleeves pulled down over her hands, but she walks steady, shoulders squared.My chest seizes the second I see her.
“I want to help,” she says.
The air leaves the room.Every man stares at her and my heart stops.I’m moving before I realize it, standing between her and the others, my voice low and deadly.
“No.”The word is final, allowing no argument.
She doesn’t flinch.Her chin lifts, her voice steady.“I’m not asking.I won’t hide.I won’t wait in a locked room while they hunt me like prey.If they want me, then fine.But I won’t let them terrify me anymore.I’ll face them.With you.With my family.”
Her words tear through me.Pride and terror collide in my chest, choking me.
“You don’t know what you’re saying,” I rasp.
