Chapter 6 Rules of the Cartel

Elena learned the rules before anyone officially taught them to her.

They revealed themselves in pauses, in glances, in the way conversations stopped the moment Alessandro De Luca entered a room. They lived in the careful distance men kept from her, in the doors she was not allowed to open, in the floors she was never taken to.

Rules here were not written.

They were understood.

The first rule was simple: nothing mattered more than loyalty.

She learned this the morning after the attempted intrusion.

Mara escorted her through the east wing as usual, but something had shifted. The guards stood straighter. Their eyes were sharper. The house felt tighter, like a fist that hadn't yet unclenched.

"Elena," Mara said quietly as they walked, "today you listen more than you speak."

"I always do," Elena replied.

Mara stopped and faced her. "Not enough."

They entered a long conference room Elena had never seen before. It was colder than the rest of the house, built of steel and stone instead of marble. A long table dominated the space, surrounded by men who radiated authority and danger in equal measure.

Alessandro sat at the head.

He didn't look at Elena when she entered, but she felt the subtle shift in his posture-the awareness of her presence like a current running beneath still water.

"Sit," Mara murmured, guiding her to a chair against the wall. Not at the table. Close enough to see. Far enough not to matter.

Or so they thought.

The men began to speak.

Routes.

Shipments.

Losses.

Names spoken like sentences.

Elena listened carefully, forcing herself to remain calm as fragments of information slid into place. This was not chaos. It was structure-ruthless, efficient, terrifyingly organized.

A man with scarred knuckles spoke up. "The breach last night wasn't amateur. Someone fed them timing."

Another nodded. "Which means we have a leak."

The word leak sucked the air from the room.

Alessandro finally lifted his gaze. "We already know that."

Murmurs rippled across the table.

"Eliminate variables," another man said. "Start with outsiders."

Elena felt the weight of those words press against her chest.

Alessandro's eyes flicked to her then-brief, assessing. "She is not the leak."

Silence followed.

"That's generous," the scarred man replied carefully.

"That's final," Alessandro said, his tone sharpening. "Rule number one: when I decide, the discussion ends."

No one argued.

Elena swallowed.

That was the second rule: Alessandro's word was absolute.

The meeting ended swiftly after that. Men filed out in pairs, voices low, glances sharp. Elena remained seated, her pulse steady but loud in her ears.

Alessandro rose last.

"Walk with me," he said again.

This time, it didn't feel like a command.

They moved through corridors Elena had never been allowed down before-narrower, more utilitarian, filled with the quiet hum of operations. Screens flickered behind reinforced glass. Armed men nodded as they passed.

"Why did you bring me there?" Elena asked finally.

"So you understand where you are."

"I already know," she replied. "I'm in hell."

Alessandro stopped walking.

He turned to her slowly, his expression unreadable. "No," he said. "You're in a system."

"That makes it better?"

"It makes it survivable."

They entered a smaller room-less severe than the interrogation chamber, but no less controlled. He gestured for her to sit again.

"You wanted to know the rules," Alessandro said. "Here they are."

She folded her hands together. "I'm listening."

"Rule one: loyalty is everything. Betrayal is death."

She nodded once.

"Rule two: weakness is a liability."

Her jaw tightened. "Then why keep me?"

"Because," he said calmly, "you are not weak."

The admission startled her.

"Rule three," Alessandro continued, "you do not interfere with cartel operations."

"I don't want to," Elena replied.

"Good. Rule four: you do not leave the estate without my permission."

"That was obvious."

"Rule five," he said, stepping closer, lowering his voice, "you do not trust anyone here."

Elena looked up at him. "Including you?"

A flicker of something unreadable crossed his face.

"Especially me."

The honesty unsettled her more than a lie would have.

"And if I break a rule?" she asked.

Alessandro studied her carefully. "Then I decide the consequence."

"That's not a rule," she said quietly. "That's ownership."

"Yes," he agreed without hesitation.

Anger sparked in her chest. "I'm not your property."

"No," Alessandro said. "You're my responsibility."

"That's worse."

He almost smiled.

"You protected me last night," Elena said. "That broke one of your rules, didn't it?"

His gaze sharpened. "Which one?"

"Weakness."

A long pause followed.

"Protection is not weakness," Alessandro said finally. "Attachment is."

"And which one was it?" she asked softly.

For a moment, he didn't answer.

Then: "Don't confuse proximity with importance."

She stood abruptly. "You brought me here to scare me."

"Yes."

"And to remind me I don't belong."

"No," he corrected. "To remind you that you already do."

The words hit harder than any threat.

Later that evening, Elena sat alone again, replaying every rule in her mind. Loyalty. Obedience. Silence. Survival.

But there was another rule she had learned without him saying it.

Alessandro De Luca broke his own rules.

He had defended her in front of his men. He had positioned himself between her and gunfire. He had told her not to trust him-and then proven that part of him was already compromised.

That night, Elena did something small.

Something dangerous.

She opened the door to her room and stepped into the corridor without waiting for permission.

A guard looked up in surprise. "Miss-"

"I need water," she said calmly.

The guard hesitated.

Then he nodded.

It wasn't much.

But it was the first rule she bent.

And in the quiet space between footsteps and watchful eyes, Elena understood something crucial:

Rules only mattered as long as everyone believed in them.

And belief, like loyalty, could be broken.