“It’s proof,” he said.“Proof your father wasn’t just a thief — he was a collaborator.Giovanni didn’t betray him.They betrayedeach other.But someone else wrote the ending.”
My hand twitched.“Who?”
“That,” Dante said, stepping closer, “is what you’ll find out once I’m finished with you.”
There was the faintest creak of wood behind me.
Instinct took over.I turned, weapon drawn.
A figure stood in the doorway — small, still, familiar.Mia.She’d followed me again.Her presence froze the entire room.Dante’s expression flickered — genuine surprise, followed by amusement that curdled into something darker.
“Ah,” he said.“The bride.”
I aimed the gun at his chest.“Don’t.”
He raised both hands, mock surrender.“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
But his eyes — they weren’t on me anymore.They were on her.
“Your father was there that night too, you know,” Dante said.“He made sure the bullet landed where it was supposed to.”
I saw it — the way Mia’s breath hitched, the disbelief and dawning horror mixing in her eyes.
“Mia—” I started, but Dante’s grin widened.
“Every empire has its traitor,” he murmured.“You’ve just been sleeping next to yours.”
37
MIA
The shot split the room—glass shrieked, wine bled across linen.Dante only smiled.Red streaked over the table and dripped in slow, obscene beads.His eyes slid to mine, lazy, amused.Maybe this was a bad decision.Did I just set myself to be murdered?
“Temper,” he murmured.“It runs in our families.”
“Move and you die,” Enrico said.
Dante lifted both hands again.“I wouldn’t dream of spoiling the reunion.”
Reunion.
“Back,” Enrico said, to me, without turning.“Now.”
I didn’t argue.I stepped away from the table.
“Ah,” Dante said.“Company.”
He didn’t have to give the order.Men flowed in—three, four, six.The first gun coughed.Andre’s.
“Down,” Enrico snapped.
The room erupted in staccato.I crawled, low and graceless, toward the sideboard.A hand snatched at my ankle, but I kicked it away.
“Left!”Marco barked from somewhere I couldn’t see.“Two more!”
Dante laughed—actually laughed—as if blood and choreography were entertainment.“Careful, King.Your board is crowded.”
Something dark moved in my periphery—a man too close, his shadow bigger than his body.
