29. CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY
Dante
Dante didn’t remember getting into the SUV. One second he was staring at the Vescari lieutenant’s cabin, dread coiling in his gut like barbed wire. The next, he was behind the wheel, tires screaming against asphalt, Luca shouting orders into the radio beside him.
Dante heard none of it. All he heard was the echo of Alina’s message: They’re here.
He gripped the steering wheel and felt the plastic creak under his palms.
“Boss,” Luca said, breathless, “we’re ten minutes out.”
“Too long.”
“Dante—”
“Too. Long.”
He pushed the accelerator. The SUV lurched forward. Trees blurred. Roads vanished. The world narrowed to one point: Her.
Luca tried again. “We need a plan.”
“The plan is getting to her.”
“Dante—”
“Luca, if they touch her—” His voice broke. Just for a second.
Luca went silent, but his jaw was a hard line in the flashing dark of the car. He understood. This wasn’t about strategy, leadership, or the war. This was about Alina. And that made Dante a liability he couldn’t control.