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The study doors were locked. Every phone had been placed on the sideboard except the encrypted device beside Raze’s hand. Two armed guards stood in the corridor, and another four watched the grounds beneath the windows.

It would not be enough if the Coccico cartel came out in force. Every man at the table knew it.

Raze placed both hands flat against the wood.

“We decide tonight.”

Atlas leaned back in his chair. Grey threaded his temples, earned through decades of protecting Cavalho businesses with strategy when possible and blood when necessary. He had spent the meeting studying each of us as though deciding which weakness would cost the family most.

He tapped one finger against the table.

“Someone needs to offer a plan worth surviving.”

“We contain it,” Marcello said. “We finish decrypting the drive, release enough evidence to cripple the network and keep the rest as leverage.”

“Leverage against whom?” I asked.

“Anyone who wants to remain alive or out of prison.”

“And Adriana?”

“We move her.”

“She’s already protected.”

Marcello leaned forward. “The Coccicos sent a representative to our gate. He knew you were here, and he knew she was, too. That means this estate is no longer secure.”

“It means one man walked up to the gate,” I answered.

“It means someone knew where to send him.” Marcello’s eyes hardened. “The next men may arrive with explosives instead of a letter opener.”

Tone straightened. “You think removing Adriana prevents that?”

“I think it moves the target away from our children.”

“Where would you send her?”

“A property outside Italy. Somewhere disconnected from the family.”

“Without Demitri?”

Marcello’s jaw tightened. “If that’s what security requires.”

“No,” my voice cut across the table.

Marcello looked at me. “This isn’t your decision to make.”

“The hell it isn’t! She doesn’t go anywhere without me.”

“You brought her here. You brought the Coccico cartel with her. And now you expect every man in this room to place his wife and children behind your mistake.” Marcello held my gaze, offering no apology.

Tone’s fingers curled against the table. “Adriana is not the threat. The men buying and selling women are.”

“They were doing it before she entered Demitri’s church,” Gianni replied. “We didn’t declare war on them then.”

“We didn’t know then what we know now.”

Gianni tapped his fingers against the surface of the table, an old habit he didn’t seem inclined to forget. “We know now. That doesn’t mean we sacrifice everyone beneath this roof to prove we have a conscience.”