The look she’d given me before I ran—resigned, almost forgiving—hurt more than any blade. Like she’d already accepted her fate and was simply glad someone else might escape it.
“If I survive,” I whispered aloud, the words barely more than breath, chest rising and falling in shallow, uneven pulls, “I’ll come back.”
The vow felt heavy. Dangerous. Necessary.
I would come back for her. For all of them. For the unheard, the unseen, the ones still trapped in lightless caverns while governments pretended those places didn’t exist.
I would tear down every last warlord, trafficker, and fixer who profited from selling women like livestock.
I would burn their underworld to ash.
If I survived.
If.
My head lolled against the seat, cheek pressed to leather already slick with blood. The world narrowed to fragments—the slow, rhythmic drip hitting the floor mat.
The metallic tang filling the air. The distant throb of my pulse pounding in my ears, too loud, too fast.
Then—
Voices.
Outside. Close.
“Dad... there’s blood.”
A child’s voice. Small. Startled. Not cruel. Not curious in the wrong way.
My heart lurched weakly.
I tried to lift my head. Tried to speak. My mouth opened, but nothing came out except a faint, wet rasp that hurt too much to repeat.
Footsteps crunched on gravel—two sets. One heavy. One light. The driver’s door opened, hinges creaking softly. A man’s silhouette filled the opening, backlit by the weak, flickering bulb from the building nearby.
He froze.
Muttering something under his breath, words I couldn’t catch.
His voice was low, controlled, accented—but not Albanian. Something softer. Italian, maybe. Greek. I couldn’t tell anymore.
Relief and fear tangled painfully in my chest.
The last thing I registered was the soft thud of a door closing.
And then—
Darkness swallowed me whole.
Chapter 2
DMITRI VOLKOV
Iwas in Albania, seated in a closed-door meeting with the seven most dangerous mafia families.
I had been sent alone—trusted to represent Lake Como on behalf of the four ruling families.
The meeting dragged on longer than I’d anticipated.