Chapter 153: Isabella’s Back In Rome

It did.

Dimitri didn’t want to admit it, but it did.

He’d spent his entire adult life trying to be nothing like his father. But the truth was, the things that made him an effective Don....the strategic thinking, the ability to read people, the willingness to make hard choices...those came from Antonio.

He’d just chosen to aim them at different targets.

"There’s something else," Dimitri said. "About Italy."

"What?"

"Isabella’s back in Rome."

Mike went very still. "Since when?"

"Two weeks ago. Giovanni mentioned it, said she’d been making appearances at family events, Lorenzo’s been positioning her to take over more operations." Dimitri’s jaw tightened. "And she’s been asking about Eve."

"Asking what?"

"About her business. Her company. Where she spends her time. Who protects her." Dimitri met Mike’s eyes. "She’s gathering intelligence, Mike. Planning something."

"Does Eve know?"

"No. And I’m not telling her. Not yet." Dimitri’s hand clenched around his glass. "Eve’s been through enough. If I tell her Isabella’s actively targeting her, she’ll either be terrified or she’ll try to do something about it. Either way, she gets hurt."

"So what’s your plan?"

"Triple her security. Marco’s already on it...adding two more men to her detail, running deeper background checks on everyone at Phoenix Talent, monitoring her movements." Dimitri’s voice was hard. "And if Isabella makes a move, if she comes anywhere near Eve, I end her. I don’t care about alliances or consequences or what Lorenzo does. I will kill her."

Mike studied his face for a long moment.

"You mean that."

"Every word."

"Good. Because if you didn’t, I would." Mike’s expression was steel. "Eve’s my sister. If Isabella hurts her, there’s nowhere she can hide that I won’t find her."

They sat in the weight of that promise.

Brothers united by the same purpose: protecting the woman they both loved.

"How much time do you think we have?" Mike asked finally. "Before everything explodes?"

"Three months. Maybe four." Dimitri stared out at the city. "I need to turn at least three of Antonio’s key people. Need to establish protection networks in Italy. Need to be strong enough that when I make my move, there’s no question of outcome."

"And what about Eve? What does she think the timeline is?"

"She thinks we have a year. Maybe more." Dimitri’s voice was quiet. "I let her think that because I need her focused on staying safe, not on trying to help with things that could get her killed."

"You’re lying to her."

"I’m protecting her."

"By lying to her." Mike’s voice wasn’t judgmental, just observational. "You know that’s going to blow up in your face eventually, right? When she finds out you’ve been keeping the real timeline from her?"

"I know." Dimitri finished his scotch. "But I’d rather deal with her anger than her funeral."

"Fair enough." Mike refilled their glasses again. "So. Three months. What’s the play-by-play?"

They spent the next hour going through it.

Marco Bellini first, show him Sofia’s being experimented on, flip him within two weeks.

Then Paolo Russo, Lorenzo’s cousin.....more complicated, more political, but necessary for splitting the Russo-Valentino alliance.

Then back to Giovanni with proof of protection infrastructure in Milan, solidify that relationship.

Meanwhile, Marco would keep investigating Prometheus, building evidence, finding every crime Antonio had committed over the past twenty years.

"By the time I move," Dimitri said, "I’ll have enough evidence that no one in the family can question my right to take over. My father won’t just be overthrown, he’ll be completely delegitimized."

"And The Covenant?" Mike asked. "Once you have Antonio’s position, how do you get to them?"

"That’s the part I’m still working on." Dimitri leaned back in his chair. "Antonio’s partnership with them collapsed sixteen years ago. They’re enemies now. But Antonio still has intelligence on them....their locations, their operations, their weak points. Once I have access to that intelligence, I can plan the strike."

"You’re talking about destroying an entire criminal organization. One that governments can’t touch."

"I’m talking about making them pay for my mother." Dimitri’s voice was absolute. "I don’t care how long it takes or what it costs. The Covenant killed her. They need to answer for that."

Mike was quiet for a long moment.

"You know," he said finally, "when we were kids, when you first told me about your mom, I didn’t really understand. Didn’t understand why you hated Antonio so much. Thought you were being dramatic."

"And now?"

"Now I get it. If someone hurt Eve, if someone killed her while I just stood by....I’d spend the rest of my life hunting them too." Mike met his eyes. "So yeah. Whatever you need to destroy The Covenant, I’m in. All the way."

"Thank you."

They drank in companionable silence.

Outside, the city was dark except for scattered lights, millions of people sleeping, unaware of the war being planned forty floors above them.

"Can I ask you something?" Mike said. "About Eve?"

"Always."

"Are you going to tell her? Eventually? About the accelerated timeline, about Isabella gathering intel, about how dangerous this is really going to be?"

Dimitri was quiet.

"I don’t know," he said finally. "Part of me thinks she deserves to know everything. That keeping her in the dark is disrespectful to the partnership we’ve built."

"And the other part?"

"The other part is fucking terrified that if she knows how dangerous it really is, she’ll try to protect me. Try to do something that gets her killed." Dimitri’s voice cracked slightly. "I can handle my father. Can handle Isabella. Can handle a war with my own father. But I cannot handle losing her, Mike. It would break something in me that couldn’t be fixed."

"She’s stronger than you think."

"I know she is. But strong doesn’t mean invincible. And in this world, in our world people use the ones you love as weapons. My father will use her against me. So will Lorenzo. So will anyone who wants to hurt me."

"Like they used your mother against Antonio."

"Exactly." Dimitri closed his eyes. "I love her so much it terrifies me. Because that love is the biggest weakness I have. The one thing that could make me compromise everything I’ve built. And everyone knows it."