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Valerio slides into the driver’s seat, his hands tight on the wheel. I settle into the back, gripping my phone so hard I’m surprised it hasn’t shattered.

The screen lights up—a photo of Maria on our wedding day, looking as beautiful as ever.

I exhale sharply through my nose, forcing my rage into focus. I can’t afford to let it consume me. Not yet.

Then, the blasting of my phone pulls me from my innermost thoughts.

An unknown number stares at me, my lips peel away from my teeth in a sneer. I already fucking know who it is.

I answer without hesitation. “Where is she?”

A chuckle. Slow. Cruel. Mocking.

“Matteo, Matteo,” Giacomo drawls, as if we’re old friends sharing a drink. “You sound a little tense. It’s so early in the morning, too. Shall we book you for a Swedish massage? It did wonders for my back.”

My entire body goes rigid, my fingers curling into a fist. “Where is my wife, you sick, twisted bastard?”

“Tsk.” He clicks his tongue. “So demanding. And here I was, hoping we could chat. After all, I am the one who called you. Not her.”

I grit my teeth, my heart pounding. “Where is my wife, Giacomo? If you hurt her, then I will?—”

He chuckles again—darker this time. “You’ll kill me?”

A pause, heavy and deliberate.

“We both know that’s how this ends. So, why not have a little fun before the curtain falls? Come on… where’s your spirit?”

My jaw locks. “Giacomo?—”

“My God, I don’t remember you being so whiny,” he sighs dramatically like I’m straining him. “Maria is still in one piece—for now. I can’t just take her and kill her. Do you give me no credit for my craft?”

A sharp breath escapes my teeth. “What do you want?”

Giacomo laughs. “Isn’t it obvious by now? I want you to suffer. I had Daniele… and now I’ve taken Maria. And the cherry on top?” His voice drips with venom. “She knows it was your cold-blooded hands that killed her brother.”

He pauses, savoring the moment.

“Tell me—how did she look at you when she found out the truth? When she realized the kind of monster you really are? God, I wish I’d been there. I’ve been sitting on that little piece of information for a long time.”

He was the one who told her.

A fire ignites in my chest, blinding. “If you touch her?—”

“If?” He tsks again. “Matteo, Matteo. Let’s be honest with each other. We both know you’re running out of time. But seeing as it took you so long to figure out the warehouse, I’m going to throw you a bone. Call it my one act of kindness this year.”

My knuckles turn white, gripping my phone for dear life.

Valerio grunts under his breath, his own hands tightening around the wheel. I feel the car push forward as he makes his foot heavier, increasing the speed.

Giacomo’s voice drops into something colder. Darker.

“You have until noon,” he murmurs. “Or I start delivering Maria to you—piece by piece.”

My stomach twists. A growl rips from my throat. “You mother fu?—”

“Ah, ah, ah. Careful now, you wouldn’t want to upset me. I get a little handsy when I’m angry.” Giacomo’s amusement only grows. “As for that bone I said I was going to throw you. Listen very carefully, my old friend. You will need to catch this one quickly if you wish to save the damsel.”

I clench my teeth, my breath coming fast and hard. “Out with it.”

“Return to the ghost of the past, of the one you cherished last. Some memories you shared once you cared. Out with the old and in with the new. She looks oddly familiar to her, too.”

The line goes dead, and he hangs up. I hold the phone to my ear, the words playing off in my head over and over again.

What could it all possibly mean? I wrack my brain, playing the words over and over again. For a split second, my mind goes blank. But then?—

He’s talking about Beatrice. I know that much, but what could it be that she cherished last? She loved so many things: her family, a good glass of wine, the mountains in Aspen, and…

“I know where she is,” I say under my breath.

I built her a cabin about five years ago. She loved to go there every fall to sit among the pine trees and breathe in the freshness of nature. The last time we went was only a few months before she passed.

My pulse slams against my ribs, and I’m already dialing Dario back.

He picks up instantly. “Talk.”

“He has her at my family cabin. It’s about an hour out of the city.” My voice is razor-sharp. “I will send you the address, and you can meet us there.”

“We need to move now if it’s an hour out—we don’t have long until daybreak,” Dario says, his tone sharp.

“I’ve got a team ready and assembled. We keep the squads small—he’ll be expecting firepower.

We outmaneuver them. Be smart, be fast. We get her out first. Then, we take the shot and put this fucker down. ”

And that honor will be all mine.

I hear some shuffling in the background before she comes back on the line. Her voice is thick with emotion—like she’s been crying.

“Matteo,” Ginny says, breathless. “There’s something you need to know.”

My grip tightens around the phone. “Know what?”

Something in her voice—sharp, trembling—makes the air shift.

“Maria might be pregnant.”

The world tilts.

For one long, brutal second, I forget how to breathe.

Everything fades—the car, the road, the sky bleeding into dusk.

Maria. Pregnant.

A baby.

My blood. Our future.

I clutch the phone so hard it creaks in my hand. “What did you just say?”

Ginny exhales shakily. “She wasn’t feeling well, Matteo. I told her to take a test, and she said she’d let me know once she found out… but she never got back to m?—”

I can’t hear the rest. My heart is pounding too loudly. My vision blurs. I don’t even realize my hand is shaking until Valerio looks back and grabs my wrist. Steadying me.

“Boss,” he says, voice tense, urgent. “You okay?”

I inhale sharply, locking my focus back into place.

“Yeah,” I swallow hard. “I’m fine. Head to the cabin. I will call in the reinforcements and make sure they meet us three miles out. We are shooting to kill, but leave Giacomo for me. It will be my bullet that ends him.”

Valerio presses on the gas and floors it down the road straight into battle.

You wanted war, Giacomo? Prepare to die in it.