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I step closer, examining the book without touching it. It’s a ledger, handwritten in a feminine script I immediately recognize as Aria’s. My throat tightens at the sight of her handwriting.

“What is this?” I ask, forcing my voice to remain steady.

“The beginning of your nightmare,” he replies. “Your wife isn’t hiding, Bianchi. She’s recruiting.”

She walked away from me—but not blindly. She’s walking toward something. Something bigger than us. Than revenge. Than love.

He opens the ledger, revealing pages of names, addresses, resources. Family names I recognize from the old days, before my father’s purge of rival organizations.

“DeLuca loyalists,” I murmur, the implications hitting me like a physical blow.

“She’s found seven families so far,” he confirms. “Small operations, mostly, but together? They’re a force to be reckoned with. Especially with a DeLuca at the helm.”

“Why are you telling me this? Why betray her?”

He laughs, a short, humorless sound. “Betray her? I’m not here to betray anyone. I’m delivering a message, one she knew would reach you eventually.” He leans forward. “The DeLuca resurgence starts now. The twins are reclaiming what was stolen from them.”

The words land like body blows, each one forcing the air from my lungs.

“She’s starting a war,” I say, the realization both terrifying and somehow, perversely, exhilarating.

“She’s finishing one,” he corrects me. “One that your father started twenty-five years ago.”

I stare at the ledger, at Aria’s handwriting sprawling across the pages. Proof that she’s not cowering in some hidden corner, but actively working against my family. Against me.

“Where is she?” I ask again, my voice barely above a whisper.

“Beyond your reach,” he says, closing the ledger and returning it to the drawer. “Unless…”

“Unless what?”

He studies me, his gaze assessing. “Unless you’re willing to make a choice, Bianchi. A real one. Your father or your wife.”

The question hangs in the air between us, heavy with implications.

“Tell her I’m coming for her,” I say finally. “Tell her hiding behind these minor players won’t protect her from me.”

A ghost of a smile touches his lips. “I’ll deliver your message.”

I turn to leave, pausing at the door. “And tell her one more thing. Tell her I have a choice to make. And I’ve already made it.”

I step back into the night, my mind racing with new purpose. For seven days, I’ve been chasing Aria’s shadow, desperate for any sign of her. Now I understand—I’m not chasing her anymore. I’m catching up to her.

She isn’t fleeing from me in terror or grief. She’s marching toward me with vengeance in her heart, gathering an army at her back.

I have preparations to make. Calls to place. Resources to gather.

If Aria wants war, I’ll meet her on the battlefield.

But unlike my father, I don’t intend to destroy what I love.

27

ARIA

Istand outside the weathered oak door, but don’t walk in just yet. I want to remember this moment, one where everything changes.

Seven of my father’s most loyal allies wait on the other side, men who once bowed their heads to Emilio DeLuca and now, if fortune favors us, will pledge themselves to his daughters.