로그인"The Covenant," Dimitri confirmed. "They're not just backing Dante, Mike. They're actively treating him. Providing experimental medical treatment that's accelerating his recovery beyond anything conventional medicine could achieve. They've invested in him. Seriously invested."Mike stood and began to pace, processing this."So Enzo was right," Mike said. "When you called him to investigate, when you asked him to confirm The Covenant's involvement, he found it.""Not just involvement," Dimitri said. "Direct, active, resource-intensive involvement. They're using pharmaceutical compounds that don't exist anywhere else. They're testing experimental healing technology on him. They've committed to making him a viable threat."Mike stopped pacing and looked directly at Dimitri."Then we kill him," Mike said simply. "We send someone, we take him out, we remove the asset they invested in. It's not elegant, but it's effective."Dimitri was quiet for a moment."You think that's the solution?" Di
Dimitri's voice shifted, became something harder and more focused."Here's what I need from you," Dimitri said. "First, I need you to continue investigating The Covenant's presence in Rome. Find out everything. Second, I need you to reach out to your contacts in the Russo family. I need to know if Lorenzo knows about The Covenant's involvement with Dante. I need to know where his loyalties lie if this becomes an open conflict.""Lorenzo's going to side with whoever he thinks will win," Enzo said. "He's not sentimental about alliances.""Then we need to make sure he understands that siding with us is the winning move," Dimitri said. "Because if The Covenant succeeds in taking me down, the entire power structure in Italy changes. And Lorenzo's position becomes vulnerable."Enzo understood the calculation immediately."You're going to use the alliance threat," Enzo said. "Tell Lorenzo that his daughter's fate depends on which side he chooses.""Not threatened," Dimitri corrected. "Explai
"I know," Enzo confirmed. "Which is why I'm calling you now instead of continuing to investigate. Because this confirms it. Dante isn't recovering naturally. He's receiving experimental treatment from The Covenant. The kind of treatment that only an organization with that level of resources and research capability could provide.""How advanced is this treatment?" Dimitri asked. "What are we talking about?""Accelerated healing. Nerve regeneration at impossible rates. Muscle recovery that defies conventional medicine." Enzo pulled up the scans on his laptop as he spoke. "If I had to guess, I'd say pharmaceutical compounds. Something experimental. Something they've been developing for years and are now testing on Dante.""Testing," Dimitri repeated, and there was something sharp in his voice now. "You mean they're using him as a test subject.""Or rewarding him for his cooperation," Enzo said. "Either way, they're invested in his recovery. They want him mobile. They want him operational
"I don't know," Marelli said, and there was genuine frustration in his voice now. "But something else is happening. Some kind of treatment I'm not providing. Some kind of intervention that's accelerating his recovery in ways that defy conventional medicine.""When did you realize this?" Enzo asked."Three weeks ago," Marelli said. "I started wondering when the improvement seemed too rapid. But I didn't want to believe it. I kept thinking maybe my initial assessment was wrong, maybe I'd underestimated his body's natural healing capacity. But then...""But then?" Enzo prompted."But then I went to see him for a regular therapy session five days ago," Marelli said. "And he was walking. Not with assistance. Not carefully. But walking. Across his study, back and forth, like he'd been doing it for weeks instead of days."Enzo felt his pulse quicken."Walking," Enzo repeated. "Five days ago.""I asked him about it," Marelli continued. "I asked him what else he was doing for his recovery. Wha
His number was still in her contacts. She could call him right now. Could hear his voice. Could tell him that she'd been thinking about him, that she wondered if he was okay, that she wanted to hear that he'd survived Dimitri's attack.Isabella reached over and picked up the phone. Unlocked it. Found his contact information.Her thumb hovered over the call button.She could do this. Could make the call. Could hear his voice telling her whatever lies or truths he would tell her.But then what? Then he would know she was thinking about him. That she was still caught, still unable to move forward, still trapped in whatever this was between them.No. Don't call him. Let him go. Get your head straight.She set the phone back on the nightstand and turned away from it, pulling the covers up over herself.She closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep, pushing away the thought of Dante, pushing away the wondering if he was alive, pushing away everything that wasn't right in front of her.Tom
It wasn't just the shaking in her hands anymore. It was the tightness in her chest that came without warning, the sensation that she couldn't quite breathe deeply enough. It was the way her heart would suddenly race for no reason, then slow down to a crawl. It was the sensitivity to light and sound, the way the morning sun coming through her window felt like it was burning her eyes. The way a maid's footsteps in the hallway made her flinch.It was the sweating. The constant, low-level sweating that made her clothes stick to her skin despite the cool temperature of her room.And underneath all of that was something worse. A clarity that was almost painful. A sharpness to her thoughts that felt wrong after months of the medication's soft blur. It was like waking up from a long sleep and discovering that everything around you had changed while you were unconscious.Isabella pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, trying to make herself smaller. Trying to contai







