CHAPTER 7: A BLADE IN THE DARK {NICO PERSPECTIVE}

Nico leaned against the rooftop railing of the building opposite Luca's loft, the weight of his SIG Saucer cold against his spine. Through the spiner scope, he watched Isabella exit the elevator below her face unreadable, her stride controlled. But he knew that walk. It was the one she used when she'd just been told a lie and was trying not to let it show.

She didn't scream. Didn't cry. But she came out colder than she went in.

That meant something happened.

Nico adjusted the dual on his scope to follow her, but his mind was already turning-calculating, analyzing, protecting.

Step one: Read the silence.

A good bodyguard watches the doors. A real protector watches the silences between them. Nico had learned this on the silences of Naples, then again in the deserts of Syria, and once more in the halls of the Moretti estate. When someone leaves a room with fewer words than they entered with, they're not at peace-they're wounded. Silence is an armor. One you only wear when you're unsure whether to run or attack. 

He tapped his earpiece, listening in on the bug he'd planted in Luca's lounge vase earlier in the week. Playback was still uploading.

Isabella's voice came through first-quiet, razor-edged.

"I want to know what they say when they think I'm not listening."

He heard his own name next. Luca's voice, smug and slick with venom:

"Nico DeLuca...Maybe he's not here to save you. Maybe he's here to keep you quiet."

Step Two: Know the Enemy's Strategy.

Luca wasn't stupid. No Moretti who survived past 30 was. He planted a seed -not because it was true, but because it was dangerous enough to grow. Luca's play was classic psychological warfare: divide isolated she became, the easier she'd be to manipulate-or destroy.

Nico exhaled slowly.

she's going to question me. She should.

And she would. Because Isabella wasn't weak. She was fire and glass-sharp, unpredictable, and burning to the touch. If Luca wanted her doubting, Nico couldn't afford to give her reasons to hesitate.

Step Three: Control the Narrative Before it controls You.

When a story is spreading in shadows, you shine a light on it yourself. Not all at once. Not defensively. You offer a truth wrapped in vulnerability-something that sounds like guilt but feels like trust.

Which meant Nico had decision to make. Fast.

He tapped a second comm switch on his belt.

"Marco," he said. "Get eyes on Sergei Ivanov. I think he's about to be very relevant again."

Pause.

"And prep the safehouse in Brooklyn. Isabella and i are going to have a very...complicated conversation tonight."

As the sun bled over the city skyline, Nico holstered his weapon and disappeared into the stairwell.

Tonight, he'd tell her what she didn't want to hear about his past, about his former loyalty to the Ricci Family, and why he walked away from blood money and bullets.

Because if Isabella Moretti was going to burn the world down, she needed to know exactly who was helping her strike the match.

And who might already be soaked in gasoline.