Chapter 26 Santino
Three days.
It's been three days since Dominic Costa called off the engagement in that parking lot, his words final and unforgiving.
Three days since I've seen Liana, since I've heard her voice or seen her face except in photos sent by my men.
Three days of planning, strategizing, and preparing for war against the Benedettis.
"Boss." Bruno drops a thick folder on my desk with a satisfying thud. "Benedetti's shipping routes. All of them. Every location, every schedule."
I open the folder and study the documents inside with careful attention, absorbing every detail.
The Benedettis have their hands in everything—shipping operations, warehouses scattered across the city, distribution networks that stretch into three states. All of it operating under legitimate business names that look clean on paper.
All of it vulnerable to the right pressure.
"Good work." I look up at Bruno. "What about their protection? How many men do they have?"
"Light." Bruno points to a map he's spread across my desk. "They've got men stationed at the main warehouses. Maybe two or three per location. Nothing we can't handle with proper planning."
"And their suppliers? How loyal are they?"
"Mostly independent contractors doing business with whoever pays best. Not loyal to the Benedettis specifically. Just following the money."
Exactly what I needed to hear.
"Start making calls," I say, my mind already working through the strategy. "Offer the suppliers better rates. Better terms. Better protection. Whatever it takes to get them to switch their contracts to us."
"And if they refuse?"
"Then make it clear they lose both contracts—ours and the Benedettis'." I lean back in my chair. "Make sure they understand that choosing to stay with them means choosing to lose everything."
Bruno nods and leaves to make the calls, already pulling out his phone.
I pull out another file—this one containing Roberto’s financial records. It took some creative accounting and a few well-placed bribes to bank employees, but we finally got them.
The Benedettis are leveraged heavily, drowning in debt. They owe money to three different families, plus several legitimate banks with high-interest loans. They're barely keeping their heads above water financially.
That's why they tried to use Liana as leverage in the first place. They're desperate, backed into a corner with no good options.
Desperate men make mistakes.
And I'm going to exploit every single one of those mistakes until they have nothing left.
My phone buzzes against the desk. A text from Tommy.
Tommy: Costa girl spotted at Café Nero. North end. Thought you'd want to know.
My heart stops, then starts racing.
Liana.
I type back quickly: Alone?
Tommy: Negative. Two men with her. Big guys. Military bearing. Staying close.
The bodyguards Dominic assigned her. Of course he would assign her protection after what happened. After the kidnapping. It makes perfect sense. But the knowledge still burns like acid in my chest.
She needs bodyguards because I failed to protect her when she called for help.
Me: Stay on her. Keep your distance. Just make sure she's safe.
Tommy: You got it, Boss.
Two bodyguards. Probably young, capable, always at her side. Dominic's making a statement with this arrangement. He doesn't need the Marcello alliance. He can protect his own daughter without my help. I can't even be angry about it, because he's absolutely right.
I failed her. He's doing what I should have done.
My phone buzzes again. This time it's Sal.
Sal: You need to see this.
A photo attachment loads slowly. I open it and every muscle in my body tenses.
Liana.
Standing outside the café in the afternoon sunlight. Laughing at something one of the bodyguards said. The guy is tall with dark hair and a sharp jaw, standing too close to her for my liking.
She looks... happy. Genuinely happy in a way I don't remember seeing.
I zoom in on the photo. The bodyguard's hand is on her elbow, guiding her toward a black car parked at the curb.
Professional. Appropriate. Exactly what a bodyguard should do. I still want to break his fingers for touching her.
Another text from Sal: Want me to find out who they are?
Me: No. Leave it.
This is what I deserve. This is the consequence of my failure, and I have to accept it.
Liana has moved on with her life. She's protected. She's safe. Without me.
"Boss?" Paulie knocks on the door frame. "We got a problem that needs your attention."
I look up, forcing myself to focus. "What kind of problem?"
"The kind that involves the Benedettis finding out we're poaching their suppliers." He steps into the office, concern on his face. "Roberto just called. Wants to meet. Says he has a proposal for you."
"He wants to negotiate?"
"That's what he said. Sounded desperate."
I lean back, considering the implications. He’s smart enough to know he's losing this war before it's really begun. His operations are falling apart. His suppliers are jumping ship. His protection is spread too thin. He's trying to salvage what he can before it's too late.
"Set up the meeting," I say after a moment. "Neutral location. Tomorrow night."
"You sure that's a good idea? After what he did to—"
"I'm sure." I cut him off, not wanting to hear her name. "Roberto wants to talk. We'll talk. But the conversation ends with him understanding that the Benedettis are done in this city."
Paulie nods and leaves to set it up.
I pull out my phone again to look at the photo of Liana that Sal sent.
She's wearing a dark blue dress—simple, elegant, professional.
Her hair is down, loose around her shoulders in soft waves.
She looks beautiful in a natural, effortless way.
And she looks nothing like the woman who jumped out of my moving car, or ate my steak, or played helpless with my gun in the office.
This is the real Liana, the one she's been hiding from me.
The one I never took the time to know or understand.
I zoom in on her face, studying her expression. She's smiling—really smiling, the kind that reaches her eyes. When was the last time she smiled like that with m
I'm not sure she ever did.
Because I never gave her a reason to smile like that.
I force myself to focus on the work in front of me. The Benedettis. That's the priority now, the immediate threat. I need to eliminate them completely, permanently, so they can never threaten her again.
And then—maybe—I can figure out how to make things right with Liana.
If that's even possible anymore.
The next twenty-four hours are a blur of meetings, negotiations, and carefully delivered threats.
By the time I arrive at the neutral location for the meeting with Roberto, three more of his major suppliers have switched their contracts to us.
