Chapter 42
Inside the warm, dimly lit living room of the villa, Maya moved with the swift, steady precision of a combat medic. She rushed in with the emergency trauma kit, using her gentle but firm hands to apply pressure to the through-and-through bullet wound on Matteo’s left shoulder. Sophia hid terrified behind Maya’s back, her wide brown eyes filled with an all-too-familiar panic; the horrific, traumatic memories of her biological mother Elena's staged disappearance seemed to claw their way back into the little girl's mind.
"What exactly happened in New York?" Dante demanded, the sheer, crushing pressure of his deep voice making the air in the room feel suffocatingly heavy.
Matteo winced as Maya tightened the gauze, slumping back against the plush velvet sofa. "After the Barone syndicate collapsed and the traitor Luca was locked away in ADX Florence, a massive power vacuum opened on the Eastern Seaboard. The Corsican syndicate from Europe crossed the Atlantic to fill it. They are more ruthless than anyone we've ever faced. They bribed high-ranking customs officials and launched direct, military-style assaults on our logistics pipelines. Worse, their leader—a man named Antoine—bought the coordinates to this villa from a rogue, ex-FBI operative."
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Maya’s hand instinctively tightened around Dante’s arm. She knew the bloody, unforgiving underworld Dante had once ruled would never truly let him walk away in peace.
"They are coming, Dante," Matteo warned, struggling to keep his eyes open. "A highly elite hit squad landed in Italy yesterday. They don't want to negotiate for territory; they want the head of the 'retired king' to establish their absolute dominance over the global commission."
