Chapter 185
Chapter 185
Nico POV
“I swear to God, thinking about how to finish off Dominic is literally killing me,” Victoria groaned, collapsing onto the couch like she was in a soap opera arm thrown across her face. Drama queen, as usual.
I didn’t even bother to look up, just swirled the whiskey in my glass and took a slow sip. “If you’d shut up for five seconds, you might come up with something halfway decent.”
She peeked at me from under her arm, glare sharp enough to slice. “Oh, right. The great Nico has it all figured out. Enlighten me, how does spreading gossip take down a man like Dominic?”
“It’s not gossip,” I said, flat. “It’s leverage. The kind that rots people from the inside. His entire world runs on loyalty. Break that, and everything
crumbles.”
She dropped her arm and sat up slowly, eyes narrowing. “What did you do?”
“Exactly what Dominic fears most.” I set down my glass, leaning forward to meet her calculating gaze. “I told his closest allies the truth about Aria’s real identity and that will get the syndicate on their trail.”
She laughed bitterly, shaking her head. “You’re playing with fire. Dominic might be a fool for that girl, but he’s not an idiot. He’ll know it was you.”
“That’s the point,” I smirked, standing and pacing toward the window. The city lights spread out beneath us, glittering like a field of broken glass. “He’ll know it’s me, but he won’t be able to stop it. Once doubt takes root, it’ll grow like a virus. He can’t control everyone.”
Victoria stood, joining me by the window, arms crossed tightly. “And if he finds proof that we stole from the Fletcher vault and give it to the syndicate?”
“By the time he figures it out, it’ll be too late. He’ll be too busy putting out fires to chase us down.”
She hesitated, then nodded reluctantly. “I still think you’re underestimating him.”
“Maybe. But he’s underestimating me more,” I said quietly, fingers tightening around my glass until it nearly shattered. “And I have one more surprise for
him.”
Victoria turned sharply, suspicion and curiosity lighting her eyes. “What kind of surprise?”
I took out my phone, pulling up the video file I’d been keeping, like an ace hidden up my sleeve. The screen illuminated Victoria’s face, her expression morphing from curiosity to a wicked, hungry smirk.
The video showed Aria during her captivity–tied, bruised, vulnerable. I saw Victoria’s lip curl into a cruel smile.
“Perfect,” she murmured. “That’ll drive him mad.”
“Exactly.” I tapped the screen, preparing the video to send. “Let’s see how far his obsession with Aria takes him when he sees this.”
Dominic’s POV
My knuckles ached from where I’d been gripping the edge of my desk, frustration sitting hot under my skin. It felt like the walls were closing in tighter by the minute. First, rumors started circling the organization, Aria’s real identity, whispers about betrayal, hidden legacies. My men were getting uneasy, their eyes filled with doubt whenever they thought I wasn’t watching.
They felt like I was probably only using them to protect aria and their lives are more at risk seeing how Nico and Victoria are.
Luca came in, slow and cautious. His face told me everything before he opened his mouth. “Dom, we have a problem.”
Chapter 185
“Another one?” I snapped, straightening in my chair and glaring at him.
He hesitated. “Nico sent something.”
My chest tightened the second heard that name. Rage moved through me, fast and sharp. “Show me,”
Luca handed me the phone without a word. My fingers felt weirdly numb when I pressed play, but the numbness didn’t last.
There she was Aria. Tied up. Bruised. Scared. Nico’s voice in the background, mocking, taunting. The room titted. My jaw clenched so hard I tasted blood.
He’d sent this same kind of thing before. Footage from when she was stuck with Mikael. He knew exactly what it did to me. Sick bastard.
I crushed the phone in my hand. Didn’t even think. Glass cracked, screen shattered. “He won’t live to see another day.”
Another knock came just then. Matthias stuck his head in the room. He and Luca exchanged a quick look before he stepped all the way in.
Matthias walked over and dropped a map on the desk in front of me.
“What exactly am I looking at?”
“These spots are the areas Nico and Victoria have taken from our territory. Using fake names, fake papers.” I scanned it. The harbor was gone. Then the warehouse district. Now the whole south side. I’d fought for that ground. Bled for it. And they were just picking it off.
“We’ve been compromised,” Luca said, voice tight, finger jabbing at the map. “They’re ahead of us. Every single time.”
I blew out a breath, trying to hold back the heat rushing through my chest. “Who talked?”
No one said a word. The only sound was the hum of the security systems.
Then a voice came from the doorway. Quiet. “I did.”
I turned fast, like the air had been sucked out of the room. Marco stood there, looking like hell. Hair messy, shirt wrinkled, eyes hollow.
“Marco?” My voice didn’t sound like mine. Too calm.
“They have my daughter,” he said. His voice cracked. “Victoria took her from school three days ago. Nico sent me a lock of her hair with a note. Said if I didn’t talk, they’d start sending back the rest of her in pieces.”
My whole body went cold. Marco had been there since day one. He pulled me from a car fire in Venice. Took two bullets for me once. I never doubted him. Not for a second.
“What did you give them?” Luca asked. He was barely holding it together. His voice was like a loaded gun.
Marco’s eyes were haunted as they met mine. “Everything, Dom. Locations of the safe houses, the evacuation routes, and the security protocols around Aria. They know it all.”
I lunged across the table before I knew what I was doing, hands gripping his shirt, slamming him back against the wall with bone–rattling force. “You betrayed everything we’ve built!”
“I had no choice!” Marco shouted, face contorted in agony. “She’s six years old, Dominic! She doesn’t deserve this.”
“And Aria does?” I growled back, my vision darkening at the edges. The betrayal was like poison, seeping into my veins.
“They’ll kill her anyway,” Luca said harshly from behind me, cold logic slicing through the chaos. “You know Nico, Marco. You know Victoria. Your daughter was a means to an end.”
Marco sagged, tears tracking silently down his face. “I had to try. I’m sorry, Dom. I’m so fucking sorry.”
My grip loosened, reality hitting me like a freight train. The true scope of this betrayal crashed down, clearer now.
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Chapter 185
“Take him,” I ordered, stepping back, heart heavy with ari emotion I couldn’t name–something deeper and darker than fury or hurt Lock him dea until we fix this mess.”
Luca nodded, pulling Marco roughly away. I turned back to the map, my pulse hammering in my ears, thoughts racing wildly. Aria was in the east villa. suite tonight, supposed to be safe behind reinforced doors and armed guards.
But now-
Now, Nico and Victoria knew exactly where she was..
Fear gripped my throat, suffocating. My hands shook as I grabbed the comm, barking orders into it. “Mobilize every man we have left. We would be moving to the west villa.”
I was pissed. They got me running around like headless chicken in this town.
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