The accusation stings because part of me knows she’s right. Since Tony got shot, I’ve felt myself sliding back into old patterns. The cold calculation. The willingness to inflict pain without remorse. The need to make everyone suffer the way I’m suffering.
“I’m doing this to protect you,” I tell her. “To protect what’s left of your family.”
“By destroying yourself?” She moves closer, fear blazing in her eyes. Not fear of me hurting her, but fear of losing me to the darkness. “Tony is fighting for his life right now. He needs you to be the man who saved him, not the monster who murders prisoners.”
“Those men?—”
“Were already beaten. Already broken. You killed them because you wanted to, not because you had to.” She reaches up to touch my face, her hand trembling. “I know you’re hurting. I know you blame yourself for what happened to Tony. But this isn’t the answer.”
“Then what is?” The question comes out as a roar. “Tell me, Sophia. What do I do? Lorenzo is still out there. He’s still tryingto destroy us. And I’m supposed to just wait around until he takes another shot? Until he succeeds in killing someone I care about?”
“Go back inside,” I tell her, turning away. “I have work to do.”
“Mikhail—”
“Go.” The word comes out harsher than I intend, and she flinches. “Please. Just go.”
She leaves without another word, and I’m alone with Marco and the bodies and the blood.
Exactly where I belong.
Over the next three days, I hunt Lorenzo’s organization with methodical brutality.
He’s not where we began, so I check everything.
Every safe house, every front business, every known associate.
I leave a trail of destruction in my wake, burning everything connected to him.
My men follow my orders without question, but I see the concern in their eyes. They recognize what’s happening to me.
I’m becoming the monster Lorenzo always claimed I was.
Sophia tries to reach me.
She calls, she texts.
But I can’t face her, can’t look at her and see the disappointment in her eyes. She deserves better than what I’m becoming.
Tony’s condition improves slightly.
He’s out of critical danger but still weak, still fighting.
Sophia sends me updates, probably hoping they’ll bring me back. But each message just reminds me of how close I came to losing her, how she nearly lost her big brother.
On the fourth day, I finally get a solid lead on Lorenzo’s location.
A shipping container yard on the outskirts of the city, owned by a shell corporation that traces back to him.
Marco and I stake it out, watching as men move in and out. Lorenzo has to be there.
I move before Marco can argue, slipping through the shadows toward the nearest container.
The men guarding the perimeter are sloppy, overconfident.
They don’t see me coming until it’s too late.
The first goes down with a knife to the kidney. The second with a broken neck. I’m moving on instinct now.
