Matteo’s voice changes slightly at the name. Not softer. More certain. “My enforcer, Nico. He will tail the transport after the drop.”
I glance at Logan.
He hears it too.
After.
Not before.
“Nico maintains distance,” Matteo says. “He follows once the girls are inside my home and the transport believes the transaction is complete. No interference until the collar is removed and the delivery team leaves my property.”
“We can tail too,” Shadow says.
“No,” Matteo answers.
Shadow’s face doesn’t change, but the room tightens.
Matteo goes on. “Your men ride like bikers even when you put them in vans. You look for threats by becoming one. That has uses. This is not one of them.”
Blaze mutters, “I hate that he’s not wrong.”
Hammer grunts.
Matteo says, “This isn’t a bar fight. This is a system. Act like it.” The insult should set the room off. It doesn’t. Because it’s too close to true. We are good at war. This is war too. But a different kind before the blood starts.
Logan looks at Dom. “You can work with his tech?”
Dom’s mouth tightens. “If he’s as good as Matteo thinks he is.”
“He is,” Matteo says.
Dom snorts once. “Humble crew you run.”
“Humble men die poor.”
Joker smiles again. “I really might like him.”
“You shouldn’t,” Carter says.
“Probably not.”
Matteo keeps control of the line like he owns the room. “My home is not a war zone.” There it is. The boundary.
Logan’s eyes darken.
Mine do too.
Matteo continues before anyone speaks. “Olivia will be safe here. The delivery team will be left alive long enough to lead us somewhere more useful. After that, what you do away from my gates is between you, your God, and your ammunition.”
Olivia will be safe there.
I hate that sentence. Not because I doubt he can make it true. Because it means another man’s house becomes the place she breathes before mine. Because my hands will not be the ones removing that collar. Because I have to trust a mobster’s walls before I can get to her.
My body rejects it. Every instinct says no. My mind says if I fuck this up, she dies. That wins. Barely.
Logan says, “You don’t want a war zone on your property, keep your people out of our way once she’s clear.”
Matteo’s voice turns amused again. “Pearce, if my people are in your way, you are standing in the wrong place.”
