Chapter 2 I Will Have Her

Dante's POV

The surveillance footage plays on repeat across three monitors mounted above my desk. I watch it over and over; it's of my father, Marco Valerio, walking into the St. Vincent warehouse at eleven forty-three p.m. on a Tuesday. Eight minutes later, he walks out supported by two men who are supposed to be loyal. He collapses on the steps. Dead before the ambulance arrives.

Cardiac arrest, the coroner said. Natural causes.

Bullshit.

I lean back in my leather chair and press two fingers against my temple where a headache has been building for the last six hours.

I have been running the Valerio syndicate for three months now. Three months of cleaning up messes, burying traitors, and watching my back every second of every day. The underbosses circle like sharks since the death of my father, they see an opportunity to rise and take up the position of my father. Half of them think I am too young. The other half think I am too ruthless. All of them want me dead.

But I will prove all of them wrong.

The door opens without a knock. Only two people in this building would dare come in that way.

Santino Valerio walks in first, my cousin, late twenties, curly black hair still damp from the rain outside. He shakes water off his leather jacket and grins like he just got back from a party instead of a debt collection. "You look terrible, cousin."

"You look wet," I say without looking up.

"It is Chicago in November. Everyone is wet." He drops into the chair across from my desk and props his boots on the armrest. "Luca and Matteo are on their way. They found Federico Moretti at some dive bar on the South Side. Guy was three drinks deep and begging for mercy before they even said your name."

I do not smile. "How much does he owe?"

"Three million. Give or take."

"Give or take what?"

"Interest. Late fees. The cost of my time tracking his pathetic ass across the city." Santino pulls out his phone and scrolls. "He offered the usual. Begging. Crying. Promising to pay next week. Then he got creative."

"Creative how."

"He offered his daughter."

I pause. My gaze shifts from the monitors to Santino's face. He is still scrolling, unconcerned, like he just told me the weather forecast.

"Which daughter," I ask.

"The older one. Isabella. Twenty-two. Works two jobs. Quiet. Keeps her head down." He glances up. "You want me to pull her file?"

I already have it.

Isabella Moretti. Born in Chicago. Raised in a house that should have been condemned years ago. High school graduate. No college. Two jobs, both minimum wage. No criminal record. No social media presence. No friends that we can track. She exists in the smallest possible way, like she is afraid someone will notice her if she breathes too loud.

I have been watching the Moretti family for three weeks now. Ever since Federico's name came up on a list of people my father met with days before he died. The Morettis are broke, desperate, and connected to something bigger. I just do not know what yet.

Santino leans forward. "You want me to tell Matteo to kill him? Send a message?"

"No."

"No?" He blinks. "Dante, this guy stole from us. He has been ducking payments for six months. If we let him walk, every lowlife in the city will think they can do the same. Especially since your father-"

"I did not say let him walk."

The door opens again. Luca Romano enters first, six-foot-three, shaved head, neck tattoos visible above his collar. He moves like a tank. Behind him, Matteo Greco steps inside, smooth and polished in a tailored gray suit. His blue eyes scan the room, calculating, always calculating.

Matteo has been my second-in-command since my father died. These are men I trust. Luca, Matteo, Sergio.

"Dante," Matteo speaks. "Federico Moretti sends his regards. And his groveling apologies. He offered his daughter in exchange for clearing the debt. Not as payment. As collateral. He says she will do whatever you want. Cook. Clean. Serve." He pauses. "Other things."

Santino snorts. "That is disgusting even for him."

Luca says nothing.

I stand and walk to the window. Rain streaks down the glass. Forty-three floors below, people move through their lives unaware that men like me decide whether they live or die based on numbers in a ledger.

"Bring her here," I say.

Matteo hesitates. "The girl?"

"Yes."

"Dante." Santino sits up straight. "You are not seriously considering this."

I turn to face them. "Federico Moretti owes me three million dollars. He also owes me answers. His daughter works two jobs to pay for a stepmother who treats her like garbage. She has no debt of her own. No reason to be loyal to him. If I take her, I take his leverage and teach her a lesson.

"Go now."

They leave. All three of them. The door closes, and I am alone again with the surveillance footage and the weight of eight months pressing down on my shoulders.

I pull up Isabella Moretti's file on my computer. There is a photo attached. DMV records. She stares at the camera with big brown eyes that tilt downward at the corners. Her expression is neutral, but there is something fragile in the way she holds her mouth. Like she is used to staying silent even when she wants to scream.

Her father is selling her to a monster. That is what he thinks I am.

He is not wrong.

Tomorrow, Isabella Moretti will walk into my world. She will be terrified. She will probably cry. And she will have no idea that I have been watching her for weeks, waiting for the perfect moment to pull her into the center of a war she does not even know is happening.

I pour another drink and watch the footage loop one more time.

My father is walking. Then he's dying. Gone.

Somewhere in this city, someone is laughing about it. Someone thinks they got away with murder.

They are wrong.

I will find them. I will make them pay. And I will do it slowly enough that they beg for the mercy I will never give.

But first, I need Isabella Moretti.

And tomorrow, I will have her.