**Rose's POV**
I slap Dante across the face.
The sound echoes through the room. His head snaps sideways. A red mark blooms on his cheek.
"Rose—" he starts.
I slap him again. Harder.
"You don't get to talk!" My voice breaks. "Not after what you just said!"
Celeste and her soldiers back toward the door. Even Luca looks uncomfortable.
"Everyone out," I order. "Now."
They leave without arguing. The door clicks shut behind them.
I'm alone with Dante.
The man I love.
The man who might have killed my parents.
"Explain." My hands shake so badly I have to cross my arms. "Right now. Explain what you meant by 'I don't know.'"
Dante touches his cheek. Winces. "Three years and two months ago, Marco gave me a job. A hit on two people who supposedly worked for the Romano family."
My stomach drops.
"He said they were passing secrets. Said they had to be eliminated before they caused more damage." Dante's voice sounds hollow. "He gave me names. Photos. Addresses."
"What were the names?" I barely whisper.
Dante closes his eyes. "Robert and Catherine Delacroix."
The room tilts. My parents' names. Their real names.
"You killed them." It's not a question.
"I don't know." Dante's eyes open. Filled with pain. "I was supposed to. I went to their house that night. Followed them in my car. But then—"
He stops.
"Then what?" I demand.
"Then I saw you."
My breath catches.
"You were leaving their house. Hugging your mother goodbye. She kissed your cheek and told you to drive safe. Your father made a joke that made you laugh." Dante's voice cracks. "And I thought, these don't look like Romano spies. They look like a family."
"So what did you do?"
"I left." He runs his hand through his hair. "I called Marco and told him I couldn't do it. That something felt wrong. He said fine, he'd send someone else."
"And then they died in a car accident." My voice sounds dead.
"Two days later. Their brakes failed on the highway." Dante meets my eyes. "I thought it really was an accident. Until right now. Until Gentle said—"
"Until she told me you killed them!" I scream. "Do you understand what this means? Even if you didn't pull the trigger, you marked them for death! You gave Marco their information!"
"I know." Dante's whole body sags. "God, Rose, I know. If I had just questioned it more. If I had investigated instead of blindly following orders—"
"My parents would still be alive!" Tears pour down my face. "I would still have them! Viktor would still have them! We wouldn't have been alone and broken and desperate!"
"I'm sorry." The words sound useless. "I'm so sorry."
"Sorry doesn't bring them back!" I grab the lamp from the table. Throw it at him.
He doesn't dodge. Lets it hit his chest. The lamp crashes to the floor.
I throw a book next. Then a picture frame. Then anything I can reach.
Dante takes every hit. Doesn't move. Doesn't defend himself.
Finally, I run out of things to throw. Out of energy. Out of everything.
I sink to the floor and sob.
Dante kneels beside me. Doesn't touch me. Just stays close.
"I understand if you hate me," he says quietly. "I understand if you can never forgive this. But Rose, please believe me. I didn't know they were your parents. I didn't know Marco would still have them killed."
"It doesn't matter." My voice sounds broken. "You still did it. You still trusted Marco more than your own instincts."
"You're right." He bows his head. "I did. And I'll carry that guilt until I die."
The door bursts open.
Luca runs in. "We have a problem. A big one."
"Not now," Dante growls.
"Yes, now." Luca looks between us. Sees my tear-stained face. Sees the broken items everywhere. "What happened?"
"Nothing that concerns you," I say.
"Everything concerns me when it affects our survival." Luca pulls out his phone. "I just got intel from my contact in the police department. The one who owes me favors."
"What intel?" Dante stands.
"About the Delacroix murders."
My head snaps up.
"Murders?" I breathe. "The police called them accidents."
"Because they were paid to." Luca shows us his phone. Police reports. Photos. Documents marked classified. "Someone bribed the investigators. Made sure the brake failure looked natural."
"Who?" Dante demands.
"That's the interesting part." Luca scrolls through the files. "The bribes came from a shell company. Took me an hour to trace it. Want to guess who owns it?"
