Chapter 13 Mauricio
Mauricio
“She’s worth twenty million now.”
Simeone’s voice cuts through the pre-dawn darkness, and I force myself not to tighten my grip on Regina’s sleeping form. She’s curled against my chest, finally peaceful after hours of shaking, and I’ll be damned if I wake her for this conversation.
“Twenty million for what?” I keep my voice low, even though rage is already building beneath my carefully maintained calm.
“For her return. Alive.” Simeone pauses, and I hear the weight of what comes next.
“Sabino’s declared open war. He’s contacted every family in the eastern territories, every bounty hunter worth their salt.
Says Regina’s mentally unstable, that she’s been kidnapped and brainwashed.
He’s painted himself as the desperate father trying to save his daughter. ”
“Bastard.” The word comes out soft, venomous. “He’s making her the villain in his narrative.”
“He’s making her a target.” Simeone’s correction is blunt. “Every two-bit criminal with a gun is going to be hunting her now. Twenty million is more than most people make in ten lifetimes.”
I look down at Regina’s face—peaceful in sleep in ways she never is awake. Dark hair spills across my chest, and her hand rests over my heart like she’s checking to make sure it’s still beating.
“What about us?” I ask, though I already know the answer. Bounty hunting is a bloody business in this underworld.
“Five million each. Dead or alive, though he’s offering a bonus for alive.
” I hear ice clinking in a glass on Simeone’s end—whiskey at four in the morning, which means this situation is even worse than he’s letting on.
“He’s claiming we’re a rogue element threatening the stability of all the families.
Positioning himself as the reasonable one trying to maintain order. ”
“While secretly murdering partners and forcing his daughter into marriage with a man who kills his wives.” My free hand clenches into a fist. “Christ, Simeone. We need to move fast.”
“Agreed. But moving fast means—”
“Blood. I know.” I close my eyes, feeling Regina’s heartbeat steady and trusting against my ribs. “How much time do we have before every mercenary in the territory starts hunting us?”
“Hours, days. Sabino’s message went out an hour ago. By sunrise, this city becomes a war zone.”
“Then we go to ground. Deep.” I’m already calculating—safe houses no one knows about, allies who owe me favors, routes that avoid his surveillance. “I need to get Regina somewhere secure before—”
“Before she becomes a liability?” Simeone’s question is gentle but necessary.
“Before she becomes collateral damage.” My correction is firm. “She’s not a liability, fratello. She’s the reason we’re doing this. The entire point was giving her freedom.”
“The entire point was dismantling Sabino’s empire.” His reminder carries weight. “Regina was supposed to be an asset, a source of intelligence. Not—”
“Not what?” I challenge, knowing exactly where this is going. “Not someone I care about? Too late for that warning.”
The silence that follows is heavy with implications. Finally, Simeone speaks, and his voice carries understanding that comes from experience.
“You’re in love with her.”
It’s not a question. And denying it would be pointless—Simeone knows me too well to miss the shift in my priorities, the way protecting Regina has become more important than strategy or revenge.
“I’m in something,” I admit quietly. “Whether it’s love or just the first real connection I’ve had with a woman, I don’t know. But I won’t abandon her to Sabino’s vengeance.”
“I’m not asking you to.” His tone softens. “I’m asking what you’re willing to sacrifice to protect her. Because once you cross that line—once you prioritize one person over the mission—everything changes.”
“Everything already changed the moment she climbed out her window and showed up bleeding and desperate.” I brush hair from Regina’s face, careful not to wake her.
“The mission was always about more than just revenge, Simeone. It was about proving that sacrifice means something. That fifteen years wasn’t wasted.
That loyalty and protection still matter in this world. ”
“Even if protecting her means letting Sabino live?”
The question hits like a punch. Because he’s right—if push comes to shove, if I have to choose between pursuing Sabino and keeping Regina safe, the choice is already made.
“I’ll kill him eventually,” I say with absolute certainty. “But right now, keeping her alive matters more than making him bleed.”
“Then you need to disappear. Both of you.” Simeone’s back to business now, and I hear papers rustling. “I have a location—old cabin property in my name that Sabino doesn’t know about. Stocked, secure, off the grid. You can hold there while we figure out next moves.”
“Send me the address.”
“Already done. And Mauricio?” He pauses. “For what it’s worth, I understand. Loriana changed everything for me too. Made me want things I never thought possible. So I get it—the shift from seeing someone as strategic to seeing them as essential.”
