Chapter 5 First Taste of the Morreti Family

She shook off the feeling. getting up from her sit.

"Nina I think I should get going now."

"Wait Victoria, who texted you?" Nina asked again.

"Some other time I'd call you to hangout." she said kissing her cheeks as she made for the other door.

The city buzzed around her as she stepped out.cars honking, people chatting, the faint smell of roasted coffee and gasoline filling the air.

She realized she must have been thinking too much as the car didn't follow her. She adjusted her glasses, heading toward her father's company building two blocks down.

Just as she reached the corner, a black van screeched to a stop beside her.

Her breath caught.

The door slid open.

"Miss Victoria Hales?" a man's deep voice called. He wore sunglasses, his lips curved into a wide calm smile.

"I-I think you've got the wrong person," she stammered, stepping back.

"Ah... I know it you" the man's laughter covered her ear.

Victoria's heart thumped and she quickly brought out her phone dialing Dante number.

Another man got out. He was bigger with wild tattoos all over, the kind of man whose eyes didn't blink much.

Her phone slipped from her hand.

Before she could scream, a rough cloth covered her mouth. The bitter scent burned her nose.

"Mmph-!"

The world tilted.

People walked by without looking, the noise of traffic swallowing her muffled cries.

At Dante Mansion.

The call went through.

"Hello Vicky" Dante called but no one answered.

Dante's glass shattered in his hand as one of his men rushed in.

"Boss the lady's gone."

For a heartbeat, he didn't breathe.

Then, cold and deadly, Dante stood. "Find her. Whoever touched her... won't live to regret it."

He picked up his phone the list of people who could cross him came to his mind as he dialed the first call.

"Kelvin how can you hurt the woman you claim to love?" Dante cursed at him.

"Where's Victoria? You can't even protect the lady you stole from me all the enemies you have in this city and you think I'm the one" Kelvin snapped back at him.

Dante ended the call he knew it wasn't Kelvin he didn't have the heart he was a little rat.

"Boss we couldn't trace anything again"

Dante's glass slipped from his hand, crashing against the marble floor. Red wine and blood pooled together, staining the white surface.

The room froze.

"Find her," Dante cut in, his voice calm but low enough to make the air heavy. "Every street, every van, every camera between here and downtown. I want her found."

"Her phone went dark two blocks from Hales Industries," one of his men reported, already pale. "We picked up the van on CCTV for only a second. Professional work. Military pattern. Whoever took her knew how to hide."

WDante's pulse spiked. He knew that kind of efficiency. It wasn't random.

"Boss," Felix, his right-hand man, said carefully, "if it's not Kelvin, then..."

Dante turned toward him, eyes dark.

"It's Enzo."

The room stilled again.

Enzo Moretti.

His stepbrother. The golden child of their father's second wife.

The one who grew up in luxury while Dante was forced to train in silence and bleed for every scrap of respect.

"That bastard," Dante muttered, dragging a hand down his face. "He's been waiting for a reason to move against me. Maybe he finally found it."

Felix frowned. "You think this is about business?"

"It's always about business," Dante said flatly. "He's been begging for control of the eastern docks since Father died. I refused. If he can't beat me in negotiation, he'll try to cripple me emotionally." His fist clenched. "He knows what she means to me."

Felix hesitated. "Then this might not just be a message, boss. This could be leverage."

Dante exhaled through his nose, the sound sharp. "He thinks he can use Victoria to force my hand?"

"He wants me to sign that contract, the one tied to the Russians. So he can be trafficking young girls. He's aligning himself with them behind my back."

He turned toward the wall where a large painting of his father hung. His lip curled.

"You raised snakes, old man," he murmured. "And now they bite each other."

He picked up his jacket from the chair, ignoring the sting in his palm where the glass had cut deep. The pain grounded him, a reminder that weakness was a luxury he couldn't afford.

"Get the cars ready," he ordered. "And gather intel from the harbor. I want eyes everywhere. If Enzo touched her, I'll make him regret ever breathing my air."

He moved toward the door, but paused his reflection flickering in the window. For a fleeting second, guilt surfaced in his eyes.

You promised you'd protect her this time.

He pushed the thought away.

"This isn't about love anymore," he said under his breath. "This is war."

"Boss," Felix said again, voice cautious, "what if Enzo reaches out? Maybe this is his way of calling you to the table."

Dante smirked coldly. "Then he's about to learn that deals made in blood never end with signatures."

He stepped out, the mansion's massive doors swinging open as his convoy waited outside black cars lined up like soldiers in formation.

Engines roared to life, headlights slicing through the night as they sped down the long driveway.

"If it's truly Enzo... then Victoria's in more danger than she knows." One of the men muttered.

...

And far away, in the dim backroom of a cargo dock, a man poured himself a drink.

A silver ring gleamed on his finger the same crest Dante wore.

"Welcome back to the game, brother," Enzo murmured with a cold grin. "Let's see what your heart is worth."