Chapter 48
I don’t let her leave my side when we step out of the dining room.
She’s too quiet.
Not peaceful. Not calm. Just…charged. Like lightning right before the strike. Her shoulders are set, jaw locked, and her fists curl at her sides every few steps, like she’s one wrong memory away from shattering.
Back in our suite, I close the door. She makes it halfway across the room before spinning on me.
“He used my name,” she says, her voice thick with fury she’s barely keeping leashed. “He used me. Signed off accounts in my name. Like I was just another fucking asset on his spreadsheet.”
Her chest rises and falls in shallow bursts. I take a step forward.
“You weren’t an asset,” I say, gently. “You were his daughter. He was supposed to protect you.”
She lets out a bitter, breathless laugh. “Protect me? He paraded me in front of that altar like I was a fucking product. I didn’t matter to him. My consent didn’t matter.”
She turns away, one hand gripping the edge of the dresser like she needs something solid to anchor her.
“I didn’t walk down that aisle because I believed in him, Enzo. I walked because I didn’t have a choice. I was locked in, dressed up, shoved down the aisle like an offering.”
Her voice cracks on the last word.
Goddamn it.
I move behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her into me. She stiffens at first, still shaking with rage, but then she sags, just slightly, like the weight of it all has finally tipped her balance.
“I should’ve fought harder,” she whispers. “Should’ve found a way out sooner. Before it got that far.”
I press a kiss to her temple, anchoring her, then turn her to face me. “You fought every step of the way. And in the end, you made it out. We made it out. That’s what matters.”
She tilts her head to look at me, eyes glassy but defiant. “I want him ruined.”
My jaw tightens. “He will be.”
“I don’t mean just exposed or arrested.” Her voice steadies. “I want him erased. I want his name rotting in the ground. His legacy turned to ash. I want every sick, twisted lie he built his empire on dragged into the light and burned.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” I tell her, no hesitation in my voice. “He’ll be nothing. And everyone who stood with him? They’ll fall too.”
Her breath hitches. She nods once.
“And you’re not doing it alone,” I add, framing her face in my hands. “I won’t just protect you, Zara. I’ll stand beside you. Every step. Every decision. We end this your way.”
She studies me for a long second. Then presses her forehead to my chest.
“Thank you,” she says, voice quiet now. “For not treating me like something broken. For letting me stay angry.”
I brush my thumb along her jaw. “You’re not broken, Angel. Your anger is justified and we will have vengeance. I promise you.”
Her lips twitch with something like relief. And when I pull her back into my arms, she lets me hold her. Lets herself soften against me. It feels as if she’s beginning to trust me to carry the weight with her.
And for a man like me? That’s everything.
She lets out a long sigh. “I’m going to take a shower. I need to decompress.”
I nod and place a kiss on her forehead before she turns away.
As her footsteps fade down toward the bathroom, I pull my phone from my pocket. I stare at the screen for a beat, her voice still echoing in my head—tight with rage, shaking with fire. That fury might scare anyone else, but to me, it’s a fucking prayer. A vow. I won’t let her down.
I dial Lars first. He answers on the second ring. “I figured you’d be too busy with your wife to call me.”
“She’s too pissed for that right now,” I mutter. “Start pulling the leadership in. Every capo, every territory head, every Syndicate affiliate—I want them seated at the estate by noon.”
“On it.” A beat of silence, then, “Philadelphia too?”
“Definitely. Put them on the line. Falco’s already running—let him feel the walls closing in. I want their eyes on him, steady reports coming in.”
“And the meeting itself?”
“Kavanagh stays front and center,” I say, voice sharp. “Everything else can wait.”
“Understood.”
I hang up and walk to my office just down the hall from our bedroom.
Opening my laptop, I pull up the encrypted Marchetti network, firing off a message to my logistics chief.
I want full intel briefings from every sector by midday—movement reports, Kavanagh ally surveillance, and a status update on the Calumet Harbor docks. No surprises. Not today.
The estate’s already secure, locked down tighter than a vault, but my instincts won’t let me rest. I need to know what’s coming before it gets within a hundred miles of Zara. If it so much as breathes in her direction, I want to feel it in the fucking wind.
The door creaks open behind me, and I don’t need to turn to know it’s my mother. She’s quiet for once, leaning against the doorframe with concern in her eyes.
“You’re about to burn down half of Chicago, aren’t you?” she says softly.
I glance up. “Not just Chicago.”
She gives me a wicked grin. “Good. That man had this coming.”
I nod once. “He used my wife, he almost sold her off for his own gain.”
Her smile softens. “And now you’re ready to stand by her side as you both destroy him. I love the man you’ve become, Enzo”
She walks off without another word, and I turn back to my desk. The war room is ready. The intel is coming in. My enemies are lining up like dominos—I just need to tip the first one.
And if they think I won’t raze everything they’ve built to the fucking ground?
They’ve forgotten who I am.