로그인Dante was quiet for a moment."Then we figure out if we're still valuable to them," Dante said. "And if we're not, we make sure we're valuable to someone else."Luca understood what Dante wasn't saying out loud: the moment The Covenant decided they were expendable, they'd need to have a survival strategy in place.But that was a problem for later.Right now, they had Dimitri coming at them with everything he had.And they had to be ready.***POV: DIMITRIThe room was deliberately made uncomfortable. Concrete walls. Harsh fluorescent lighting. A single metal table. Two chairs on one side for Dimitri and Marco. One chair on the other side where the prisoners would sit.No windows. No clock. No way to track time.Marco had learned long ago that disorientation was the first step toward breaking someone.Angela was brought in first.She was still in her yoga clothes, but they'd been exchanged for a grey interrogation suit that removed any identity she might have clung to. She was pale. He
Dante set down the phone and stood very still.The operation had failed. Eve was alive. Angela was captured. The operative was captured. And now his alliance with The Covenant was shifting from active assassination to defense.He'd been used as a distraction. The Covenant had sent him to assault Brooklyn, to take territory from Dimitri, to pull Dimitri's attention in multiple directions while The Covenant made their move against Eve.And it had worked perfectly.Except the assassination had failed.Which meant Dimitri was now fully aware of the alliance between him and The Covenant.Which meant Dimitri was going to respond with everything he had.Dante moved back to his desk and pulled up the Brooklyn territory map. The red sections showing his consolidation. The dealers he'd flipped. The operations he'd taken over. The money flowing toward his organization.It was impressive progress for two weeks of work.But holding it against a full Valentino retaliation was going to be significan
POV: DANTEThe call came at 10:47 AM.Dante was in his office reviewing the Brooklyn territory consolidation reports when the encrypted line lit up. The Covenant. He picked up immediately, expecting confirmation that the operation had succeeded."Status?" Dante said.The voice on the other end was controlled, but Dante could hear something underneath the control. Not panic. Not fear. But a shift in tone that suggested the situation had changed."The operation has been compromised," the voice said flatly.Dante felt something go cold in his chest, but he kept his voice absolutely steady."Explain," Dante said."Our man was intercepted at the moment of execution," the voice continued. "Before he could administer the poison. Eve was never poisoned. The assassin was restrained, and Angela was captured."Dante's mind was already moving through the implications."How?" Dante asked. "How did they know?""That's what we're determining," the voice said. "But the conclusion is clear: Valentino
The yoga instructor walked into the main studio space.She was a woman in her early thirties, with the kind of centered calm that came from years of practice."Good morning, everyone," she said, checking the count of students. "I see we have some new faces this morning. Welcome! Let's begin with some simple breathing exercises to ground ourselves before we start."The students....six total, including two of Dimitri's operatives, settled onto their mats.Eve was on her mat, eyes already closed, centering herself.Angela was on her mat next to Eve, watching.The instructor began leading the class through breathing exercises."Inhale for four counts," the instructor said softly. "Hold for four. Exhale for four."The students followed along.The operative's hand was moving now. Slowly. Carefully. Extracting the vial from his gym bag.He was going to move during the next transition, when the instructor was guiding people through a specific pose and attention would be divided.He had maybe
POV: DIMITRIThe West Village was still dark, that pre-dawn darkness that made the city look like it belonged to someone else entirely.Marco stood in the command center, a nondescript van parked two blocks from the yoga studio with surveillance equipment that cost more than most people's houses. Banks of monitors showed feeds from four different angles: the studio entrance, the interior main room, the reception area, and the water bottle/personal items zone.On his earpiece, he heard the confirmations coming through from his operatives."North position set," came the first voice."East position set," came the second."Café interior secured," came the third."Delivery van staged," came the fourth.Six operatives total, positioned in a net around the yoga studio. Two more inside, already there before Angela and Eve arrived...positioned as early morning yogis."All units are green," Marco reported to Dimitri, who was sitting in a separate car three blocks away, monitoring the same feeds
Angela closed her eyes, visualizing the scene."What's my exit strategy?" Angela asked."You arrive with Eve," the voice said. "You greet her. You chat with her briefly. Then you tell her you have an urgent work call and need to step outside. You leave the studio. You go to the coffee shop on the corner, there's one three blocks north. You order a coffee. You sit for fifteen minutes. Then you leave Manhattan completely.""Where do I go?" Angela asked."You have a packet," the voice said. "Passport, credit cards, cash, new identity documentation. It's in a locker at Penn Station. Locker 247. Combination is 14-28-36. You retrieve it after you leave the coffee shop. You take a train, we don't care where, as long as it's not to Rome or anywhere associated with Dante. You disappear.""How much?" Angela asked."One million dollars," the voice said. "Transferred to an offshore account in your new name. You'll have access to it the moment we confirm Eve is dead."One million dollars. Enough t







