Page 135
Tone looked at Raze. “We don’t hand women to men who traffic them.”
Her gaze shifted to Marcello, then Gianni. “We don’t hide them somewhere and hope for the best.”
Finally, she looked at Archie. “And we don’t let fear turn us into cowards.”
Archie’s eyes opened.
Tone’s hand remained over their child. “We keep her here. We tear the network apart until there is nothing left for the Coccico cartel to rebuild.”
The silence that followed was absolute.
Raze returned to the head of the table.
“Two in favour,” he announced.
Atlas nodded once. “Three.”
Raze looked at me for my answer.
“Four.”
Gianni stared down at the wood. Marcello sat back, anger tightening every line of his face. Tone had cast the deciding vote before either man surrendered his.
Gianni rubbed a hand across his jaw. “This may destroy us.”
“It may,” Tone agreed.
He looked at her, then at Archie. The Russian stood beside his wife with his body angled toward hers, prepared to shield her from the consequences of a decision he despised.
Gianni exhaled. “If we do this, we don’t stop with the shipment. We cut out every company, every official and every priest attached to them.”
Raze nodded.
Marcello remained silent.
Marcello looked at me for a long time. “I don't forgive you for bringing this to our home.” His expression hardened further. “If the Coccicos breach these gates, I will kill every man they send. Afterward, you and I will settle what you owe this family.”
“I can live with that.”
Marcello pushed his chair back and stood. “But I won’t let the rest of you go to war without me.”
The decision settled over the room. Unanimous. Irrevocable.
Archie turned toward Tone. “This changes nothing between us.”
Tone smiled sweetly at her husband. “It changes several things, darling.”
“You’re not going near that shipment,” he warned her.
“We’ll discuss my role later.”
“No, we won’t.”
Tone took his hand. The fury left his face the instant their fingers met, leaving something more exposed behind. He lowered his forehead to hers.
“You terrify me.” His free hand moved over the child growing inside her. “If anything happens to you, there will not be enough men left in Italy to bury the bodies.”
Tone covered his hand with hers. “Then make sure nothing happens.”