"Six weeks isn't enough time. If we don't find it, Kemal will leak everything. The Sicilians will move against us the moment they hear about the hit."
The voices fade as the men move away, and I strain to hear more, but they're gone.
I sit back on my heels and process what I just heard.
Dante's in trouble with someone named Kemal.
There's a missing shipment and a deadline that expires in six weeks.
Something about a hit that could destroy his alliances.
This is bigger than I thought.
It's not just about me and Sofia.
This is about Dante's entire organization collapsing around him, and we're caught in the middle of it.
All of it makes me feel less and less safe the longer I think about it.
I replace the grate and tighten the screws back into place with my fingers.
Then I return to the bed and sit beside Sofia.
My mind drifts back to that night six years ago that started all of this.
I was twenty-one and desperate.
I owed money to a crime syndicate that ran a casino in Trastevere.
I'd gambled away everything I had, chasing the high of winning and ignoring the reality of losing.
When I couldn't pay, they put me to work at their club.
I stripped for men who looked at me like I was meat.
I smiled and pretended I didn't hate every second of it.
The boss was Antonelli.
He was tall and blond with the blue eyes of a predator even when he smiled.
He liked to watch me work and make comments about what he'd do to me if I didn't pay off my debt fast enough.
The other girls warned me to stay away from him.
They told me stories about women who disappeared or ended up working in worse places doing worse things.
One night, Antonelli called me into his office after my shift.
I knew what he wanted.
I'd seen the way he looked at me all week, the way his gaze lingered on my body when I walked past him.
He told me my debt was taking too long to repay.
He told me there were other ways I could work it off and then reached for me, grabbing at my waist, pulling me closer.
I froze.
