Chapter 307: We Move In 72 Hours

"The odds of failure would be high with anyone," Dante said. "But with you leading, the odds of success become acceptable. That’s why you’re the only person I trust with this."

"Boss...."

"I’m not asking," Dante interrupted, his voice dropping to something lethal. "I’m telling you. You lead the extraction team. You get Eve out. And you get out clean. Can you do that?"

Luca studied him for a long moment. Then: "Yeah. I can do it."

"Good," Dante said. "Because this is the move that changes everything. Once we have Eve, Dimitri will do anything to get her back. And when he does, he’ll be vulnerable in ways he’s never been before."

***

The target date was set.

Three days away.

That gave them time to finalize logistics, position assets, brief the extraction team, and prepare contingency plans for every scenario Dante’s tactical mind could imagine.

Dante sat in his office within the safe house, reviewing aerial photography of the building exterior, the surrounding streets, the exit routes.

Every detail mattered.

Every variable had to be accounted for.

Because Dimitri Valentino was not a man who could be underestimated. The warehouse had taught Dante that lesson at immense cost. Dimitri was faster, stronger, more dangerous than almost any other man alive.

But he had a weakness.

Eve.

And Dante was going to exploit that weakness completely.

"The extraction plan is solid," Carmine reported, entering without knocking because that was the level of operational familiarity they’d achieved. "Three-person team selected and briefed. Robert understands his role. McCarthy’s prepared to stand down when the alarm triggers. Exit routes are clear. Safe house locations are secured."

"What about Dimitri’s response?" Dante asked.

"He’ll retaliate immediately. Mobilize everything he has. But he’ll be looking for Eve first. That gives us maybe two to three hours of confusion before he figures out where we’re taking her."

"Two to three hours is all we need," Dante said. "By the time he’s organized enough to track us, we’ll be gone."

"Boss, there’s one other thing," Carmine said carefully. "We’ve been monitoring Valentino’s communications. There’s been some chatter about his father. Antonio. Something about Prometheus Laboratories and offshore facilities."

Dante’s attention sharpened. "Details?"

"Unclear. But Valentino’s been making calls to Europe. Seems to be investigating something connected to his family. If we’re reading it right, he might be planning to move against his own father."

Dante processed that information, understanding immediately what it meant.

Dimitri and Antonio Valentino were going to war with each other.

Which meant the empire would be fractured from within.

Which meant the perfect moment to strike was about to arrive.

"Keep monitoring," Dante commanded. "I want to know everything about the relationship between Dimitri and Antonio. Every detail. Every conversation. Everything."

"On it."

When Carmine left, Dante pulled up the satellite imagery of the penthouse again. Zoomed in on the third-floor gym where Eve exercised every morning.

In seventy-two hours, she’d be in that room.

In seventy-two hours, she’d be extracted.

In seventy-two hours, the game would shift fundamentally.

Dimitri would no longer be the predator.

He’d be the desperate man fighting to save the woman he loved.

And Dante would finally have the leverage he needed to make Dimitri understand:

You don’t win wars against men willing to burn down their own lives.

You lose.

***

Luca finalized the extraction team.

Three men, each handpicked for specific skills:

Ricci...age 35, former Italian special forces, expert in building entry and exit. Responsible for getting the team inside the penthouse and out safely.

Donovan....age 32, combat medic, trained in restraint and transport. Would manage Eve during extraction, ensure she wasn’t harmed.

Sergio....age 29, the youngest, electronics specialist. Would disable gym cameras at the critical moment, ensuring the extraction couldn’t be tracked on security footage.

"Each of you understands what’s at stake," Luca told them in a secure briefing room. "You extract the woman. You get out clean. You disappear. Succeed, and you’ll be taken care of for the rest of your lives. Fail, and Dimitri Valentino will hunt you down and make you understand what suffering really means."

He paused, letting that sink in.

"Any questions?"

Silence.

"Good," Luca said. "We move in 72 hours. Get some rest. Prepare yourselves mentally. This is the most important operation we’ve ever executed."

After the briefing, Luca found Dante reviewing maps in the operations room.

"The team’s ready," Luca reported. "Psychologically prepared, tactically proficient, emotionally separated from the implications of what we’re asking them to do."

"Good," Dante said. "Because this is the move that breaks Dimitri. Once we have Eve, once he understands that she’s in our hands, that we control her fate, he’ll have to choose between his empire and his woman. And no matter what he chooses, he loses."

"That’s assuming we successfully extract her," Luca said carefully. "And assuming Dimitri doesn’t surprise us with his response."

"Dimitri will surprise us," Dante agreed. "He always does. But Eve is his center. And once we have his center, the rest falls apart. That’s the principle of leverage, Luca. Find what someone loves more than life itself, and you own them."

Luca understood the logic. Had deployed it himself many times in their operations.

But there was something in Dante’s voice that made him uneasy.

Something about the way he talked about Eve. About the way he discussed using her as leverage. About the implications of what would come after extraction.

"What happens after we have her?" Luca asked quietly.

Dante met his gaze. "We contact Dimitri. We tell him we have Eve. We tell him what we want in exchange for her return."

"And what do we want?"

"Everything," Dante said simply. "We want his surrender. We want his empire. We want his acknowledgment that we won. And we want him to watch while I make Isabella forget that he ever existed."

There it was.

The obsession bleeding through the tactical planning.

The personal motivation underlining the strategic operation.

Isabella.

And Dante’s need to possess her completely, to prove to her that he was stronger than Dimitri, to use everything at his disposal to erase Dimitri from her mind.

"Boss, we need to talk about Isabella," Luca said carefully.