"Marco," Dante says.
"Close." Luca's face is grim. "Don Alessandro."
The words hit like bullets.
"My father?" Dante's voice sounds strange. "My father ordered the hit on Rose's parents?"
"Gets better." Luca keeps scrolling. "I found the original hit order. It wasn't sent to just you, Dante. It was sent to three different enforcers. You. A guy named Tony Ricci. And someone named Vincent Cross."
"Tony's dead," Dante says. "Killed in a shootout two years ago."
"And Vincent?" I ask.
"Also dead." Luca's eyes meet mine. "Killed in a car accident six months after the Delacroix hit. Brake failure. Just like Rose's parents."
Silence fills the room.
"Don Alessandro has been cleaning up witnesses," I realize. "Everyone who knew about the hit on my parents."
"Which means Dante's next," Luca says. "You're the last person alive who knows the truth."
Dante starts pacing. "Why would my father want Rose's parents dead? They weren't Romano spies. They weren't even in the life."
"I found something else." Luca pulls up another document. "Robert Delacroix wasn't always a regular citizen. Twenty-five years ago, he worked as an accountant for the Giordano family."
My world tilts again. "My father worked for the mob?"
"For five years." Luca reads from the document. "Then he testified against them in a racketeering case. Put three high-ranking members in prison. The Giordanos swore revenge but Robert disappeared into witness protection with his wife."
"My mother," I whisper.
"Catherine Marino," Luca says. "Daughter of Antonio Marino. Celeste's grandfather."
Everything stops.
"Wait." I can't process this. "My mother was a Marino? That makes me—"
"Family," Celeste says from the doorway. "It makes you family, Rose."
She walks in without permission. Her soldiers stay outside.
"You knew?" I stand up. "You knew my mother was your aunt?"
"I suspected." Celeste looks almost sad. "When I first heard your name, I wondered. Delacroix was the name your father took in witness protection. But I wasn't sure until I saw you up close. You have my grandfather's eyes."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because I was supposed to seduce Dante and destroy him." Celeste's voice is flat. "My uncle—the one who leads the Giordano family now—he never forgot what your father did. When he found out Robert and Catherine had come out of hiding, he wanted revenge."
"So he made a deal with Don Alessandro," Luca finishes. "Kill the Delacroix couple. In exchange, Don Alessandro gets Giordano support against the Romano family."
"But why involve me?" Dante asks. "Why send me to kill them?"
"Because you were young. Loyal. You wouldn't question orders." Celeste meets his eyes. "And if you did the hit, Don Alessandro could control you with the guilt. Keep you in line."
"But Dante didn't do it," I say.
"No. Which is why Tony Ricci did." Celeste pulls out her own phone. Shows us a photo. "Tony was a Giordano soldier pretending to work for the Corvinos. He caused the brake failure. Made it look like an accident. Then Don Alessandro had him killed to cover the trail."
"And Vincent Cross?" Dante's voice is tight.
"Was my father's real enforcer. The one who should have done the original hit." Celeste's jaw clenches. "Don Alessandro killed him because he knew too much. Just like he's been planning to kill you."
Dante sinks onto the couch. "My own father. All this time."
"There's more," Luca says quietly.
"How can there be more?" I want to scream.
"The reason Don Alessandro wanted Rose's parents dead wasn't just about the old testimony." Luca's face is pale. "It was about you, Rose."
"Me? I was nobody three years ago."
"You were Catherine Marino's daughter." Celeste steps closer. "My grandfather's bloodline. Which means you have a legitimate claim to the Marino family leadership."
My brain can't process this. "That's insane."
"It's tradition." Celeste's voice is hard. "In our world, blood matters. My grandfather only had two children. My father, who's dead. And your mother, who everyone thought was dead. But you're alive. You're direct bloodline. You could challenge my uncle for control."
"I don't want control of anything!"
