Chapter 276: You Want To Ambush Them

"He’s been waiting for this," Marco said. "Waiting for you to separate from your operations. Waiting for you to be isolated."

"And I gave him exactly what he wanted," Dimitri said, standing up and walking to the monitor showing the beach. "I came here to get away from the war. Brought Eve here to show her peace. And I led a target straight to us."

"You didn’t know," Marco said.

"That’s not an excuse." Dimitri turned back to face him. "How long?"

"Best estimate? Twenty-four to forty-eight hours. Could be longer, could be sooner."

"How many?"

"Seven. Professional soldiers. Not amateurs."

Dimitri nodded, processing that. "What do we do?"

"We have options," Marco said. "We can fortify here. Make this place defensible. Wait for them to come and deal with it directly."

"Or?" Dimitri asked, already knowing there was an or.

"Or we move. We relocate you and Eve to the secondary location. We leave a skeleton crew here. We let them come to an empty villa while we prepare from a position of strength."

Dimitri considered both options. Marco could see him running through scenarios in his head, the way his eyes moved slightly, the way his jaw worked as he thought.

"Eve has to be safe," Dimitri finally said. "That’s the priority. Dante’s men come here, they’ll expect to find me. If they find her instead...."

"They won’t find her," Marco said firmly. "We’ll move her to the secondary location first. We’ll position men. Dante’s operation won’t touch her."

Dimitri nodded. "Then we do option two. We relocate. We prepare. And when these men show up looking for me, we end this."

It was the response Marco had expected. Dimitri didn’t run from fights, he just fought them smarter.

"I’m already activating protocols," Marco said. "I’ve called the secondary team. They’re preparing the safe house. I’ve positioned men at the perimeter. I’ve got contacts monitoring Dante’s movements."

"What about the staff?" Dimitri asked.

"We tell them there’s a family situation in New York. That we’re leaving tonight. We give them paid time off. They leave before anything happens."

"Good," Dimitri said. "I don’t want anyone else caught in this."

"You’ll have to tell her," Marco said. "She needs to know why we’re moving. She needs to be prepared."

Dimitri nodded slowly. "When?"

"Soon. Before we start moving things. She’ll figure it out anyway if we start evacuating."

"Alright." Dimitri took a deep breath. "I’ll tell her. You keep doing what you’re doing. I want this handled quietly, Marco. No blood on the villa if we can avoid it.."

"Understood, boss."

Then he left, heading back toward the master suite where Eve was probably still sleeping.

Marco turned back to his laptop and started making more calls. Quiet calls to people positioned around the island. Instructions about moving weapons. Instructions about securing the safe house. Instructions about watching the water approaches.

By noon, the island was buzzing with controlled activity. The staff was being told about the situation. The team was being positioned. The evacuation plan was being finalized.

And Marco sat in the security office, monitoring everything, waiting for the moment when Dante’s people made their move.

He’d known this peace wouldn’t last. Knew that eventually, the war would find them.

But he also knew that he’d been ready for it since the moment Dimitri decided to come to this island.

Because that’s what Marco did. He protected. He prepared. He stayed ahead of threats until threats couldn’t materialize.

And Dante Romano was about to learn exactly how good Marco was at his job.

***

By the time evening fell, Dimitri had told Eve everything.

Marco didn’t know the details of that conversation, that was between them. But he could see the impact on her face when they emerged from the master suite. The shock that had settled into understanding. The realization that their perfect bubble had been broken.

Eve looked at Marco with an expression that was equal parts gratitude and resignation.

"You’ll keep him safe?" she asked.

"Always," Marco said.

But Dimitri just pulled Eve close and kissed her temple. "He won’t need to. I’ll keep myself safe. And I’ll keep you safe. That’s my job, piccola. Not his."

There was something in his voice then, something cold and dark that Marco recognized. The voice of a man who’d just switched into war mode. The voice of a man who was about to remind people why they feared him.

That night, as the sun set over the Aegean, they began the evacuation.

The staff left in the late afternoon, told they had paid time off, told to enjoy themselves in Athens for a few days.

By 8 PM, only the essential people remained. Dimitri. Eve. Marco. Two security guards who’d been briefed and positioned.

The weapons were in place. Marco had brought them from the secure storage at the safe house...rifles, handguns, ammunition, everything they might need.

Dimitri stood in the armory room, looking at the weapons laid out on the table. His expression was calm, but his eyes were dark. Completely dark. The eyes of a man who’d made a decision about how this was going to end.

"Show me everything again," Dimitri said to Marco. "I want to know the timeline. I want to know the approach routes. I want to know exactly how they’re planning to come at me."

Marco walked him through it all. The water approaches. The team composition. The timeline. The equipment.

Dimitri listened and nodded, his mind already moving through strategies.

"They’ll come by boat," Dimitri said, thinking out loud. "They’ll hit the villa expecting to find me here. When they don’t...."

"They’ll search the property," Marco said.

"No," Dimitri said coldly. "They won’t. Because we’re going to be waiting for them. We’re going to hit them before they even reach the villa."

Marco understood immediately. Instead of retreating, instead of running, Dimitri was planning to attack first. To eliminate the threat on his own terms.

"You want to ambush them," Marco said.

"I want to end this," Dimitri corrected, picking up one of the handguns and checking it with practiced ease. "Dante sent seven men to kill me. I’m going to make sure those seven men never leave this island."