I’m on the Ducati in seconds, the engine roaring to life between my legs. I peel out of the courtyard, dodging a spray of glass as an O'Rourke soldier tries to lead me with a submachine gun. I don't even return fire. I just floor it, the bike screaming as I tear down the narrow, winding road toward the De Luca compound.
If he touches her... if he so much as breathes on her, I will dismantle him piece by fucking piece.
The drive is a blurred nightmare of wind and adrenaline. My mind is a frantic loop of everything she told me. The video of the little girl. The tracker. The way Gia looked when she said she loved me. I didn't believe her then—I was too busy being ahurt, arrogant bastard—but as the miles melt away, the truth is unavoidable.
She chose us. She handed her father’s head to me on a platter, knowing he’d come for her. She walked into danger to save a sister who never should have been a pawn.
I reach the compound gates. They’re open.
There are bodies on the ground—De Luca guards, their blood dark on the concrete.
Enzo and Luca. They’re already inside.
I skid the bike to a halt, drawing my Beretta in one fluid motion. The alarm is wailing, a high-pitched, soul-shredding sound that tells me the extraction has been blown.
I run through the main foyer, my shoes echoing like gunshots. I pass a hallway where a Brotherhood soldier is checking a room.
"Where are they?" I snap.
"Interior wing, Boss! Second floor! We have a visual on the girl, but Salvatore’s retreating into the corridor!"
I don't wait for the elevator. I take the stairs three at a time, my lungs burning, my shoulder screaming in a language of pure fire. I hit the second-floor landing and see the blood on the floor.
No, no… God, please no, you can’t take her from me.
CHAPTER 39
GIA
The silence of the De Luca compound is the loudest thing I’ve ever heard.
It’s a heavy, artificial quiet, the kind that feels like a hand pressed over your mouth to keep you from screaming. I’m moving through the service corridors, my heart a frantic, jagged drum against my ribs. I’m wearing tactical black, my hair pulled back so tight it makes my scalp ache, and a weight in my hand that I never thought I’d carry: the Beretta Rafael taught me to use.
Breathe, Gia. Focus on the target. Don't think about the summit. Don't think about the fire. Just find Laura.
Behind me, Luca and three of Enzo’s best men move like shadows—ghosts protecting a ghost. They don't speak. They don't have to. The air is thick with the scent of ozone and thecold, clinical smell of my father’s tobacco. It’s the smell of my childhood, of every locked door and every silent dinner.
"Room 204," Luca whispers in my ear, his voice barely a vibration. "Breach in three... two... one."
The door is kicked open with a violentcrackthat echoes through the sterile hallway. I don't wait for the 'clear.' I don't wait for permission. I push past them, my eyes scanning the room, my finger ghosting over the trigger exactly the way Rafael showed me.
It’s a bedroom. A beautiful, perfect, terrifying cage. There are dolls on the rug. A piano in the corner. Pink silk curtains drawn tight against the world outside. And there, sitting on the edge of the bed with her back to me, is a small girl in a nightdress.
"Laura?" I whisper.
She turns. Her eyes are wide, her face pale, her dark curls a tangled mess. She looks at me, and for a second, I see the baby I used to hide under the stairs when our father’s voice got too loud. I see the reason I lied.
"Gia?" her voice is a small, broken thing, a thread of hope in a room full of glass.
"I'm here, Sweetie Pie. I'm right here."
I cross the room in two strides, dropping the weapon on the bed and pulling her into my arms. She’s so small. She smells like a child and pure, unadulterated fear. She clings to me, her fingers digging into the fabric of my tactical vest, her sobs muffled against my shoulder.
"We have to go, Laura. We have to go now."
"Is Father coming?" she asks, her body trembling with a violence that makes my blood boil.
"No," I say, my jaw tightening until it hurts. "Father isn't coming for you ever again. I promise."
