Page 83 of Bound in Vengeance
Sienna stares at the screen, a slow, appreciative smile curving her lips. "It’s a great plan, Alessandro. But his screen will be locked."
I nod toward the device. "Try. Text Luca." I know the older men of the clan are not very adept with phones.
"What should I text him?"
"Text him exactly this: 'Alessandro is sniffing around. We need to meet up.'"
Sienna taps the screen, surprised when the messaging app opens, but after a few seconds, she frowns and shakes her head. "I can’t find Luca's contact or any message thread on here. Nino must have deleted everything, or he uses a burner number he hasn't saved."
With one hand on the wheel, I use my other to pull out my personal phone. I bring up the encrypted file my intelligence team put together and pull up Luca's last known active number. "Type this in."
I read out the digits. Sienna carefully enters them into Nino's phone, types out the message verbatim, and hits send.
The silence inside the car is heavy as the miles roll past. We’re almost at the front gates of the house when the stolen phone suddenly lets out a sharp beep.
Sienna’s breath hitches as she reads the screen. "He responded."
"Read it," I command, my grip tightening on the steering wheel.
"He says: 'That fucking bastard. We need to kill him. Meet me here.'" Sienna looks up at me. "The text includes an address."
A dark, lethal satisfaction washes over me as I park the car in front of the main entrance. A slow, dangerous smile spreading across my face.
"Gotcha."
Sienna looks over at me, the stolen phone gripped tightly in her hand. "What are you going to do now?"
"I’m not sure yet," I lie smoothly, keeping my eyes on the driveway
She eyes me skeptically, clearly sensing the ice-cold shift in my demeanor, but she says nothing.
I’m fucking sure of exactly what I'm going to do, but I have a feeling she won’t like my method. Sienna is sharp, but she still possesses a morality that I abandoned a long time ago. What needs to happen next isn't a negotiation; it's an execution.
When we step inside the house, the cool air of the grand hallway hits us. I turn to her. "I need to find Valerio and handle a few things."
Sienna nods, looking down at her slightly wrinkled tennis skirt. "I need to shower. I'll be upstairs."
The moment her feet clear the top of the staircase, I pull out my phone and text Valerio. He meets me in the foyer minutes later, his face grim.
Without wasting time, I lead him into my study and lay it all out. I tell him everything that happened at the court, show him the text message on Nino’s phone, and explain the address Luca provided. The pieces are finally falling into place.
"We go find Luca tonight," I state flatly, leaning against the edge of my desk. "But before we handle the runaway dog, I’m going to go kill Nino first."
Valerio hesitates, a flash of caution crossing his features. He rubs his jaw, pacing a small circle. "Alessandro, killing a council elder... it’ll cause an uproar among the others if they find out. They’re already mad at?—"
"Who’s going to tell them?" I fire back, my voice dripping with venom. "And frankly, I don’t care. Nino betrayed not just me, but the entire organization. He backed a rogue member who almost handed us to the feds. If we don’t take him out swiftly, this rot will spread. Weakness invites mutiny."
Valerio stares at me for a long beat, measuring the absolute finality in my eyes. Slowly, he nods. "You're right. Treason is treason."
"I'll make it look like an accident," I add, my mind already mapping out the logistics. "An accidental fall, a sudden cardiac arrest—whatever it takes."c
With that settled, I give him his final orders. "Organize a small, tight team for the raid on Luca's location tonight. Keep it off the grid. I'm heading back out to handle Nino."
Valerio nods and disappears to gather the men, and I turn on my heel, stepping right back out into the heat with a singular, bloody purpose.
In less than thirty minutes, I’m parked a discreet distance away from Nino’s luxurious house. I get out of the car, adjusting my jacket, and walk up the driveway with my hands casually shoved into my pockets. I’ve been to Nino's house before—severaltimes, in fact—for formal dinner meetings and various council activities, so I am very familiar with the entire layout.
The house has no security gate at the front entrance because it’s tucked inside an ultra-exclusive, luxurious community for the rich with elite neighborhood security. Funny. I would never choose to live somewhere like this. It creates a false sense of safety, and a false sense of safety makes men careless.
