"The warehouse fire. Do you think it was my father?"
The question I've been avoiding all day.
"I don't know. Maybe."
"If it was..." She swallows hard. "If he's coming after you, that's my fault. I'm the reason he hates you now."
"No. I'm the reason he hates me. I slept with his daughter, got her pregnant, then lied to his face for weeks. That's on me, not you."
"We both made choices."
"We did. And now we both live with the consequences."
She leaves, and I'm alone with my thoughts again.
The warehouse attack sits heavily on my mind. Two million in losses. Two guards injured. And I still don't know who's responsible.
Luca's the obvious suspect. He has motive, means, and intimate knowledge of my operations. But would he really go this far? Start a war over a woman?
Over his daughter, maybe. If he sees me as the man who ruined her.
My phone rings. Unknown number.
I answer. "Yeah?"
"Axel Santego?" The voice is unfamiliar. Male, older, with an accent I can't place.
"Who's asking?"
"Someone who knows your warehouse burned down today. Someone who knows you've got Don Luca's daughter in your bed. Someone who's very interested in both those facts."
Ice floods my veins. "Who the fuck is this?"
"A concerned party. You've made powerful enemies, Mr. Santego. Taking that girl was a mistake."
"I didn't take her. She came willingly."
"Doesn't matter how it looks to those watching. What matters is that you've created chaos. Broken alliances. Made yourself vulnerable." A pause. "We'll be in touch."
The line goes dead.
I stare at the phone, mind racing.
Not Luca. This voice was wrong. Too detached, too calculated. Luca would be furious, emotional. This caller was cold. Professional.
Someone else is playing games. Using the situation with Aurora to create opportunities for themselves.
The question is who.
I find Viktor in the security center, monitoring feeds from around the estate.
"We've got a new problem," I tell him. "Someone just called me. Knew about the warehouse, knew about Aurora. Implied they're watching."
Viktor's expression hardens. "Trace the call?"
"Unknown number. Burner, probably."
"Could be anyone. Volkovs, the Italians, even the Irish crew from the north." He pulls up a map on the screen. "You've got a lot of enemies, boss. Any one of them could be using this Luca situation to move against you."