Chapter 159: Your Wife Is A Test Subject

Medical records. Treatment protocols. Connection maps between Ospedale San Giovanni and Prometheus Laboratories.

"Sofia’s not receiving legitimate cancer treatment," Dimitri said quietly. "She’s a test subject for experimental immunotherapy developed by Prometheus Laboratories, my father’s illegal pharmaceutical company. They’re using her to test drugs that aren’t FDA approved, that haven’t passed safety trials, that might work or might accelerate her death. And they’re documenting everything. Her pain levels. Her deterioration. Her response to compounds that have killed other test subjects."

Marcelo stared at the records, his face draining of color.

"No. No, Antonio told me....he said it was cutting-edge treatment, the best available...."

"It is cutting-edge. Because they’re inventing it as they go. On your wife. On dozens of other patients who don’t know they’re guinea pigs." Dimitri’s voice was hard. "Look at the documents, Marcelo. See for yourself."

Marcelo read.

And read.

And read.

His hands started shaking. Then his shoulders.

"He’s been... experimenting on her? For two years?" Marcelo’s voice broke. "She’s been in pain....so much pain....and I thought it was the cancer but it was....it was the drugs...."

"Yes."

"I trusted him. I gave him my loyalty. I managed his territories and collected his debts and looked the other way when he did terrible things because I thought....I thought he was keeping Sofia alive....."

Marcelo broke.

Not crying. Worse than crying.

Just... shattering.

The complete destruction of a man realizing he’d been used. That his wife had been tortured in the name of saving her.

Dimitri waited.

Let him process.

Let him feel it.

Finally, Marcelo looked up, and his eyes were empty.

"What do you want from me?"

"I want you to work for me. Give me intel on my father’s operations. Help me position pieces for when I move against him. And when the time comes, I want you to cut off his access to your territories. Cripple his power base in Rome."

"And in exchange?"

"In exchange, I move Sofia to a real cancer treatment facility. Best doctors in the world. Legitimate immunotherapy with proven track records. No experimentation. No pain. Just real attempts to save her life." Dimitri’s voice was firm. "And protection. For both of you. When my father realizes you’ve turned, he’ll come after you. I’ll make sure he can’t touch you."

Marcelo was quiet for a long time.

"Can you save her? Really save her?"

"I don’t know. But I can give her a real chance. Not my father’s version of a chance where she’s a lab rat being slowly killed for data."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then this conversation never happened. You go back to Antonio. Keep managing his territories. Keep letting him experiment on your wife. And when she finally dies from the drugs he’s testing on her, you’ll know you could have stopped it." Dimitri stood. "I’m not going to threaten you, Marcelo. You’re a good man in an impossible situation. This is your choice. Make it."

Marcelo looked at the medical records again.

At the proof of his wife’s suffering.

At two years of torture disguised as treatment.

"I’ll do it," he said quietly. "Whatever you need. I’ll help you destroy him."

"Good." Dimitri extended his hand.

They shook.

And just like that, Dimitri had his first turncoat inside his father’s inner circle.

They spent the next two hours going through Antonio’s operations.

Marcelo had been managing Rome territories for fifteen years. He knew everything.

The drug distribution networks, how product moved from suppliers through street-level dealers, who the key players were, where the money flowed.

The protection rackets, which businesses paid, which ones refused, how Antonio’s soldiers enforced compliance.

The weapons caches, where Antonio stored his arsenal, how it was guarded, what routes were used to move hardware.

The corrupt officials....cops, judges, politicians who took Antonio’s money and looked the other way.

All of it.

Dimitri memorized every detail, his mind already working through how to use this information.

"When do you need me to move?" Marcelo asked.

"Not yet. Weeks, maybe months. I’m still building forces. But when I call, when I tell you it’s time, you cut off my father’s access to Rome. His money, his product, his soldiers. Everything."

"He’ll know it was me."

"Yes. Which is why you’ll already be in New York under my protection. I’m not leaving you here to face his retaliation."

Marcelo nodded, some of the tension leaving his shoulders.

They were wrapping up when Dimitri’s phone buzzed.

Problem. Black Mercedes back. Plus two more vehicles. Watching the building.

Dimitri’s blood went cold.

"We need to leave. Now."

***

They exited through the back, narrow alley, Marco leading because he knew the neighborhood.

Dimitri’s three soldiers formed a protective triangle around them, weapons drawn but concealed.

The alley opened onto a side street two blocks from where they’d parked.

And waiting there.....fifteen men, heavily armed, fanning out to block both exits.

Not his father’s people.

Dimitri recognized the leader immediately.

Salvatore "Sal" Romano. Head of the Calabrian family. One of the smaller mafia organizations in Southern Italy, but ambitious and ruthless.

And apparently stupid enough to think they could take him.

"Dimitri Valentino." Sal’s smile was cold. "The Devil himself. In Rome. Without his army. Without his father’s protection. Just five men against fifteen."

"Sal. I’d say it’s good to see you, but we both know that’s a lie." Dimitri’s hand moved casually to his gun. "What do you want?"

"Your territory. Your operations. Your empire." Sal spread his hands. "You’ve been expanding into Italy. Taking what doesn’t belong to you. We can’t have that."

"So you followed me. Waited until I was meeting with someone. And now you think you’re going to kill me and take everything I’ve built."

"That’s the plan."

"Here’s the problem with that plan," Dimitri said, his voice absolutely calm. "You brought fifteen men. I only need five to kill all of you."

Sal laughed. "Big talk from a dead man."

"Not talk. Fact." Dimitri smiled....cold and lethal. "Last chance, Sal. Walk away. Tell your men this was a mistake. Live to fight another day."

"Fuck you, Valentino."

"Wrong answer."

Dimitri drew and fired in one smooth motion.

The first shot took Sal between the eyes.

And then everything exploded.