LOGIN-Mina- It took about an hour to get comfortable and fall asleep, and I only slept for all of two hours. The dreams didn’t let up tonight, the pain crossing into reality when I woke up. I tossed the blanket off me and swung my legs over the bed, realizing there was nowhere to go; I was safe this time. It didn’t take long for that to register. I was sitting on the edge of Luca’s bed when he came in, my feet barely touching the floor, the city humming through the open window. The sheets were rumpled beneath my hands, warm from my body like they were waiting for something other than rest. I didn’t turn right away because I didn’t need to. I felt him before I saw him.He closed the door quietly behind him, the sound final in a way that made my chest tighten. When he said my name, it wasn’t the Don’s voice. It was low, unguarded, careful.“You should be sleeping,” he said.“I tried,” I replied. “My body didn’t agree.”I turned then. He stood there without his jacket, shirt slightly undone
-Mina-I didn’t tell anyone where I was going. Not Luca. Not Frankie. Not Tony. I let the lie sit by omission, heavy and deliberate. Sometimes silence is the only way to move without being stopped.Rafael didn’t ask questions when I told him to come with me. He never did. He checked his weapon, adjusted his jacket, and nodded once. Cartel loyalty wasn’t loud. It was precise.We took a car that didn’t belong to the family. No Gambino plates. No recognizable routes. I made Rafael take three turns. We didn’t need to; I just wanted to make sure we weren’t followed. Paranoia was a habit now, not a reaction.The city looked different when I wasn’t moving through it under Gambino protection. Every corner felt sharper. Every stoplight felt like a mistake. I watched storefronts blur past and wondered how many people had no idea how close they lived to men who decided whether they breathed tomorrow.Alaric chose a location that felt intentional. A half-abandoned commercial space near the river,
-Mina-Frankie found me in the break room off the operations floor, as if he’d been circling the place until he worked up the nerve. The air smelled like burnt coffee and gun oil, which felt fitting. He leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, eyes tired yet alert. When he saw me, something eased in his face, and he didn’t bother hiding it.“You okay?” he asked. “I’m breathing,” I replied sarcastically. “That’s where I’m setting the bar today.” I slid a stale granola bar across the table toward him. He snorted and ignored it.“Fair,” he smiled slightly. We let the silence sit. Radios crackled down the hall, boots passed, metal shifted. War wasn’t approaching. It was already inside the building, living in the walls.“You’ve been avoiding me,” I finally spoke again.He gave a short laugh. “You’ve met my brother.” He stepped inside and shut the door. The click sounded final, like we were sealing something in. “I didn’t want to say the wrong thing.”“You’re saying something now,” I re
-Mina-Weeks passed before the city finally stopped holding its breath. The noise never completely disappeared, but it eased into something darker and quieter. The kind of calm that only happens when everyone knows blood is about to spill. I learned how to read that silence quickly.We met in a warehouse that officially belonged to no one. It sat between Gambino territory and what used to be Moretti land, neutral in the way only temporary alliances are. Concrete floors, steel tables, armed men lining the walls like furniture. This was not a peace meeting; it was a planning room for murder.Luciano stood at the head of the table, calm and precise. He wore black, as he always did when working, no jacket, and his sleeves rolled up just enough to remind everyone who he was. The Don never raised his voice.Frankie sat to his right, with perfect posture and a composed expression. He issued orders when asked and kept his eyes on the maps. In public, he was reliable. In private, he still avoi
– Luciano –Frankie didn’t wait for permission. He stood in the yard with his keys already in his hand, jaw tight, eyes dark. The warehouse hummed behind us, generators and radios filling the silence no one wanted to acknowledge. Men kept their heads down, but everyone felt it. Something had shifted, and it wasn’t coming back the same.“I’m running the routes near the house,” he said. “South fence. Creek road. Anywhere that phone could’ve come from.” His gaze flicked past me toward the doors. “After that, I’m picking up Mina’s things. Clothes. Art supplies. She shouldn’t feel like she’s borrowing a life.”“You don’t have to do it yourself,” I said. “I’ve got men.”He shook his head once. “She trusts me.” His voice dropped. “Right now, she doesn’t trust you.”The words landed exactly where he meant them to. He walked past me and opened the SUV door. Gravel popped under the tires when he pulled out, the gate sliding open and slamming shut behind him. The sound echoed longer than it shou
-Luciano-Frankie entered at dawn, boots scraping across the concrete as if he'd walked through every ghost in the city. His jacket was half unzipped, and his shirt was damp with sweat. He closed the warehouse door with a soft thud that sounded louder than a gunshot. I watched him cross the floor without looking my way, which felt worse than if he had shouted.The reports from the raids were stacked on the table. Mina had fallen asleep two hours earlier with the files open in her lap. Rafael carried her upstairs without waking her, and the sight of it scraped something raw inside me. Frankie wiped a hand down his face and finally looked at me. There was no anger left in his eyes. Just exhaustion and something colder.“You got what you needed tonight,” he said. His voice was low but steady. “Three hits. Three routes cut. You won.” I didn’t answer. He took one step closer. “So tell me this. How long are you going to pretend this is about Alaric and not about her.”The warehouse was stil