“How do you manage it?” The question escapes before I can stop it. “How do you balance protecting her with running an organization?”
“Very carefully. And with the acceptance that some days, I’m going to choose her over strategy and live with the consequences.
” His laugh is soft, self-aware. “Love makes you vulnerable in this life. But it also makes you fight harder, think smarter, refuse to accept outcomes that hurt the people who matter.”
Regina stirs against me, making a soft sound that’s half protest, half contentment. Her eyes flutter open—green and unfocused and so beautiful it makes my chest ache.
“Mauricio?” Her voice is sleep-rough, vulnerable. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I lie, even as I’m memorizing the coordinates Simeone sent. “Go back to sleep. I’ve got you.”
“You’re tense.” Her hand moves to my jaw, turning my face toward hers. “Don’t lie to me. What happened?”
Simeone’s voice crackles through the phone I forgot to mute. “Tell her, Mauricio. She deserves to know what she’s walking into.”
Regina’s eyes sharpen immediately, sleep burning away under reality’s harsh light. “Put it on speaker.”
I obey, and Simeone’s voice fills the small room with terrible certainty. “Your father’s declared open war, Regina. Twenty million for your return, five million each for Mauricio and myself. Every criminal in the eastern territories will be hunting you by sunrise.”
She doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t cry. Just processes the information with the same cold calculation I’ve watched her deploy when analyzing intelligence.
“How long until we need to move?” Her question is directed at me, trusting me to make the tactical call.
“An hour. Maybe less.” I’m already mentally cataloging what we need to take, what we can abandon. “Simeone has a location—”
“No.” Her interruption is firm. “We don’t run. Not yet.”
“Regina—”
“If we run now, we’re giving Father exactly what he wants—proof that we’re scared, that his declaration worked.
” Fire enters her voice now, that spark I recognize as her refusing to be a victim.
“Instead, we make him bleed first. Show him that declaring war on us was the biggest mistake of his life.”
“That’s suicide,” I say bluntly. “Every bounty hunter in the city will be looking for us. We need to disappear until—”
“Until when?” She sits up, and the sheets fall away, revealing skin marked with my touch from earlier. “Until he gives up? Men like my father don’t give up, Mauricio. They escalate. So either we end this now, while we still have the element of surprise, or we spend the rest of our lives running.”
She’s right, and I hate that she’s right, and I hate even more that the strategic part of my brain agrees with her reckless courage.
“What do you suggest?” I keep my voice neutral, giving her space to think.
“We hit him where it hurts most—his reputation.” Her eyes are sharp now, calculating.
“He’s positioning himself as the reasonable one, the desperate father.
So we expose him. Every crime, every murder, every piece of evidence I’ve been gathering for seven years.
We dump it all—to the press, to rival families, to law enforcement he doesn’t own. ”
“That makes you a permanent target,” Simeone warns through the speaker. “Once that information is public, you can never go back to any semblance of normal life.”
“I was never going back anyway.” Regina’s laugh is bitter, sharp. “Normal was always a lie. At least this way, I’m controlling the narrative instead of letting him write it.”
I look at Simeone’s contact on my phone, then at Regina’s determined face, and make a decision that’s probably going to get us both killed.
“Do it,” I tell her. “But we do it smart. Coordinated release across multiple platforms simultaneously so he can’t suppress it. And we do it from a secure location where his people can’t reach us.”
“The cabin,” Simeone confirms. “It’s fortified, has multiple exits, supplies for a siege if necessary. Get there within the next couple of hours, and I’ll have a team ready to help with the information dump.”
“Thank you, fratello.” The words carry weight of fifteen years.
“Don’t thank me yet.” But there’s warmth in his voice. “Just keep her alive and make Sabino regret every choice that led to this moment.”
He disconnects, leaving us in pre-dawn silence heavy with implications.
Regina turns to face me fully, and the vulnerability beneath her courage nearly breaks something in my chest. “You think I’m crazy.”
“I think you’re brave.” I cup her face between my hands, thumbs brushing across her cheekbones. “I think you’ve spent twenty-eight years being someone else’s pawn, and now you’re finally playing your own game. That’s not crazy—that’s overdue.”
“But you’re worried.”
“Terrified,” I admit. “Because now I have something to lose. Before you showed up bleeding and desperate, this was about revenge and strategy. But now—”