Cameron smirks. “Do you think he would fucking listen to us? I brought you here because you’re his weakness, with you he won’t have a choice but to listen.”
I feel the air tighten. My hand jerks back from hers to point a finger at my brother. I see the flicker of hurt and fury in Bria’s eyes, the tremble of worry to her lips.
Maria steps forward, voice steady. “Enough! Bria, you are safe here. If all of you can’t see what’s coming, you’ll all die proving a point no one will ever remember. Blood has already taken enough from us.”
The room falls silent. Bria’s gaze softens as it lands on me, her best friend. The only reason she hasn’t walked out already.
I swallow hard. “What happened since our conversation last night?” I ask Cameron. He was so set on me staying away from Sin and Bria… Whoever the Nero syndicate is must be bad, if their taking this kind of action this quickly.
Mom frowns, clutching her hands together. “While we were sleeping… someone entered our home. We don’t know how, but they know our tunnels, our exits. Everything.”
Bria and I exchange a nervous nod. The one person who could navigate our home with that precision, who has the documents to do it.Sin.But if it was him, saying so could ignite a war we aren’t ready to fight. My stomach twists.
Bria tilts her head, sharp and impatient, knowing I’m weighing the options to tell them about the blueprint. “Who is the Nero Syndicate? How did you learn of them?”
Cameron doesn’t answer. He opens the desk drawer slowly, deliberately, and pulls out a single bullet. He places it on the table. My breath catches. There’s an etching.
Magnolia.
My name, scrawled in elegant cursive across the cold metal.
“This,” my mother says, tears pricking her eyes as she takes it from the desk, white-knuckled, gripping the threat as if it were a living thing, “was in front of your bedroom door this morning.”
“I called Zeik, he knew about the Nero’s but didn’t understand their reach until further research.” Cameron says, his voice low, clipped. “He was here before you woke up. We went through surveillance… but we knew that whoever it was they knew the location to our cameras. Zeik’s in the basement now.” He sighs, as though the weight of it is physical. “When we found the tag, we figured out who it was.”
“Where?” Bria leans forward, alert, ready. Unlike me, she’s attuned to this world. I feel like a child in comparison.
“Near the gardens,” Cameron gestures toward the window. “On the trellis wall.”
Bria and I rise, moving to the curtains together. Our hands brush. I cling to that contact. Peeling back the velvet, my heart pounds at the sight. Graffiti, bright and dripping in red letters:
Bratva
Nero
“Bratva,” Bria breathes, the word tasting like fear.
“Who are they?” I ask, voice tight.
“The Russian mafia,” she says, lip trembling. The realization hits her fully. For me… I feel the cold edge of dread, but it hasn’t yet landed because I have no idea what it means.
I spin to my family. “Can someone please tell me what’s happening?”
At that moment, Zeik walks in, and Bria instinctively leans into him. He pulls her into a tight hug, whispering, “It’s going to be okay.”
She steps back, fear still etched across her face. “Why are they here? Why New York?”
“Do you have an alliance with them? Like you do with the other families?” I ask Zeik, trying to keep my voice steady.
He lowers his head, and the room seems to shrink around us as he wraps a warm hand around the back of my neck, tugging me into his chest. “No.” I don’t miss the way my mom’s lips quirk into a slight smile at the sight of me and Zeik sharing a hug.
I glance at Cameron, at mom, at Bria. Now I understand why Bria was called here. This rash decision, bringing a Donati into the Rusco home. The blueprints, the tunnels, the bullet, it all makes sense. Sin having access to any of this could be catastrophic, but I don’t say a word. The stakes are too high, emotions too raw. I can’t imagine he would put me in harm’s way, and instead of jumping to conclusions, I’m going to try communication this time.
“What happens next?” I finally dare to ask.
Maria exhales, long and measured. “That’s exactly why you need to be careful, Magnolia. You cannot leave this house. Eyes are on you now. Every move matters. There was only one bullet.”
Only one bullet.
