Page 160 of Double Trouble for the Mafia Prince

I hear Marco shifting papers in the background, shouting something to a runner before returning. "How fast do you want to move?"

I stare at the map again.

She is not just leverage.

She is the final thread holding this war back from collapse.

Rafa took her because he thinks I will make peace if he returns her alive.

He is wrong.

I will burn him down for daring to take her in the first place.

I grip the phone tighter. "I want every man we have on the road in the next ten minutes. No flashing lights, no marked convoys. Tell them to come like ghosts."

"And you?"

"I’ll be there first."

27

DANTE

The valley narrows as we drive deeper in.

What used to be vineyard country is nothing now but skeletal rows of wooden stakes and dirt hardened into crust.

The air changes as we pass the final checkpoint, thinning out, turning colder.

The path ends where the asphalt fractures into moss-covered stone.

I kill the engine and step out.

My boots hit the gravel with a crunch that sets the rhythm for the men behind me.

The monastery rises in the distance, half swallowed by fog and ivy, a shadow stitched from brick and rot.

It’s three stories tall, with no windows on the lower floor.

There are just slits cut into the upper ones for arrows or cross ventilation, depending on which century they were added to the building.

The bell tower is crooked.

There are no bells.

Marco nods to me from the second car.

The men fan out.

Silenced rifles, knives, and close-range gear only.

We come without noise because there is no more time for questions.

I give the signal with one hand and move first toward the outer wall.

Two guards are at the main entrance, looking far too relaxed for their own good.

They do not see Tomas until it is too late.