Chapter 19 – The Traitor!

Selena

It was sunset when Marco rushed in with Yuri. They've found them in a cave unconscious.

And the take them straight to the interrogation room, that radiated an aura of cold menace as Marco and his men brought in Yuri and his transportation crew.

These were hardened individuals, ex-military types who usually didn't break easily. But tonight, they would face the full brunt of my interrogation methods until the truth was extracted.

I studied them coolly as they were shoved into chairs, already sporting some bruises from Marco's "softening up" tactics. Yuri, the grizzled team leader, met my gaze defiantly despite the split lip.

"You know why you're here," I stated flatly in Russian, letting my native tongue reinforce the deadly seriousness. "The shipment you were transporting was hijacked - a blow against the Cerravo family. So start talking about what went down that night."

Yuri worked his jaw, the arrogant defiance faltering slightly under my piercing stare. I could see the cogs turning as he weighed the consequences of resistance versus compliance.

"It wasn't our fault," he growled finally. "We were ambushed, drugged by some guys who knew what they were doing."

One of his men, a hulking brute named Viktor, quickly chimed in. "It's true, he's not lying! They must have had some kind of strong tranquilizers."

With a subtle nod, Marco began applying some more "persuasive" measures to loosen their tongues further. Bone could be heard crunching as he systematically broke one of Viktor's fingers.

"I would start filling in more details if I were you," I warned calmly, inspecting my nails. "Lord Cerravo has a limited tolerance for excuses tonight."

Sweat began beading on Yuri's brow as Viktor howled from the brutal treatment. Finally, the burly team leader relented with a snarl.

"It was the Zhorovs! Had to be their guys who grabbed us. They're the only crew geared up enough to get drop on us like that."

My eyes narrowed dangerously at this damning revelation. So the Russian upstart mobsters really were making an audacious move against us. Foolish and suicidal...but they would regret underestimating the Cerravo vengeance soon enough.

"How do you know it was them?" I pressed, needing every potential lead to track down the culprits.

Yuri licked his split lips, clearly recognizing he was now fully in self-preservation mode against my ruthless interrogation.

"One of the guys...big ugly bastard...he had this distinct scar across his cheek. Like a old burn or some shit. I've seen him running with Zhorov's goons before."

A spark of grim satisfaction lit in my chest. Now we had an actual thread to start pulling - a potential individual identity to investigate. With Marco contorting Viktor into a whimpering heap beside me, I laid a manicured hand on Yuri's broad shoulder.

"Well done," I said simply. "Perhaps you and your men aren't as useless as we thought if you can provide actual leads."

Leaning down, I allowed just a whisper of softness to enter my tone as I murmured in his ear.

"Lord Cerravo values loyalty above all. And he shows...appreciation...to those who redeem themselves worthy of that trust. Provided you follow up and keep delivering on any other details."

Yuri's eyes flickered with a combination of fear, respect, and the faintest ember of hope that he might just make it out of this fiasco relatively intact after all. He gave a jerky nod of understanding.

Straightening, I turned on my heel and strode from the room, knowing Marco would ensure any potential loose ends were properly...motivated to remain tightly secured for now.

As I made my way back to Enzo's private study, I could feel that delicious sense of anticipation building inside me. We finally had a substantial lead to start unwinding this defiant rat's nest - putting us firmly back in the role of hunters rather than the hunted.

Entering the dimly lit room, I found my fiance lounging with an arrogant ease befitting his status as king of this domain. One look at the feral light in those aquamarine depths told me he could sense the shift in my mood as well.

"Well?" He rumbled, pale eyes raking over me with a mixture of sin and sadistic promise. "Did my Love manage to pry free the answers we need?"

A slow, lethal smirk curved my lips as I prowled towards where he sat like a panther stalking its prey.

"The Zhorovs grew delusions of grandeur," I confirmed in a low purr. "They made the foolish choice to strike against what's ours, amore. And now we make them reap the consequences."