"But Don Alessandro thought you might someday." Dante's voice sounds hollow. "So he killed your parents. Kept you poor and struggling. Made sure Viktor stayed in debt. All to keep you weak and powerless."
"And then he forced you to marry me," I realize. "Not to help Viktor. To control me through you."
"And when that didn't work—when you made me soft instead of keeping you weak—he decided we both had to die." Dante stands. "We've been playing his game since the beginning."
The house phone rings again.
We all stare at it.
Luca answers on speaker.
"Hello?" he says.
Static. Then breathing.
Then Don Alessandro's voice fills the room.
"I really hoped you wouldn't figure it out this quickly." He sounds almost impressed. "But I suppose that's what I get for underestimating you, Dante. You always were smarter than I gave you credit for."
"Where are you?" Dante's voice could freeze fire.
"Somewhere safe." Don Alessandro laughs. "Somewhere you'll never reach. With Marco and enough money to live like kings for the rest of our lives."
"I will find you," Dante promises. "I will hunt you to the ends of the earth."
"No, you won't." His father's voice turns cold. "Because in exactly five minutes, the bombs Marco planted around that safe house are going to explode. You'll be too dead to hunt anyone."
My blood turns to ice.
"You're bluffing," Luca says.
"Am I?" Don Alessandro laughs. "Check the basement. See what you find."
Luca runs. We hear his footsteps pounding down stairs. Then silence. Then—
"Dante!" Luca's voice screams from below. "He's not bluffing! There's enough C4 down here to level the whole block!"
"Four minutes," Don Alessandro says cheerfully. "Better start running. Oh, and Dante? Tell Rose I'm sorry about her parents. Nothing personal. Just business."
The line goes dead.
"Move!" Dante grabs my hand. "Everyone out! Now!"
We run for the door.
Celeste and her soldiers are already sprinting for their cars.
Luca races up from the basement. "We can't defuse it! There's no time!"
We burst outside. Run for Dante's car.
"Three minutes!" Luca shouts.
We pile in. Dante floors it.
Behind us, the house gets smaller.
"How big is the blast radius?" I gasp.
"At least two blocks," Luca says.
"We're not going to make it," Celeste's voice comes through the radio. She's in her own car ahead of us.
Dante drives faster. We fly through residential streets. People on sidewalks blur past.
"One minute!" Luca counts down.
"Hold on!" Dante takes a corner so sharp we almost flip.
"Thirty seconds!"
We're still too close. I can see the house behind us.
"Twenty seconds!"
Dante's hand finds mine. Squeezes.
"I love you," he says. "I should have said it every day."
"Ten seconds!"
"I love you too," I whisper.
The world explodes.
Fire and light and sound consume everything.
Our car flips.
We roll once. Twice. Three times.
Glass shatters. Metal screams. My head slams into something hard.
Everything goes black.
When I open my eyes, I'm on my back. The car is upside down. Smoke fills my lungs.
"Dante?" My voice doesn't work right.
"Here." His face appears. Bloody. Bruised. Beautiful. "Can you move?"
"I think so."
He pulls me out through the broken window. Luca crawls out behind us.
Behind us, a mushroom cloud of fire rises into the sky. The safe house is gone. The whole block is gone.
"We made it," I breathe.
"Barely." Dante coughs. "Is everyone—"
Celeste's car sits fifty feet away. Smoking. Damaged. But her soldiers climb out. Alive.
"We're okay!" she calls. "Everyone's okay!"
Police sirens wail in the distance. Fire trucks. Ambulances.
"We need to move," Luca says. "Before someone asks questions we can't answer."
We start walking. Away from the destruction. Away from the house that almost became our grave.
"Dante." I stop him. "Your father just tried to kill us."
"I know."
"What are we going to do?"
Dante's eyes are hard. Cold. The old Dante is gone. Something darker has taken his place.
"We're going to do exactly what he's afraid of." His voice is ice. "We're going to take everything from him. His money. His power. His life."
