"Literally anything that doesn't involve us getting shot to pieces by your father's guards and dying before we reach Aria's room?" Heshook his head. "Come on, Kai. Think strategically for two seconds. Your father has forty men on that property. We'd be two idiots with guns against an army."
"Then we get more people. Hire mercenaries. Call in favors."
"With what money? Your father froze your accounts. And hiring reliable muscle takes time we don't have." Marco rubbed his face. "I'm not saying we shouldn't have a backup plan. I'm saying the backup plan needs to not be a death wish disguised as heroism."
He had a point. As usual. Marco's ability to think clearly when I was emotional was probably the only reason I'd survived this long.
"Fine. What do you suggest?"
"We trust the Council to do the right thing. Present the evidence. Make it so damning they have no choice but to act. And if they don't..." He paused. "Then we get creative. Find a weakness in the estate security. Maybe bribe a guard. Coordinate with Lia and Mrs. Rossi from the inside. Make it surgical instead of a bloodbath."
I nodded slowly. It made sense. Didn't make me feel better about the timeline, but it made sense.
"You know, I've noticed something." Marco's tone shifted. Went lighter. "You've changed. Since Aria came into your life."
"Changed how?"
"You're different. More... human, I guess. You used to be so cold. So focused on the mission that you'd forget people had feelings. You'd make decisions based purely on logic and strategy without considering the emotional cost." He looked at me directly. "I was scared you'd end up like your father one day. All business. No heart. Just violence and control wearing a suit."
The comparison to my father stung. "And now?"
"Now you're willing to storm a mansion and get yourself killed for a girl you love. You smile when you talk about her. You've developed this annoying habit of acting like a human being with actual emotions instead of a robot programmed for revenge." He grinned. "It's nauseating. But it's also good to see."
Despite everything, I almost smiled. "Aria changed me. Made me want to be better than what I was raised to be. Made merealize that maybe love isn't weakness. Maybe it's the only thing that makes any of this worth doing."
"Deep. When did you become a philosopher?"
"When I fell for a girl who sees me as more than just my last name or my body count. She looks at me and sees potential. Possibility. Someone worth saving instead of someone beyond redemption." I ran my hand through my hair. "She's pure in ways I've never been. Kind when this world has taught her to be hard. Hopeful when everything should have crushed that hope. And she loves me anyway. Despite knowing what I am. What I'm capable of."
"That's the other thing I've noticed. You used to call women 'distractions' or 'complications.' Now you're out here talking about love and purity like some romance novel protagonist." Marco clapped me on the shoulder. "I'm happy for you, man. Really. You deserve something good after all the shit you've been through."
"I don't deserve her. But I'm selfish enough to keep her anyway."
"Good. Selfishness suits you better than martyrdom."
The chamber doors opened. Father Benedetto stood there, expression grave.
"We're ready for you. Come in. Present your case."
I took a breath. This was it. Everything I'd been working toward for twelve years. All the evidence. All the planning. All the carefully constructed arguments.
Time to see if it was enough.
The Council chambers were exactly as imposing as I remembered. Dark wood paneling. Long table where five men sat in high-backed chairs. Oil paintings of previous Council members watching from the walls like judgmental ancestors.
Father Benedetto took his seat at the head. To his right sat Giovanni Russo, a don in his seventies known for being impossible to bribe. To his left, Thomas DeLuca, whose family controlled the ports. Next to them, Antonio and Vincent Gallo. All powerful. All dangerous in their own ways.
And all looking at me with varying degrees of skepticism.
"Kai Accardi." Giovanni spoke first. His voice was rough fromdecades of cigars. "Father Benedetto says you have evidence of serious violations involving your father. This better not be some family squabble wasting our time. We don't involve ourselves in internal matters."
"This goes beyond internal family matters. This involves murder of a Council Don. Conspiracy. Treaty violations. Things that threaten the entire system we operate under." I set my briefcase on the table. Started pulling out documents. "I have twelve years of evidence against Salvatore Accardi. But I'll focus on the most damning pieces."
I spread the files across the table. Let them see the sheer volume of documentation.
"First. My mother's death. Ruled a suicide fifteen years ago. But I have evidence showing my father murdered her when she tried to leave him and take me and my sister to safety." I slid over the medical examiner's original report. "Note the bruising patterns inconsistent with hanging. The defensive wounds on her hands. The toxicology showing she was drugged before being strung up."
Thomas DeLuca picked up the report. Scanned it. His expression darkened.