Two of his warehouses have mysteriously failed their safety inspections and been shut down by the city.
And his biggest shipping contract has been "delayed indefinitely" due to "logistical concerns" that will never be resolved.
The Benedettis are hemorrhaging money faster than they can stop the bleeding. And everyone in our world knows it.
Roberto is already there when I arrive, sitting at a table in the back of a private room at an upscale restaurant that caters to families like ours. He looks older than he did three days ago—tired, worn down, defeated in ways that show in the lines of his face.
"Marcello." He doesn't stand to greet me. "Thank you for coming."
"You wanted to talk." I sit across from him, keeping my posture relaxed but alert. "Talk."
"Straight to business. I can respect that." He pours himself a drink from the bottle on the table, his hand not quite steady. Offers me one. I decline with a slight shake of my head.
"You've been busy," Roberto says, taking a long drink. "Taking my suppliers. Shutting down my operations. Making it very difficult for me to do business in this city."
"You kidnapped my fiancée. Did you think there wouldn't be consequences for that?"
"Former fiancée," he corrects, and I can hear the satisfaction in his voice. "I heard the Costa girl is no longer your concern. That Dominic called it all off."
"She'll always be my concern."
"Then why are you here with me? Why not go to her? Try to win her back?" He leans forward, eyes glinting. "Unless you know it's hopeless. Unless you know Dominic Costa will never forgive you for what happened to his daughter."
I don't respond, because anything I say will just confirm what he already knows. He's right, and we both know it.
"Instead, you're taking your anger out on my family," Roberto continues, his voice bitter. "Destroying everything we've built over three generations. For what? Revenge?"
"Protection." I lean back in my chair, meeting his eyes. "As long as the Benedettis exist, Liana is a target. You proved that when you grabbed her. I'm eliminating the threat permanently."
"By eliminating us entirely." Roberto studies me for a long moment, and then he laughs—bitter, hollow, the laugh of a man who's lost everything. "You're in love with her."
I don't answer, don't give him the satisfaction.
"You are." He shakes his head slowly. "The great Santino Marcello. Brought down by a woman he barely knew."
"I wasn't brought down by a woman. I was brought down by my own stupidity." I lean forward now, my voice hard. "And now I'm fixing it."
"By destroying my family."
"Yes."
"And if I refuse to let you? If I fight back with everything I have left?"
"Then you lose everything. Your suppliers. Your warehouses. Your contracts. Your reputation. Everything you've built. Everything your father and grandfather built."
"You can't take it all."
"Watch me." I stand, buttoning my jacket. "This meeting is over. You have forty-eight hours to get out of the city. Take whatever you can carry. Leave the rest."
"And if I don't?"
"Then I stop being merciful." I head toward the door. "Forty-eight hours. After that, it won't just be your business that's gone. It'll be your family too. Every single member."
I walk toward the door.
"She won't take you back, you know." His voice stops me before I reach it. "The Costa girl. Even if you destroy us. Even if you eliminate every threat to her. She won't forgive you for what you did."
I turn back slowly. "That's not why I'm doing this."
"Then why?" He sounds genuinely curious now. "Why destroy us if not to win her back?"
"It's the right thing to do." I meet his eyes directly. "I failed to protect her once. I won't fail again. Even if she never speaks to me again. Even if I never get her back. She'll be safe. And that's all that matters now."
Roberto stares at me then he nods slowly. "Forty-eight hours," he says quietly, accepting his fate.
I leave without another word.
Outside, Bruno is waiting by the car, leaning against the hood. "How'd it go?"
"He'll leave." I get in the passenger seat. "He's smart enough to know when he's beaten."
"And if he's not? If he tries something stupid?"
"Then we finish this the hard way." I close my eyes briefly. "But he won't. He knows I'm serious."
Bruno starts driving, pulling away from the restaurant.
My phone buzzes in my pocket. Another text from Tommy.
Tommy: Costa girl just left her house. Heading to the port. Same two bodyguards with her.
The port. Where everything went wrong. Where I failed her.
Me: Keep your distance. Don't let her see you.
Tommy: Copy that.
I lean my head back against the seat, exhaustion washing over me. Liana is at the port right now. Working. Running her father's business operations.
This is what she wanted all along. What she fought for with every chaotic act.
To be taken seriously. To be in charge. To be more than just someone's wife.
And I tried to take that away from her without even realizing it.
"Boss?" Bruno glances at me with concern. "You okay?"
"No." I close my eyes. "But I will be."
"When this is over with the Benedettis?"
"When she's safe." I open my eyes and look out at the city passing by. "When I know the Benedettis can never touch her again. When I've proven—to her father, to her, to myself—that I can actually protect her the way I should have from the beginning. Then maybe I'll be okay."
"And if she still doesn't want you back after all this?"
"Then at least I'll know I did the right thing," I say finally. "For once in this entire mess."
Bruno doesn't respond, understanding that there's nothing to say.
We drive in silence through the city streets.
My phone buzzes again. This time it's a photo from Sal.
Another picture of Liana, at the port now. Standing between two massive shipping containers. The two bodyguards flanking her protectively. She's talking to someone I can't see, gesturing with her hands, clearly in the middle of conducting business.
She looks confident. Powerful. Completely in her element.
This is who she really is beneath all the acts and games.
And I never saw it. Never bothered to look closely enough.
I save the photo, adding it to the small collection I've been keeping. Even if I can't have her, I need to remember this moment.
Who she is. What she deserves. Why I'm doing all of this.
By the end of the week, the Benedettis will be gone from this city.
And Liana will be safe from that threat at least.
And maybe—just maybe—that will be enough.