Three days after the Russian's interrogation, Dante's entire operation was focused on one objective: find Sergio Moretti.
His cousin. His blood. The traitor who'd sold him out to the Volkovs.
I watched from Dante's office as men came and went with updates, each one more frustrated than the last. Sergio had gone to ground the moment he learned the Russian had talked. Smart. But not smart enough.
"He's still in the city," Marcus reported, spreading surveillance photos across Dante's desk. "Credit card ping at a bodega in Queens yesterday morning. His girlfriend's apartment shows activity. He's not running yet."
"He thinks I won't kill family," Dante said coldly, studying the photos. "That blood still means something to me."
"Does it?" I asked from where I sat by the window.
Everyone in the room turned to look at me. I was still getting used to that being acknowledged in business discussions. Being treated as if my opinion mattered.
"No," Dante said simply. "Blood means nothing if loyalty is gone. Marco learned that. Sergio will too."
"The girlfriend," I suggested, moving closer to examine the photos. "Sergio's not smart enough to survive alone. He'll go to her eventually. She's his weakness."
Dante's eyes flickered with approval. "Elaborate."
I picked up one of the surveillance photos. "Men like Sergio entitled, spoiled, used to having others clean up their messes they don't adapt well to being hunted. He's scared right now. Scared men seek comfort. And his comfort is…" I tapped the photo of a blonde woman entering an apartment building. "Her. Maria Castellano. Age 23, waitress, lives in Astoria. According to this" I gestured to the report, "she doesn't know what Sergio does for a living."
"So we use her," Marcus said.
"No," I corrected. "We watch her. Follow her. Sergio will contact her eventually. When he does, we'll be ready."
Dante stood and moved behind me, his hand settling on my lower back a gesture that had become natural between us. "When did you become such a strategist?"
"When I started paying attention to how you think." I looked up at him. "You taught me to see patterns. Weaknesses. How to predict people."
"Remind me to be more careful what I teach you," he murmured against my ear, making me shiver. "You're becoming dangerous, Isabella Martinez."
"Isn't that what you wanted? A woman who can survive in your world?"
"Yes. Though I'm realizing a woman who can survive my world can also destroy it if she chooses." His arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me against him. "Good thing you're on my side."
"Always." I turned in his arms. "So we watch the girlfriend?"
"We watch the girlfriend," he confirmed. "Marcus, put surveillance on her apartment. Follow her everywhere. If Sergio makes contact, I want to know immediately."
"Yes, sir." Marcus gathered the photos and left, leaving us alone in the office.
"I want to come with you," I said before Dante could say anything. "When you find Sergio. I want to be there."
"Isabella"
"Don't." I pressed my finger to his lips. "Don't tell me it's too dangerous or that I don't need to see it. We had this conversation already. I'm part of this now. Your partner. Your queen. Where you go, I go."
He captured my hand, kissing the finger I'd pressed to his mouth. "You realize what you're asking? Sergio is family. Watching me kill him will be different than the Russian or Marco. This is the kind of thing that changes you permanently."
"I'm already changed. You changed me." I cupped his face. "But I need you to trust that I can handle it. That I'm strong enough."
"I know you're strong enough. That's not what I'm worried about."
"Then what?"
"I'm worried about what it will cost you. Your soul, your humanity, your ability to sleep at night." His grey eyes were intense. "Once you cross certain lines, Isabella, you can't uncross them. I don't want to be responsible for destroying the good parts of you."
"The good parts of me love a man who kills without hesitation. I think we're past preserving my innocence." I pulled him down until our foreheads touched. "I choose this. I choose you. I choose all of it. Stop trying to protect me from the consequences of my own decisions."
He kissed me then hard and desperate, like he was trying to memorize the taste of me. When we broke apart, both breathing heavily, his decision was made.
"Fine. You come with me. But you follow orders without question. If I say run, you run. If I say hide, you hide. Agreed?"
"Agreed."
"And Isabella?" His voice dropped to a dangerous whisper. "If something happens to me, if this goes wrong you take Marcus and you disappear. New identity, new life, far from here. Promise me."
"Nothing's going to happen to you."
"Promise me anyway."
I looked into those grey eyes and saw real fear there. Not for himself, but for me. For what would happen to me if he wasn't there to protect me.
"I promise," I lied.
Because if something happened to Dante, I wouldn't run. I'd finish what he started. I'd hunt down everyone responsible and make them pay. Then I'd probably put a bullet in my own head because living without him wasn't living at all.
But he didn't need to know that right now.
Two days later, at three in the morning, Marcus's call came.
"He made contact. Maria's apartment. Looks like he's staying the night."
We were dressed and moving within minutes. Dante had a tactical team assembled six of his best men, all armed, all loyal. And me, wearing black jeans and a bulletproof vest Dante had insisted on.
"Stay behind me at all times," he instructed as we drove through dark Queens streets. "When we breach, you wait until it's clear. Understood?"
"Understood."
The apartment building was a rundown four-story walk-up in Astoria. We parked a block away and approached on foot, moving with the kind of silence that comes from years of practice.
Marcus had the building layout on his phone. "Third floor, apartment 3C. Fire escape access. One entrance, one window facing the alley. He's trapped if he's still there."
"He's there," Dante said with certainty.
"Sergio never was good at making hard choices. He'll stay with the girl until morning, then run. We hit him now while he's comfortable."
The team split four men covering exits, Marcus and another soldier coming with us to the door. I stayed close to Dante, my heart pounding but my head clear. This was really happening. We were about to capture a man who'd betrayed us, and I was choosing to be part of it.
Dante didn't knock. His men breached the door with a tactical ram, the wood splintering inward as we flooded into the apartment.
"Freeze! Nobody move!"