"How?" Celeste joins us. "He's in hiding. He's has Marco and probably an army protecting him."
"Then we build a bigger army." Dante looks at me. "Rose. You're Catherine Marino's daughter. Celeste is Antonio Marino's granddaughter. Together, you can challenge the Giordano leadership."
"And do what?" I ask.
"Unite the families." Dante's smile is sharp. "Giordanos. Marinos. The Corvino soldiers who are still loyal to me. We create something bigger than all of them."
"That's crazy," Luca says.
"It's war," Celeste corrects. Her eyes gleam. "Total war. Against everyone who hurt us."
"Rose?" Dante turns to me. "It's your choice. We can run. Disappear. Try to live quiet lives."
"Or?" I already know the answer.
"Or we fight." He takes my hand. "We take back everything they stole from us. We make them pay for your parents. For Viktor. For three years of lies."
I think about my mother. My father. How they ran and hid and still died.
I think about Viktor. Dead because he was weak.
I think about three years of being invisible. Being nothing. Being afraid.
"I'm done running," I say. "Let's burn it all down."
Dante's smile is fierce. "That's my queen."
He kisses me. Hard. Deep. Full of promises and fury.
When he pulls back, his eyes are blazing.
"We start tonight," he says. "We gather every ally we have. We make Don Alessandro and Marco come to us."
"How?" Luca asks.
Dante's smile grows. "We take something they can't live without."
"What?" Celeste demands.
"Their money." Dante pulls out his phone. "Every account. Every offshore shell company. Every hidden asset. We steal it all."
"That's impossible," I say. "You'd need access to—"
"To Marco's laptop." Dante's eyes meet mine. "The one he kept in his office. With passwords to everything."
"But his office is in the compound," Luca says. "Which is crawling with soldiers loyal to Don Alessandro."
"Then we infiltrate." Dante's voice is calm. Final. "Tonight. We go in, we get the laptop, we disappear before anyone knows we were there."
"That's suicide," Celeste says.
"It's the only way." Dante looks at each of us. "Anyone who's not willing to risk dying tonight, leave now. I won't judge."
No one moves.
"Okay then." Dante checks his gun. "We move in two hours. Get armed. Get ready. And someone—"
His phone rings.
Unknown number.
He answers on speaker.
"Dante Corvino." A woman's voice. Familiar. "Having fun yet?"
"Gentle." My blood turns to ice.
"Miss me?" She laughs. "I bet you're wondering how I knew about the bombs. How I knew you'd survive."
"What do you want?" Dante demands.
"To make you an offer." Her voice turns serious. "I know you're planning to hit the compound tonight. To steal Marco's laptop. Here's the thing—I want the same thing you do."
"And what's that?"
"Revenge." Gentle's voice is poison. "Marco killed my real father. Not the man who raised me. My actual father. The one I never got to meet."
Silence.
"Who was your father?" I ask quietly.
"Tony Ricci." Gentle's voice cracks. Just a little. "The enforcer who killed your parents, Rose. The one Don Alessandro murdered to cover his tracks."
My world tilts again.
"So here's my offer," Gentle continues. "I help you get into the compound. I help you steal the laptop. In exchange, when you find Don Alessandro and Marco—"
"What?" Dante asks.
"You let me kill them myself."
The line goes dead.
We all stare at each other.
"It's a trap," Luca says.
"Obviously," Celeste agrees.
"But it might be our only chance," Dante says slowly.
"You can't trust her," I say. "She tried to kill us!"
"I know." Dante's eyes meet mine. "But right now, the enemy of our enemy might be the only friend we have."
His phone buzzes.
A text from Gentle.
*Meet me at Pier 47 in one hour. Come alone, Rose. Or the deal's off.*
"Absolutely not," Dante says immediately. "You're not meeting her alone."
"She said—"
"I don't care what she said." Dante's voice is fierce. "You're not going without me."
I look at the text again. At Gentle's ultimatum.
At our only chance to end this.
"Yes," I say quietly. "I am."