Chapter 318: I’m Going To Personally Deliver Isabella To Her Father

PUBLIC ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF DEFEAT: Dimitri Valentino shall appear at a press conference to publicly acknowledge that Dante Romano is the superior power in the New York underworld. Failure to comply will result in escalating harm to the hostage.

EXILE FROM THE EAST COAST: Dimitri Valentino shall vacate New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and all surrounding territories within 72 hours. Failure to comply will result in death of the hostage.

SEVERANCE OF ALL CONNECTIONS: Dimitri Valentino shall sever all business, personal, and familial connections to the Northeast region. Anyone found operating on his behalf will be executed.

PROOF OF COMPLIANCE: For each demand met, the hostage will receive increased privileges and safety measures. For each demand refused, the hostage will receive documented harm.

DEADLINE: 72 HOURS

Starting Point: Fingers. Then toes. Then organs. Then death.

Choose wisely, Dimitri. Your woman’s life depends on it.

The text file ended with a set of GPS coordinates and a time stamp for when the next video would be sent.

The office was absolutely silent.

Then Mike turned to Dimitri, and his face was a mask of absolute rage.

"I can’t believe that your ex-fiancée is helping that fuck to kidnap my sister," Mike said, his voice low and lethal. "I can’t believe Isabella is actually there, helping them, taunting Eve, being part of this. How do you want me to explain this to me? How do you want me to explain that your ex-fiancée is responsible for half of this nightmare?"

Dimitri turned from the monitor, his expression absolutely cold.

"I can’t kill her now," Dimitri said flatly. "Because she’s useful. She’s a message. She’s proof that Dante is trying to get into my head. And that means I need her alive for strategic purposes."

"But?" Mike prompted, hearing the continuation in Dimitri’s tone.

"But when this is over," Dimitri continued, his voice dropping to something so lethal that it made the air in the room feel thick. "When I have Eve back. When I’ve killed Dante. I’m going to personally deliver Isabella to her father."

Dimitri moved closer to Mike, and his expression was absolutely resolved.

"And I’m going to tell Lorenzo that his daughter is his responsibility now. That she helped orchestrate the kidnapping of my woman. That she betrayed everyone and everything. And I’m going to tell him that if he wants her back, he’s going to have to negotiate with me. And the price of her return is going to be so high that he’ll understand what it means to have a child who’s become a liability."

Mike’s expression shifted from rage to something darker.

"You’re not going to kill her," Mike said slowly, understanding the calculation. "You’re going to give her back to her father broken. You’re going to make her father understand that his daughter was complicit in this. You’re going to turn her into a burden so heavy that the Russo family will be weakened from the inside."

"Exactly," Dimitri said and the smile of his face sent shiver down Mike’s spine. "And I’m going to ensure that when I return her, she’s not intact. Not physically harmed in a way that’s visible. But psychologically. Emotionally. Spiritually broken in ways that are far worse than death."

Marco’s expression was absolutely unreadable.

"That’s brutal," Marco said quietly.

"That’s survival," Dimitri corrected. "That’s how you operate in a world where people make the mistakes Isabella made. You don’t just kill them. You destroy them in ways that make them wish you had."

Dimitri turned back to the monitors, his mind already working through the logistics.

"Now," Dimitri said, his voice absolutely focused. "We work through the implications of what Dante’s asking for and how we’re going to respond. First, we’re not surrendering anything. My empire is not his to take. Second, we’re not doing a press conference. I’m not publicly acknowledging anything. Third, we’re not leaving. I’m not exiling myself."

"So what are we doing?" Mike asked.

"We’re buying time," Dimitri said. "We’re going to send Dante a message that makes him think we’re considering his demands. We’re going to give him the impression that we’re negotiating. And while he’s focused on negotiations, we’re going to find where he’s hiding Eve. We’re going to locate the facility. And we’re going to plan an extraction that guarantees her safety."

"How long will that take?" Marco asked.

"The video showed coordinates and a timestamp for the next message," Dimitri said. "That gives us approximately 24 hours before he sends the next video. In that time, we need to: One, analyze those coordinates to determine if they’re where he’s holding Eve or if it’s just a drop point for the next message. Two, crack the encryption on these files to see if there’s metadata that indicates location. Three, find Robert and get him to give up everything he knows about the facility. Four, consolidate our forces and prepare for extraction."

"That’s aggressive," Marco said.

"Dante gave us 72 hours," Dimitri replied. "I’m going to take him in 24."

Mike nodded, understanding the ruthlessness of the calculation.

"What about your father?" Mike asked. "Do you think he would have found out about any of this?"

Dimitri’s expression hardened.

"Not yet," Dimitri said. "But he’s going to. Because Dante made a critical mistake. He’s moving against me while my father and I are in open conflict.

"You’re going to bring your father into this," Marco said slowly.

"My father has resources in Europe," Dimitri said coldly. "He has connections that Dante can’t counter. And he has a vested interest in making sure that no one outside the family comes for me, Especially now that i want to deal with Isabella, and the Russo family will want to fight back. So yes, I’m going to bring my father into this. And I’m going to use every asset at my disposal to destroy Dante completely and to also take care of Lorenzo."

Marco was already typing, already working through the encrypted files.

"I have something," Marco said. "The metadata on the video files shows they were transmitted from an IP address that traces back to a server farm in Jersey City. Specific subnet. Specific location data embedded in the transmission protocol."