Chapter 5 DANGEROUS GAMES

The penthouse was too quiet.

I stood outside Luca's door listening to him sleep, memorizing his breathing like I could keep him safe through sheer force of will.

Ghost was posted at the end of the hallway, armed and alert. He nodded as I passed.

But it was the voices coming from Dante's office that made my pulse spike.

Low. Urgent. Italian I couldn't fully follow.

I shouldn't have eavesdropped.

I did anyway.

"...someone got that angle on the bedroom window," Dante was saying. "Someone inside. Someone who knew our security protocols."

A pause.

"Forty three people. I want every financial record. Bank accounts. Phone logs. If there's even a hint of contact with the Carozzas, I want to know."

Another pause.

"...when we find them? I want them alive long enough to tell me everything. Every piece of information sold. Every move Vincent knows about..."

I must have made a sound because Dante's head snapped toward the door.

Our eyes met through the gap.

"I'll call you back," he said into the phone. Ended the call.

He didn't ask permission. Just gestured for me to come in.

I did.

His office was dark wood and leather, walls covered in maps. Territory marked in colors. Red pins clustered in certain neighborhoods. Yellow forming a perimeter around them.

Vincent's territory.

My father's territory that Vincent had stolen.

"You want to know why I marked those zones," Dante said, watching me study the maps. Not a question.

"Because you're hunting Vincent."

"Because I'm calculating how to take him down without starting a war that destroys this city." He moved closer. "And because you're going to help me."

"I don't know how to.."

"You know his operations. You know his weaknesses. You know what your father built that Vincent stole." Dante stopped inches from me. "That makes you valuable, Aria. That makes you dangerous."

The way he said my name made my skin prickle.

"You want to use me."

"Yes."

At least he didn't lie.

"To do what?"

"First? There's a meeting in three days. Brooklyn families. Minor territorial discussions." He moved to his desk, poured two glasses of whiskey without asking if I wanted one. "You're going to attend."

"Your people won't..."

"They'll do what I tell them to do." He handed me the glass. His fingers brushed mine. Deliberately. "And I'm telling them you're under my protection. That makes you untouchable."

I should have felt grateful.

Instead I felt trapped.

A pet. A pawn. A means to an end.

"And if I don't want to go?"

"Then you're wasting the protection I'm providing." His eyes were cold. "You came here saying you wanted to be a boss. Wanted to reclaim your father's territory. That doesn't happen by hiding in bedrooms."

He was right. I hated it.

"The meeting," I said carefully. "What would I be doing there?"

"Watching. Learning. Being present." He took a sip of whiskey like we were discussing the weather. "Let them see that Moretti didn't die with your family. That the heir survived. That she's smart enough to align with power."

Align. Like I had a choice.

"What if they try to hurt me?"

"Then they'll learn what happens when someone threatens what's mine." He said it so casually. Like ownership was a settled fact. "You're mine now, Aria. Everything that touches you gets my attention."

My chest tightened.

This wasn't partnership.

This was possession.

"I need to tell Ghost.."

"Ghost already knows." Dante set down his glass. "Everyone in this building knows. You're no longer Elena Sinclair hiding in safe houses. You're Aria Russo. My wife. The Moretti heir under Russo protection."

Russo.

My name had changed without my consent.

"This isn't what I agreed to."

"No." He stepped closer. "You agreed to six months of marriage. What you got was far more complicated. But you're still breathing, your son is still safe, and Vincent is still hunting in the dark. That's the deal we made."

I wanted to argue.

I couldn't.

Because he was right.

My phone buzzed on the couch where I'd left it.

Unknown number.

My stomach dropped.

Dante was already moving toward it, but I got there first. Grabbed it. Opened the message.

*Beautiful penthouse. Bulletproof windows. State-of-the-art security. But every fortress has blind spots. And you, little bird, are his biggest one. Sleep well. Tomorrow's going to be interesting.*

Little bird.

My father's name for me.

The glass slipped from my hand and shattered on the floor.

"Aria." Dante's voice was sharp. "Give me the phone."

"They know about the penthouse. They know about.."

"Give me the phone."

I did.

He read the message, his entire body going still. Then he moved to the door and shouted into the hallway.

"GHOST. NOW."

Ghost appeared in seconds, weapon drawn.

"Trace that number," Dante ordered. "Every device it's pinged. Every location. I want the origin point in the next thirty minutes."

"On it," Ghost said, taking the phone.

Dante turned back to me. "Who called you 'little bird'?"

"My father. Only my father."

"So someone from your father's organization."

"Or someone who knew me when I was young. Someone close." My hands were shaking. "It could be anyone."

"It's not anyone." His voice was ice. "It's someone inside this building. Someone with access to your location. Someone who's been feeding information to Vincent."

The realization hit me.

The traitor wasn't hidden.

The traitor was here.

"We need to.."

The lights cut out.

All of them. The entire penthouse went dark.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then Dante moved, pulling me toward the window. The city lights below provided just enough illumination to see his face.

"Stay with me," he said.

A gunshot cracked through the darkness.

Then another.

From inside the penthouse.

From somewhere near Luca's room.

My entire body went numb.

"Luca.."

"Ghost has him," Dante said, but he was already moving, pulling me away from the window, toward the office door. "We're getting you both out of here. Now."

Another gunshot.

Closer.

The security system kicked in. Lights flickered back on emergency lighting, casting everything in red.

Dante had his phone out, issuing commands in rapid Italian.

"Rooftop. Helicopter. Fifteen minutes."

He grabbed my wrist. "Move."

We ran.

The hallway was suddenly chaotic. Security personnel moving fast. More gunshots. The sound of breaking glass from somewhere deeper in the penthouse.

Ghost appeared from Luca's room carrying my son, who was awake and terrified, his small arms wrapped around Ghost's neck.

"Rooftop," Ghost said to Dante. "I'll take the emergency stairwell. You take the elevator. They're shooting blind in the dark."

"Go," Dante ordered.

Ghost disappeared with Luca.

Dante pulled me toward the private elevator, his hand never leaving his weapon.

The elevator doors opened.

We got inside.

As they closed, I caught a glimpse of a figure at the end of the hallway.

A man I almost recognized.

Before I could place him, the doors slammed shut.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Marco's second in command," Dante said, his voice flat. "Patterson. Fifteen years loyal to the organization."

"Why would he.."

"Because Vincent paid him more," Dante said. "Because someone always flips. Because this is the world you wanted so badly to be part of, Aria."

The elevator rose.

And above us, somewhere on the rooftop, a helicopter was waiting to take us away from the fortress that had just become a battlefield.

I'd been in the penthouse for less than twelve hours.

And it was already burning.