ログインRENZO'S POVThe car came to a stop at the gate exactly where I expected it would, right where six of our men had already formed a line across the driveway, weapons drawn but not raised, waiting for a reason.I watched through the narrow hallway window as the driver's door opened slowly. A man stepped out with both hands visible, unhurried, like arriving at a checkpoint he'd anticipated the entire drive over."That's him," Leo said through the radio clipped to my collar. "Confirmed. Viktor.""Alone?""Looks that way. No one else in the vehicle."I left Valentina pressed against the interior wall, Don already moving to stand in front of her without needing to be asked, and made my way out through the side door toward the gate. The morning air felt sharper than it should have, every sound too loud, my own footsteps echoing against the gravel.Viktor stood exactly where he'd stepped out, hands raised slightly at his sides, an expression on his face that unsettled me more than fear would h
RENZO'S POVI found an empty room off the east corridor and shut the door before calling Leo back."Talk to me.""Let me show you first," Leo said, and a second later a photo landed in my messages. I opened it. A man standing outside a small restaurant, mid-conversation with someone whose back was turned to the camera."That's Viktor," Leo said when I got him back on the line. "Facial recognition matched him to an old customs photo. He's crossed borders under three different names in the last five years.""A courier?""More than that." I could hear him clicking through files on his end. "I dug into his known associations. He's shown up in the background of three separate incidents tied to Don Marco's organization over the last two years. Not as muscle. As a watcher. Someone brought in to observe, not to act, unless he's told to."Something cold settled in my chest. "Observe who?""That's the part you need to hear." A pause, like he wanted me sitting down for it. "One of the incidents
RENZO'S POVI held the note carefully, like it might tell me something just from the way James had folded it.Don's voice came through the phone, tense. "Read it to me."I unfolded the paper. The handwriting was rushed, uneven, a man writing fast because he didn't have much time."It says: I know you found out. I only ever dealt with a man named Viktor. He paid me to report on your daughter's schedule and movements. I don't know who he worked for or why he wanted the information. I'm sorry, Don. Please don't send anyone after my family."There was silence on the other end of the line."Viktor," Don finally said. "Who is Viktor?""I don't know yet." I turned the paper over, but there was nothing else written on it. No last name, no address, no way to reach the man."But this changes what we thought we knew.""How so?""We assumed Daniel was staying at that property near the estate. That's how we found James standing outside it."I walked the note back toward the car, my mind working th
DON VALETTI'S POVRenzo's voice came through the phone tight and controlled."He's gone, Don. He made it past the tree line before my man could reach him."I stood very still in my study, the phone pressed hard against my ear, feeling something ignite low in my chest that hadn't burned this hot in years."Gone how?""Slipped through a gap in the east perimeter we didn't know existed until this morning. He knew exactly where to go.""Of course he did." My voice came out flatter than I intended, the calm before something worse. "He's had years to learn every inch of this property. Every blind spot. Every gap in the fence line the rest of us never bothered checking because we trusted the man walking it.""I've got men searching the surrounding roads now. He can't have gotten far on foot.""He doesn't need to get far," I said. "He needs to get far enough to reach a phone Daniel hasn't already been warned by."The silence on the other end told me Renzo understood exactly what that meant. I
RENZO'S POVI found Don in his study before sunrise, the same way I always seemed to find him lately, sitting behind his desk with a glass of something dark he hadn't touched.He looked up when I knocked, already reading something in my face before I said a word."This early," he said. "It's never good news at this hour.""It's not, Don."He set his pen down and gestured to the chair across from him. I didn't sit. Some things felt wrong to deliver while seated, like the weight of them needed me standing."Leo found something last night," I said. "About the property near the estate. The one connected to Marco Holdings.""The one tied to Daniel's other identity.""Yes." I paused, choosing the next words carefully, because there was no gentle way to say what came next. "One of our men did a drive-by to check the perimeter. He recognized someone standing near the gate."Don's expression didn't change, but something behind his eyes sharpened, the way it always did right before he understoo
RENZO'S POVLeo called just after midnight, his voice tight in a way I hadn't heard from him before."You need to see this in person," he said. "Not over the phone."I met him at the small office above the garage twenty minutes later. He had his laptop open, three windows of documents layered across the screen, and a look on his face like a man who'd found something he wished he hadn't."Talk to me," I said."The third name. The one from the old visa photo." He turned the screen toward me. "I finally got a hit."I leaned in. An old property record, filed under a name I still couldn't fully read even printed cleanly in front of me. Beneath it, a list of transactions, small ones at first, then larger, spanning almost a decade."Where does it lead?""Property holdings. Shell companies, mostly, similar to the ones tied to Daniel's current identity. But this one's older. Deeper." Leo scrolled down. "And every single company on this list traces back through at least two layers to the same p







