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She cradles my face. Her fingers are gentle, and her eyes are wet. This dangerous, broken, beautiful woman chose me. She keeps choosing me, even when I give her every reason not to.

“I’ve never been better.”

My hand slides down to rest on her belly in a gentle, reverent caress. I don’t know why she looked so sad when I kissed her there earlier. Maybe someday she’ll confide in me. Maybe she won’t. But right now, in this moment, she’s here. She’s warm. And she’s mine.

That’s enough to render the rest bearable.

“I need to tell you something,” she whispers.

I lace her fingers with mine. “We talked last night, but I’m listening.”

She opens her mouth, but before she can speak, the buzz of her phone cuts through the silence.

She grabs it, unlocking the screen and swiping open a text from an unknown number.

You want your friend back? Bring me your brother’s notes about me. You’ve got forty-eight hours, Dottoressa. Ticktock.

Attached is a photo of Jenna, bound and gagged. A clock visible in the background shows the current time.

Lucia pales. “Oh, god. Oh god, Marco.”

Sobs rack her body and I tug her close, squeezing her tight as she quakes.

It dawns on me in that moment that I can’t let him keep torturing her like this.

“I’m going to Enzo tonight. We’re pulling every useful man we have off whatever they’re doing and putting them on finding Jenna. Nico has a contact in the Newark Port Authority who owes us. If Bruno moves her, we’ll know.”

“But the message said forty-eight hours. I didn’t know how to tell you about this, about the…” She stops, her hand flying to her mouth and pressing hard against it like she’s physically suppressing the words.

I scoot closer. “Tell me about what?”

Her eyes drop to her stomach for a fraction of a second before she catches herself and glances away. “Nothing. Jenna first. We focus on Jenna first.”

I lift her jaw and force her to meet my eyes.

“We’re going to get Jenna back.” My rough voice is thick with emotions I can’t name. She nods against my chest, still crying, and I continue to soothe her. For a moment, the world outside doesn’t exist.

The clock is ticking, though, and Jenna’s time is running out.

Chapter 25

Lucia

Marco reaches for his phone, and instead of telling me to wait in the house like he usually does when he has mafia-business, he draws me close to his side, one arm around my waist.

As he scrolls through his contacts, his body tenses. Those cold words from Bruno about Jenna are still burning in my memory, and his forty-eight hour deadline shrinks with every heartbeat.

Marco dials Nico and puts the phone on speaker.

“I need to have a meeting with you and Enzo in his study.” Marco’s voice remains steady in a way mine could never be right now. “Bruno made contact. He has the nurse, and he wants a trade.”

Nico doesn’t ask for details. He just acknowledges and ends the call.

Marco heads for the door, taking me with him. My footsteps ring sharply against the marble of the hushed compound in a countdown I can’t stop.

We arrive at Enzo’s study, brightly lit even at this hour, heavy curtains drawn against the night. Nico’s already inside with Vito and two other soldiers whose faces I’ve learned over these weeks.

Enzo’s at his desk, his expression unreadable. He gestures for Marco to take the chair across from him. I stay standing because sitting feels like surrender. I can’t let the fear settle into my bones where it might never leave.