Vince studied her. "You're asking us to trust her with operational details. Everything."
"Yes," I said simply. "Because I do."
Julietta met Vince's gaze without flinching. "You don't have to like me. You don't even have to trust me yet. But if you're smart, you'll recognize that I have more reason to see Lorenzo destroyed than any of you. And I have the tools to make it happen."
Vince held her stare for another beat, then nodded. "Fair enough."
One by one, the others followed. Torres. Rothstein. DeLuca. Petrov. Even Castellano, who'd been the hardest to convince, inclined his head in acknowledgment.
"Good." I straightened, rolling my shoulders. "Marcos, start moving on those routes tonight. Vince, I want surveillance on Lorenzo's personal security—schedules, weak points, anything we can exploit. Torres, reach out to the distributors. Quiet. No pressure yet, just planting seeds."
"And us?" Julietta asked, her eyes on mine.
"We plan the endgame." I held her gaze, saw the flicker of understanding there. "Together."
The meeting dissolved. Men filed out in clusters, voices low, already strategizing. Marcos lingered, exchanging a few words with Julietta about encryption protocols. Vince clapped me on the shoulder as he passed, said nothing, but the gesture spoke volumes.
When the door finally closed, it was just the two of us. The silence felt different now—lighter, somehow. Less like a held breath and more like exhaled relief.
Julietta stood, moved to the windows. The city sprawled below us, a grid of lights and shadows. "You didn't have to do that."
"Yes, I did." I crossed to her, my hand finding the small of her back. "They needed to hear it. And you needed them to know."
She turned, her eyes searching mine. "You've never shared power before."
"No," I admitted. "Never wanted to. Nevercould. Every partnership I've had was transactional. Temporary. Built on mutual benefit, not—" I stopped, the word catching in my throat.
"Not what?" Her voice was soft, coaxing.
"Not this." I cupped her face, my thumb tracing the curve of her cheekbone. "Not someone I can't imagine standing beside anyone else."
Her breath hitched. "Dante—"
"I love you." The words came out rough, unpracticed. I'd never said them before. Not to anyone. "I should've said it last night when you did. But I'm saying it now. I love you, Julietta. And I'm done pretending this is anything less than what it is."
Her eyes glistened. She rose on her toes, her hands framing my face, and kissed me. Slow. Deliberate. A promise sealed in the press of her lips against mine.
When she pulled back, she smiled—small, dangerous, beautiful. "Good. It's time we both do something new."
We walked through the compound side by side. Past the operations room where Marcos coordinated surveillance feeds. Past the armory where DeLuca inspected shipments. Through the main hall where soldiers moved with purpose, their eyes tracking us but their bodies shifting aside, clearing a path.
No one questioned it. No one hesitated.
The Don didn't walk alone anymore.
He walked with his queen.
And the city would learn to fear us both.
CHAPTER 24
Julietta
Lorenzo's message had come through one of my reactivated contacts—a housekeeper named Maria who'd worked at the compound since I was a child. Three words, handwritten on paper so old it felt like parchment:Cathedral. Noon. Alone.
He wanted to talk. Or more likely, he wanted to reclaim what he thought he still owned.
I'd told Dante about the message. Watched his jaw clench, watched him calculate all the ways this could go wrong, watched him nearly refuse to let me go.
