Vows of Ruin: Til vengeance do us part のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 51 - チャプター 53

CARMELA'S POVThe meeting had been Gabriele's idea, which surprised me, because everything I'd learned about him in the weeks since our alliance formed suggested he preferred to keep the Russians at a comfortable distance.He told me the night before, standing in the doorway of the study while I was going through papers, in the tone he used when he'd already made a decision and was informing rather than asking."The Russian Vor will be there tomorrow evening. Alexei Volkov. He's attending on behalf of the Pakhan." He paused. "I need you to be present.""As your wife," I said."As my wife," he confirmed, and the way he said it had shifted slightly from the earlier weeks. It sounded less like a role he was reminding me to perform and more like a fact he was stating. I nodded and looked back at my papers and listened to him leave.****The dinner was small and carefully curated, the kind of evening that looked social and was entirely business. I spotted Alexei Volkov the moment we walked

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE CARMELA'S POVThe note was still in my jacket pocket when I sat down across from Gabriele the next morning.I was aware of it the entire time — a small, folded weight that shouldn't have meant anything and meant everything. I'd read it maybe thirty times since last night and each time Elena's handwriting did the same thing to me, pulled the floor out just slightly, enough to make everything else feel temporary and uncertain.I kept my face exactly where it needed to be.Gabriele was already deep into the accounts when I arrived, three folders open across the desk, his coffee going cold the way it always did when he was properly focused. He looked up when I sat down and pushed one of the folders toward me without preamble."These are shell companies," he said. "I need you to look at the registration dates against the shipment timeline and see if the pattern holds."I opened the folder and started reading.For the next hour we worked in the focused, efficient silenc