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“You could abstain,” he suggested.
“So the men can decide what happens?” My sister smirked. “Honey, women are already at a disadvantage.”
“That’s not what this is about.”
“That’s exactly what this is about, Archie. Marcello wants Adriana removed. Gianni wants the danger kept away from the family. You want me quiet because you’re afraid my vote will send us to war.”
“I want you alive.”
“And I want to recognize myself when this is over, Archie! What sort of future can our children look forward to when we all turn the other cheek and let this continue? Since when does the Cavalho family take a backseat because it’s the safe thing to do?”
Archie dragged an exasperated hand across his face. “You don’t even know her.”
“Neither did Demitri when she arrived on his doorstep.” Every gaze shifted toward me. Tone didn’t look away from Archie. “If someone had told Demitri she was not his responsibility, should he have closed the doors?”
Archie’s jaw flexed. “No.”
“Then why does she become disposable now that protecting her has a price?”
“She’s not disposable.”
“It’s too dangerous for her to be on her own.”
“She’d have guards.”
“Guards can be bought,” she reminded him. “I know you saw the same thing I did on that screen.”
Archie had no answer.
Tone stepped closer to him. “You’re not wrong to be afraid. But you don’t stop doing the right thing just because the price we might pay is steeper.”
Archie stood rigid. For several seconds, I thought his temper might break through what remained of his control. Instead, he lowered his head and gripped the back of a chair.
“I’m trying to protect my family.”
Atlas, who sat with his shoulders loose and eyes flat, finally made his move. “The trafficking won’t stop if we return the drive.”
“I didn’t suggest returning it,” Marcello answered. “We need to expose the evidence.”
“To whom?” Atlas asked. “The police commanders receiving monthly payments? The magistrate burying charges?”
“We find someone clean.”
“And while we search, the Coccico cartel removes witnesses, destroy records and move the women.”
Marcello’s mouth tightened.
Raze touched the encrypted phone beside his hand.
“The outgoing shipment gives us an opening.”
“It gives them an opportunity to draw us out,” Gianni said.
“Then we assume it’s a trap.”
“And walk into it anyway?”
Raze looked at him. “We don’t walk. We close every road. We cut their communications. We remove their drivers, seize the cargo and leave no one capable of reporting which direction we came from.”
