I met his stare with ice. “I’m handling Valentina’s latest games. You don’t need to get worked up about it…yet.”
A beat passed. Neither of us looked away.
“No,” Luca said. “But if you want us to work together? You’d better start thinking in terms ofwe,not justme.”
The tension in the room rose.
I sat forward, elbows on my knees, saying calmly, “You want loyalty?”
Luca raised a brow.
“Then let’s do it,” I said. “Put your saints on the table. Burn the palms. Just like the old days.”
Luca smiled. He was old-school American mafia. Rituals and oaths meant everything to him. I didn’t give two shits about that kind of tradition, but I did need to build a brigade of loyal men willing to die for our cause. The war with Delgado was coming—sooner rather than later. And it was past time the men of Xyststepped up. They’d been floating on the River Styx long enough. Now it was time to cross. Time to swear an oath and choose a leader.
Luca had given them a long leash out of respect for Ana—but now he was tightening it. The syndicate needed every body it could throw at the battle front. And these men were more than capable of taking up arms and fighting for the greater good of this city.
A heavy silence settled as the tension cracked between me and Luca.
Lucian blinked.
Lachlan looked at me, then at Luca. The men could clearly sense something serious was going down, but they weren’t quite sure what it was.
Luca exhaled through his nose and scrubbed his chin, irritated. For a while, he didn’t say anything—just sat there, pinky ring glinting, staring at me like he already had the next ten chess moves planned out.
“I’d say you’ve got more pressing problems than me, Luca,” I said finally. “The Mara Salvatrucha aren’t exactly keeping a low profile.”
That got his attention. His eyes narrowed, and his hand paused on his chin.
I glanced at the others. “There’s a girl working for Carmine—your nephew twice removed, right, Luca?”
He nodded slowly. “Go on.”
“She’s young. Naïve. But Delgado’s taken a special interest in her.”
Lucian’s brows lifted, and Gabriel leaned forward, bracing his arms on the table.
Luca let out a sound that wasn’t quite a laugh. “That’s not good for any woman,” he muttered.
“No. It’s not,” I agreed. “She’s working as a performer at The Sacrifice. The place is a front—a glorified auction block for men like Delgado to shop for their next toy. But this girl?” I shook my head. “She’s different. She’s good—too good. Better at working up a crowd of men than women with ten times the experience. She’s got a sensuality you can’t fake.”
Luca arched an eyebrow. “So that’s why you asked me about The Sacrifice.” A dark chuckle rumbled from his chest. “Tell me you didn’t stir shit up.”
“Humph. You could say that.”
Lucian tilted his head. “What happened?”
“She piqued my curiosity, so I went to the club Halloween night to watch her perform. While she was onstage, some drunk thug ran up and tackled her mid-routine.” I flexed my jaw. “One of Delgado’s men shot him in the head right in front of her.”
Gabriel cursed under his breath.
“She bolted, and I followed her, keeping to the shadows.”
“You do that well,” Julian muttered.
“She lives in Hell’s Kitchen, not far from the club. I kept my distance…at first. But my interest grew. She’s here chasing Broadway dreams and had no clue until today that she’s on Delgado’s fucking property list.”
“And you’ve been keeping tabs on her, huh?” Luca asked.
