"We end this. The Vergas, the threat, all of it."
"How?"
"I've been thinking about that." He moves to the kitchen island where he's spread out photos and documents Tommy brought him. "The attack on the first safe house was too coordinated. They knew exactly where we were, exactly how to get in."
I join him at the island, studying the surveillance photos. "Someone gave them information."
"Could be someone in my organization or yours."
"You think there's a traitor?"
"I think there's someone who benefits from both our families being weakened. Someone who's been playing us against each other."
"The Vergas."
"Or someone working with them." He points to one of the photos. "This man, Leandro Manzo. His brother died protecting your family, but he's working for the people who killed him."
"Money?"
"Maybe. Or they have leverage over him. Either way, he's our way in. We’re tailing him everywhere now. He doesn’t make a move without us knowing about it."
I study the photo. Leandro Manzo looks ordinary, unremarkable. The kind of man you'd pass on the street without a second glance.
"What are you thinking?"
"We use him to get to whoever's running this operation. Find out who's been feeding them information, eliminate the threat at its source."
"What happens after that?"
"Then your family and mine go back to our respective corners, and this alliance ends."
"What about us?"
He looks up from the photos, his expression guarded. "That depends on whether we can figure out how to make this work without getting ourselves killed."
"Can we?"
"I think we're both in danger if we try, and in danger if we don't if your father finds out. I don't know what the hell this is between us. All I know is that I can't walk away from it."
"Do you want to?"
"I should. This goes against everything I was raised to believe, everything I've built my life on." He moves closer, his hands finding my waist. "But I don't. Which makes me either brave or stupid."
"What if choosing me gets you killed?"
"Then I'll die knowing I chose something worth dying for.”
"What’s the next step?" I ask.
"Now we eliminate the threat. Whatever it takes."
Chapter 21: Damon
I stand at the floor-to-ceiling windows of the house, watching the sun set over the water, my phone heavy in my hand. Tommy's latest intelligence report confirms what I already suspected—the Vergas aren't going to stop. They'll keep coming, keep escalating, until one of our families is completely destroyed.
Behind me, I hear Viviana in the kitchen, humming to herself as she makes dinner. She's in danger because of me. Because I chose to protect her instead of handing her back immediately. Because somewhere between duty and desire, I fell in love with her.
My phone buzzes. A text from my father:New intelligence. Vergas planning something bigger. Need to meet.
