“Cesare Dellamare,” Nikolai says, his pale gaze fixed on me.“The Italian Serena was supposed to marry.”He pauses, letting the weight of the moment build.“He’s not just connected to the trafficking operation.He has been running it for years under the Camorra’s protection.When Dracul fell, Cesare realized, just like we did, that Dracul wasn’t the top dog.He’s trying to forge new alliances to protect his enterprise.”
The name hits me like a jab to the sternum.Cesare.The man who dared grab my wife and tried to kiss her.The way I threw him against a wall and broke his nose gave me little satisfaction for his crimes.
Everyone knows Serena’s a great fuck.
His words echo in my memory.I should have killed him then.
“Son of a bitch,” Tommy mutters, echoing my thoughts.
“It gets worse.”Nikolai’s voice is dry as bone.“Giovanni DiLorenzo has been facilitating the operation for almost ten years.Laundering money through his legitimate businesses.Providing transport.Using his political connections to ensure certain shipments pass through customs without inspection.”
Nikolai’s words rearrange everything in my world.He’s got solid proof that Giovanni DiLorenzo, the man who helped found the Syndicate alongside my own father and other families, has been breaking our code of conduct for almost a decade.
“I have inside sources.People I offered protection so that they would come forward.”He taps the folder with one long finger.“Financial records spanning eight years.Shipping routes through three continents.Property deeds for locations where victims are held before transport.All of it traces back to Giovanni.”
I reach for the folder, flipping through the documents with numb fingers.Bank statements from accounts in Cyprus and the Caymans that I traced last week.Photographs of warehouses in rural Massachusetts that match locations Serena flagged in her investigation.Manifests listing cargo that was human beings.
Women and children, reduced to line items on a shipping invoice.
And Giovanni’s signature on half the paperwork.
Dave leans back in his chair, his jaw tight.“This changes everything.”
“The arranged marriage wasn’t business as usual.Cesare wanted legitimized access to the Syndicate.Giovanni probably wanted a bigger cut of Cesare’s operation,” Tommy says, connecting the pieces.
“And Serena was the bargaining chip.”The words taste like ash in my mouth.“Her own father was willing to trade her to a monster for profit.Willing to hand his daughter to a man who shows no respect for other human beings.”
Silence settles over the room like a shroud.
I think of her face when she first told me about Cesare.The way her voice trembled when she described his cold stare, the emptiness behind his eyes, the wrongness she sensed in him.She knew something was off.She trusted her instincts enough to run, to come to me in the middle of the night and ask for my help.
She just didn’t know how deep the rot went.
None of us did.
Dave breaks the silence first.His voice is careful, measured, the tone he uses when he’s about to say something he knows I won’t want to hear.“Shelby, I need to ask you something.”
I meet his eyes.“Ask.”
“Can we really trust Serena?”
The question lands like a grenade in the middle of the room.
“She’s been helping us gather evidence, hasn’t she?”Tommy steps up before I can respond.“For fuck’s sake, brother.Shelby’s wife isn’t the enemy here.”
I shoot my twin a grateful look.
“I’m not suggesting she’s the enemy,” Dave says, sincere, holding up a hand.“But Giovanni is her father.Blood is blood.She might be building castles in clouds, trying to justify his actions.Now that we’ve got undeniable proof of what he’s really done, how he’s been using people, using her...”He trails off, leaving the implication hanging in the air between us.
“Serena chose me over blood loyalty when she asked me to help her escape the arranged marriage.”My voice stays steady despite the turmoil churning in my gut.“She’s been digging through her family’s records, risking everything to expose the truth.She’s not going to flip because the truth is uglier than she expected.”
“You’re certain?”
“Absolutely.”
Dave studies me for a long moment.I hold his gaze, letting him see the conviction there.Whatever doubts might flicker at the edges of my mind, I refuse to give them purchase.Serena is not her father.She proved it when she chose to fight rather than submit.
Whatever he sees in my face must satisfy him, because he finally nods.
