Mila turned to me. “Luke?—”
“No.” I cupped her face, forcing her to see me. “You don’t get to decide to disappear to save me.”
“If I stay, they’ll hurt you.”
“They already tried.”
Her eyes shone with frustrated tears she refused to let fall. “You don’t know what they’re capable of. Men like Dunn.”
She was talking about my father. About King Enterprises as well as Dunn Industries. But I did know. Mila had shared why she’d left town and ghosted me—Adriana’s boyfriend, the VP at my family’s company, had been murdered. “Then tell me.”
She shook her head. “That’s the point. We don’t.”
I thought about Dunn’s glance across the ballroom. The confidence. The timing. The certainty that pressure would fracture us.
He expected retreat. He expected isolation. He expected Mila to sacrifice herself. What else did he know that we didn’t?
I straightened slowly, something Marcus—my private investigator—had told me a long time ago surfacing. Edwardo Ruiz. The man from Adriana’s past. The one she and Mila had run to when they’d fled Blackwood. “Marcus Vega found Edwardo Ruiz.”
Mila blinked. “What about him?”
Adriana’s head lifted abruptly. But I kept my gaze on Mila. “I know you stayed above his gym,” I said evenly. “After you left.”
Her breath caught.
“Marcus confirmed it.” Silence stretched tight between us. I hadn’t gone after her, but the information that she was safe was invaluable. Just knowing where she was eased something in me that was desperate for the truth that she was still alive.
Adriana’s voice was careful. “You hired someone to dig into that?”
“I hired someone when Mila ghosted me,” I replied. “Edwardo came up.”
Adriana didn’t blink. “Why?”
“He’s got family ties.” The shift in Adriana’s posture was immediate. “His stepbrother is Dominick Ferraro.”
Mila looked between us. “Who?”
Mila doesn’t know.
“Someone Dunn wouldn’t want attention from,” Adriana said quietly. “Edwardo’s stepbrother is… organized.”
Mila stilled. “So… the mob?”
“From what Marcus could tell, Edwardo isn’t part of that world. But if my intel is correct, Ferraro is big on family—and Edwardo once did him a favor.”
Mila’s brows pulled together. “You’re saying we ask Edwardo to what? Call that in?”
“No.” My voice stayed level. “We ask him to come here. Move in with you two. Be visible.”
Adriana’s gaze narrowed slightly. She was already thinking three moves ahead.
“If Edwardo’s in the house,” I continued, “and Dunn knows who his brother is, it changes the risk. Dunn doesn’t escalate unless he’s certain he controls the fallout.”
Mila exhaled slowly. “You want Dunn thinking we have mob backing.”
“I want him thinking twice,” I corrected.
Adriana folded her arms, considering.