Chapter 2

The second year started with blood.

My brother Luca ran a shipment through the Valesi docks without notifying the Moretti family first. Bad move. Worse timing.

The Moretti enforcers caught two of Luca's men at the warehouse. By the time Dante and I arrived, one man was already dead—two bullets to the chest—and the other was being held down over a steel table, a pair of bolt cutters positioned above his trigger finger.

"Elena." Dante's tone held the snap of a whip crack. He stood near the entrance, next to a massive shipping container with our family crest—a black serpent coiled around a dagger—spray-painted on its side. "Your brother. Your territory. Fix this."

Luca stood beside me, pale as bone. "I didn't think—"

"Shut up." I didn't look at him. My eyes were on the man on the table. Marco. Twenty-four years old. New father. His wife had sent lasagna to our apartment last Christmas.

"What are the terms?" I asked.

The enforcer with the bolt cutters—a mountain named Sal who rarely spoke—glanced at Dante. Dante nodded.

"One shipment bypasses protocol," Sal said. "Family tax, fifteen percent. On top of the offense fee. Total: four hundred grand. Or the finger."

"Elena," Luca breathed. "Please—"

I turned to my brother. "You have the money?"

"The shipment hasn't sold yet. I can get it in a week—"

"Dante." I faced my husband. "A week. He gets a week."

Dante studied me. The warehouse lights cast harsh shadows, cutting his face into sharp angles. "And if he runs?"

"He won't."

"But if he does?"

I walked to the table. Marco stared up at me, tears streaking through the dirt on his face. I looked at Sal. "Cut the finger."

"Elena!" Luca grabbed my arm.

I shook him off. "A week, Luca. Bring the money, Marco's finger gets reattached. You don't—" I turned back to Sal. "You cut another one. And another. Until my brother remembers that deals come with consequences."

The bolt cutters clicked open. Marco screamed.

I didn't flinch.

Later, in the car, Dante watched me with a new expression. Not admiration, exactly. Assessment.

"That was cold," he said.

"You wanted a wolf." I stared at my hands, still seeing Marco's blood on them. "You got one."

"Did it hurt?"

"Every second."

"Good." He faced forward. "It should always hurt. The day it stops hurting, you've lost your soul."

I laughed, bitter and sharp. "You think I have a soul left?"

He was quiet for a long time. Then, softly: "I think you have more than you know."

Something shifted between us that night. Not affection. Not trust. But recognition. Two people who understood that survival in this world meant doing unforgivable things and living with the ghosts.

Three weeks later, Luca delivered the money. Marco got his finger back, though it never worked right again. His wife sent a Christmas card addressed only to me.

Inside, a single line: God forgive you, because I won't.

I burned it in the fireplace of Dante's study. He watched me, glass of bourbon in hand.

"You could've let Sal kill him," he said. "It would've been the easier message."

"Marco has a daughter. Her name is Lucia. She's three."

"And?"

"I don't make orphans."

Dante swirled his drink. "You know who taught me that rule?"

"I have a feeling you're about to tell me."

"My mother." He walked to the window, back to me. "She was the real power in this family. My father pulled triggers. She pulled strings. When rivals came for us after he died, she didn't have them killed. She had them broken. Financially. Mentally. Every one of them alive to remember their failure."

"What happened to her?"

A pause. "My uncle had her killed when I was sixteen. Couldn't stomach a woman running things." He drained his glass. "I took my first life three days later. Never stopped."

I didn't know what to say. So I said nothing. We stood in silence, watching the flames consume Marco's wife's hatred, and for the first time, I felt like I understood the man I'd married.

That understanding lasted exactly six hours.