Chapter 2 2

Athena POV

The metallic tang of blood and damp earth hit me before we even reached the bottom of the stairs. The basement holding cell was a tomb of exposed brick and shadows, illuminated only by a single, swaying bulb.

Capo Moretti was strapped to a heavy iron chair in the center of the room. His face was a swollen, unrecognizable mess, but his arrogance remained intact. Julian stood just outside the ring of light, a silent predator observing his domain, while his Soldier, Leo, waited for a command.

"I took the vow of *Omertà*(silence)," Moretti spat, a bloody mixture of saliva and defiance landing on the concrete. "You get nothing from me, Morgan."

I stepped past Julian, letting the harsh light catch my face. Moretti's one good eye widened in sheer terror. He recognized the ghost of the family he had helped slaughter.

"Via Roma 42, Palermo," I said, my voice a soft, lethal hum that echoed off the damp walls. "Your mother, Caterina. Your sister, Rosa. And the forty-two thousand dollars sitting in a Kirkland proxy account under a shell corporation."

Moretti thrashed against the leather straps, the chair groaning under his sudden panic.

I leaned in close enough to smell his cold sweat. "In this world, loyalty is a currency, Moretti. And you're bankrupt."

He broke instantly. The coordinates of the Queens warehouse spilled from his trembling lips, along with the confirmation that one of Kirkland's Underbosses was personally overseeing the execution tonight. But as he gasped for air, his voice dropped to a frantic wheeze. "It wasn't just me, Athena. There's a rat higher up. Someone your grandfather trusted..."

I didn't let the revelation alter my expression. I simply straightened my posture and glanced at Leo. "He's useless now."

A single, suppressed gunshot ended Moretti's miserable life. I felt Julian's gaze on me-heavy, assessing, and entirely too sharp. He was looking at a sixteen-year-old girl, but seeing a monster that mirrored his own darkness.

An hour later, the stench of death was replaced by the suffocating perfume and cigarette smoke of 'The Gilded Cage'.

Dressed in a tailored men's suit that bound my chest and hid my youth, I sat in the velvet-lined VIP booth beside Julian. The jazz band was loud enough to drown out our treason.

Isabella 'Bella' Morgan, draped in a red sequined flapper dress, slid a folded napkin across the mahogany table. "Alistair is at the Mayor's banquet until midnight," she murmured, her dark, painted lips curving into a smirk. She leaned forward, her eyes flicking to me with predatory amusement. "Where did you find such a pretty boy, Julian?"

Before Julian could answer, the club's owner pushed through the heavy curtains. Jensen 'The Oracle' Hobbs adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses. He didn't speak to me, but the microscopic tilt of his head was all the confirmation I needed from my senior. The extraction trucks were in position.

"Alistair is getting suspicious of your quiet little life, cousin," Bella warned Julian, her playful demeanor vanishing into cold calculation. "If you're going to strike, make it a killing blow."

By 2:00 AM, the jazz and perfume were a distant memory. The freezing autumn rain hammered against the roof of the Ford Model A parked near the Manhattan docks.

Outside the abandoned meatpacking plant, over a dozen of Julian's Soldiers stood in the dark, the steel of their Thompson submachine guns gleaming in the faint moonlight. The air was thick with the electric tension of impending violence.

Julian stepped into the halo of the headlights. The polished college boy was gone; in his place stood the rightful heir to the Morgan empire, radiating absolute authority. "Tonight, we follow her," he commanded, his voice cutting through the storm.

I didn't hesitate. I spread the blueprints over the wet hood of the car. "Derek," I looked at the giant looming behind me, "you take the front. Suppressing fire. Leo, you flank the east loading dock. Julian and I will breach the core."

I looked at the hardened killers surrounding me, letting my voice carry the weight of my dead bloodline. "Tonight, we don't just save our brothers. We remind Alistair Kirkland whose city this really is."

Julian met my eyes across the hood of the car. In the shadows of the rain, we forged a silent, blood-soaked pact. He pulled back the bolt of his Tommy gun with a sharp, metallic clack.