Enzo's smile was all razor-edges and quintessential menace as his big hands settled possessively on my hips, savoring my dangerous grace.

"My brilliant consigliere," he rumbled in a voice ripe with sinful promise. "Does this mean it's time to go spill some Russian blood in the streets?"

I laughed softly, the sound edged and merciless - twin forged blades sharpened for the impending vicious onslaught. Leaning in until our lips were a hairsbreadth apart, I stared unflinchingly into those blazing pale depths that mirrored the ruthless intensity burning through my own veins.

"No, amore," I breathed against that sensually cruel mouth. "It means it's time to make the Zhorovs wished they'd never been fa spat on the bottom of our boots."

Enzo's smile bordered on feral now, a predator sending blood-soaked snarls from its maw as it prepared to bathe in the entrails of its prey. Then his fingers slashed up from my hips, biting possessively into my hair as he crushed me against those powerful plates of muscled in a searing, punishing kiss.

The message was clear - he craved the visceral affirmation that I was his woman in every sense. Dominant and ruthless to the end when commanding our empire...yet gloriously debauched and yielding in his embrace.

And I reveled in it all - every carnal facet of being this primal male's fierce, sadistic equal. When we finally came up for air, both starved of oxygen, the heat smoldering between us was enough to burn down city blocks.

"My papi," I rasped in a tone laced with sinful reverence. "Let's go draw some blood."

With a low, rumbling growl of purest possession and menace, Enzo yanked me flush against that muscled frame once more - the promise of violence and sin swirling between us in a dizzying, intoxicating cyclone.

Then we were a whirlwind of lethality, stalking out to bring ruination down upon any foolish enough to raise a hand against our reign.

The streets of Chicago were about to run red with the consequences of the Zhorovs' transgressions. And Enzo or I wouldn't rest until their entire upstart empire lay in smoldering ruins at our feet.

After all...no one defied the Cerravo dominion and lived to bask in the ashes.

.....

Enzo

"This had better be good, consigliere," I growled as Selena as she wet to confirm from Yuri she suggested when take it slowly and hit him where he'll bleed the must.

She met my scorching gaze unflinchingly, her own eyes glinting like polished obsidian. "Yes, my love....I know you'll love this, amore. We've uncovered the traitor's identity."

Those words sliced through the tension like a white-hot blade. A rat in our own midst? This insult cut far deeper than some outside threat.

"A traitor?" I asked.... "is it Yuri?"

Selena must have read the promise of merciless retaliation etched across my features, because she held up a placating hand as she approached.

"Easy, leone. Let me lay it all out first."

With obvious effort, I reined in the simmering menace rattling my bones. My consigliere always untangled even the knottiest conspiracies with her shrewd brilliance.

"Talk," I bit out, fisting my hands on the desk to channel the rage boiling in my veins.

Selena began methodically laying out the evidence, pieces slotting together with each new revelation. Leads from her sources. Intercepted communications. Patterns of money trails all circling back to one irrefutable source.

"Gianni Andretti," she stated flatly. "Your own capo - the man you promoted and mentored all these years. He's been the one selling us out to the Zhorovs from the start."

"Unbelievable!" I shouted!

White-hot fury lanced through me at the very notion of such unforgivable treachery from someone I'd brought into my inner circle. Someone who owed everything to my family's patronage.

"That snake," I snarled, standing abruptly and upending my desk with an explosive sweep of my arm. "He dares betray me? After everything I did to raise him up?"

Selena remained utterly unruffled, that core of ice in her veins keeping her grounded as the storm raged around her. Just one of the myriad reasons she was the perfect mate for a male of my savagery.

"It would appear the Zhorovs made him an offer he couldn't refuse," she commented calmly. "Money, territory, promises of more power than he could attain staying loyal to us."

I laughed then - a harsh, biting sound devoid of any mirth. "The fool sold his soul for some Russian breadcrumbs? He'll choke on them when I'm grip his throat!."