“Five families. Five power blocks. Remove the head that binds them — and they fall like dominoes.”
The marker scratched across the board.
Strategic. Calculated.
I watched the movement carefully.
My gaze shifted between the circles and his face.
“And what’s your interest in declaring war on all five?” I asked.
My tone was flat.
Controlled.
“Wasn’t your only purpose in California to find the person who murdered your pregnant wife?”
His jaw tightened slightly at the reminder.
“You already have your answer,” I continued. “My sister. The one you hunted.”
My eyes narrowed.
“Why not go back to Greece?”
He nodded slowly — acknowledging the logic behind my question.
“That was the original mission,” he admitted.
“Once it was complete, I was supposed to leave.”
His gaze drifted briefly toward the floor.
“But these families have been testing me for months.”
His eyes hardened again. “Killing my men.”
He ticked off names quietly. “Andreas. Christos. They died protecting Yannis.”
His voice lowered. “That alone earns them a death sentence.”
I watched him carefully.
Grief didn’t overwhelm him.
It sharpened him.
“And your father...” he continued.
He turned back to the board and tapped the circle labeled Vasquez.
“I want to strip him of every ounce of power he’s clawed together.”
His marker pressed harder against the surface.
“Ending him isn’t as simple as putting a bullet in his head.”
He drew a thick line across the circle.
