“Yes,” he said without hesitation.
“Will we be hunted?”
A beat. Then, “Yes.”
“Is it necessary?”
He turned to me, eyes wild. “Yes.”
I nodded as tears slipped free. “Okay,” I whispered. “Okay.”
20
LOUIS
A man who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command. — Niccolo Machiavelli
Iwoke with her naked in my arms, the weight of her body warm against mine—and might as well have had a countdown hanging over my head.
Time was already running out.
I knew what had to be done. I wanted revenge, yes—but more than that, I needed to protect my family. Her. Knowing how this would end didn’t make it easier. It just made it unavoidable.
If it wasn’t me, they’d send someone else.
If it wasn’t me, Dante Alfero was still a dead man walking.
He could try to disappear, go into hiding—but men like Dante didn’t hide. They stood their ground and dared the world to blink first. He could order a hit on the Vescovis, but that would start a war. And wars never took just one life.
So, I stripped the emotion out of it. Thought about it the way I’d been trained to.
Two things were true.
Dante would die.
And the least destructive outcome—the most merciful one—was that it would be me.
Someone he knew. Someone he trusted. Someone married to his daughter. Not a bullet in the dark, not a cheap ambush in a parking lot. It would be on his terms.
He never gave my brother that courtesy.
This was mercy. For Tempest.
And only for her.
Friday was another family dinner. Too many people. Too many eyes. Which meant I’d need to get him alone.
The plan was simple.
I’d buy him a gun. Take him to the private range on his property—far from the men. Just the two of us. I’d leave a note in the familiar box.Come alone.
I’d give him time. Time with Tempest. Time to put his affairs in order.
Time for us to run.
Tempest would need to disappear with me. New names. New ground.
The only thing that still gnawed at me was Cassian. What he still needed. What he hadn’t said.