Silence returned, but it wasn’t empty.It held space for what we’d said and what we hadn’t.I gazed at the ceiling and thought about the keys in a velvet box to the townhouse.
Sometime later, the door opened.I didn’t turn.The mattress dipped; the room adjusted around the shape of him.He didn’t speak.His arm slid along the sheet until his palm found my hip and settled there—not gripping, not claiming.Just resting.A weight that said,I’m here.It was the most intimate thing he’d done since our wedding night.
21
ENRICO
The desk was covered in reports, maps, a glass half-empty of whiskey.My phone buzzed every few minutes with updates from the docks and safe houses.A soft knock.Marco didn’t wait for an answer before stepping inside.He carried the morning on his shoulders — coat unbuttoned, tie undone, gun at his back.
“They’re moving.Two of the smaller crews didn’t check in last night.One warehouse burned.Nothing inside worth torching.”
I leaned back.“Then why?”
“They must be after you.”
Who was working with Russo?Why were they so adamant about taking me out?What the fuck was going on in my city?
“They were careful.Left one body.No ID.Message carved into the wall.”
The empire you built is crumbling.
I poured whiskey and pushed the glass toward him.Marco didn’t take it.
“I want names.”Everyone needed to work around the clock until the person responsible was dead.
“You’ll get them.Could be foreign.”
He stopped, jaw tightening.“Could be an inside job.”
I nodded once, slow.“Of course it could.”
The silence that followed wasn’t empty; it was heavy.Marco broke it first.
“You want me to hit back?”
“No.”
He looked at me like I’d started speaking in tongues.“No?”
“They’re expecting that.That’s the move our father would’ve made.Quick, loud, bloody.”
“Your father survived every war he fought.”
“And left corpses to climb over.”
Marco didn’t argue.He lit a cigarette instead, smoke cutting through the air.“You think waiting will scare them?”
“No, but it’ll confuse them.Confusion buys time.Fear follows.”
He exhaled a rough laugh.“Since when did patience become your weapon?”
“Since I found something I can’t afford to lose.”
He stilled.“Mia.”
I didn’t confirm it.I didn’t need to.
He stubbed the cigarette out in the nearest tray.“She’s not built for this.”
