Chapter Twenty-Three - Outlawed

The cameras flickered across the screen in front of me, one feed after another lighting up the darkened strategy room.

I wasn’t breathing.

I watched Dante move through the compound with lethal calm, weapon in hand, body loose and ready. He didn’t rush. He didn’t hesitate. He went straight toward the west corridor.

Straight toward Dale.

My father’s favorite.

My father’s oldest friend.

Dale never failed. He’d always said the job mattered more than the cost. That if it killed him, so be it — the mission would still be finished.

That was what made him dangerous.

That was what made my father sending him here feel wrong.

Until it didn’t.

Because there was only one reason Dale would be inside this house.

Not for territory.

Not for Dante.

For me.

My father hadn’t just abandoned me.

He’d outlawed me.

The feed switched just as Dante stepped into the corridor.

Dale was already there.

Older now. Grayer. But his posture was exactly the same as I remembered — relaxed, patient, like violence was just another tool he carried comfortably.

They faced each other in the hall.

Two predators.

Dante spoke first. I couldn’t hear the words clearly, but I saw the shape of them.

Leave.

Or die.

Dale smiled.

Even through the grainy camera, I recognized it. That calm, disappointed smile. The one he wore when someone had already sealed their fate.

He lifted his gun.

I screamed, “NO—”

Too late.

The gunshot cracked through the speakers.

Dante moved at the same instant.

He didn’t dodge.

He didn’t retreat.

He advanced.

The hallway lit with muzzle flashes as Dante emptied his clip into Dale without hesitation. Shot after shot after shot — controlled, efficient, merciless.

Dale went down.

Hard.

The feed shook, then steadied.

Silence followed.

My ears rang.

I stared at the screen, my hands numb, my chest hollowing out like something vital had been ripped free.

Dale was dead.

My father’s executioner.

Killed in seconds.

Marco appeared on the feed next, crouching beside the body. He searched Dale quickly, professionally, pulling items from his pockets — wallet, keys, a burner phone.

Evidence.

Proof.

Confirmation.

The feed cut.

I didn’t realize I’d stopped breathing until the door slammed open behind me.

Dante walked in.

Blood streaked his sleeve. His expression wasn’t victorious.

It was furious.

He threw Dale’s phone onto the table in front of me.

“Look,” he said.

His voice wasn’t raised.

That was worse.

I didn’t understand at first. My mind lagged, disconnected, like it was protecting me from what I already knew was coming.

Then I saw the screen.

A message.

Not just one.

A chain.

My father’s name at the top.

Bounty Active — Aria Moretti

500,000 USD

Status: TRAITOR

Last Known Location: Valenti Estate

The room tilted.

My vision tunneled.

Five hundred thousand.

For my head.

My father didn’t just want me dead.

He wanted me erased.

I couldn’t hear Dante anymore. His mouth was moving, but the words didn’t reach me.

A traitor.

That was the word that broke me.

Not enemy.

Not liability.

Traitor.

My body shut down.

Not screaming.

Not crying.

Just… numb.

Cold.

I stared at the phone like it wasn’t real. Like if I didn’t blink, the words might rearrange themselves into something less final.

They didn’t.

I felt Dante’s presence shift closer. Felt the weight of his attention lock onto me.

“Aria,” he said sharply. “You need to decide.”

Decide?

My father had already decided for me.

Everyone who received that message was coming.

Hunters.

Killers.

People who wouldn’t hesitate.

And they knew exactly where I was.

I swallowed, but nothing came out.

For the first time since all of this began, I wasn’t calculating.

I wasn’t planning.

I wasn’t fighting.

I was just… gone.

Outlawed by my own blood.

Marked for death.

And standing in the house of the man I was sent to kill — the only one who hadn’t tried to put a bullet in me yet.

My fingers trembled.

Slowly, I looked up at Dante.

And for the first time…

I didn’t know what to do next.