Raven's POV
The mob warehouse is nothing like Raven expected.
Inside, it's a luxury nightclub—leather booths, crystal chandeliers, a full bar staffed by men with guns instead of bottles. At least fifty people fill the space, all watching Raven and Dante with predatory interest.
Luca Moretti leads them to a private room in the back. He sits behind a massive desk like a king on a throne. Six men line the walls—bodyguards with dead eyes and ready weapons.
"Sit," Luca commands.
Dante sits. Raven stays standing until Dante pulls her down beside him. His grip on her wrist is iron—a warning to stay calm.
"Twenty years, Dante. You ignored every letter, every gift, every olive branch." Luca's voice is gentle but his eyes are cold. "Why come home now?"
"Because Commissioner Voss just tried to kill me. And I need your help destroying him."
Luca laughs. "Voss? That corrupt pig has been on our list for fifteen years. He protects criminals who refuse to pay us tribute. Interferes with our operations. Arrests our people while letting his own criminals walk free." His smile sharpens. "But you never needed our help before, nephew. You built your empire without family. Why now?"
"Because he's hunting someone I need alive." Dante's hand tightens on Raven's wrist. "This is Raven Blackwell. Former detective. Framed by Voss's people. She knows everything about his operation—names, accounts, crimes. She's worth more than every informant you have combined."
Luca studies Raven like she's a weapon he's considering buying. "The girl the news is calling the Reaper killer? The one every cop in Chicago is hunting?"
"She's innocent. Set up as a scapegoat."
"Innocent." Luca tastes the word. "How refreshing. We don't see many innocent people in our world." He stands, walks around the desk. "Tell me, Miss Blackwell—do you know what my nephew has been doing for the past five years?"
Raven's throat is dry. "He's been killing criminals who escaped justice."
"Escaped legal justice," Luca corrects. "There are other kinds. Our family provides justice when courts fail. We've been doing it for a hundred years." He stops in front of her. "Dante learned that from watching us. He just refuses to admit it."
"I'm nothing like you," Dante says coldly.
"You're exactly like us. You kill people who deserve to die. The only difference is you pretend you're not a criminal." Luca smiles. "But now you're here, in our world, asking for our protection. That makes you one of us, whether you like it or not."
"I'm asking for a temporary alliance. I help you destroy Voss, you protect Raven until it's done."
"And what makes you think we want Voss destroyed? He's annoying, yes, but predictable. Better the devil we know." Luca returns to his desk. "Give me one reason I shouldn't hand this girl over to Voss right now. He'd owe us a massive favor. Much more valuable than your gratitude."
Raven's heart stops.
Dante stands, rage flooding his face. "You'd betray family for Voss?"
"You're not family, Dante. You rejected us. Refused our help. Built your empire in spite of us." Luca's voice hardens. "You don't get to come crawling back now and demand loyalty you never gave."
"Then what do you want?"
"Proof you're serious about being a Moretti again. Not just visiting when it's convenient." Luca pulls out a folder, slides it across the desk. "There's a traitor in our organization. Someone feeding information to Voss, helping him arrest our people. We know it's one of three men in this room right now."
Raven's blood runs cold. She glances at the six bodyguards lining the walls. Three of them could be traitors?
"Find the rat," Luca continues. "Kill him. Bring me proof. Do that, and I'll know you're truly home. I'll protect your girl and help you destroy Voss."
"You want me to execute one of your own people?"
"I want you to prove you're a Moretti. That you have the stomach for what we do." Luca's smile is sharp. "Or take your girl and leave. Try to survive Voss alone. Your choice."
Silence fills the room—thick and suffocating.
Dante's jaw clenches. "How long do I have?"
"Twenty-four hours. The rat is planning to feed Voss information about a shipment tomorrow night. If you don't find him before then, twenty of our men die in a police ambush." Luca opens the folder. "These are your suspects: Marco Santini, age forty-two, been with us fifteen years. Thomas Chen, age thirty-five, family man with three kids. And Vincent Drake, age twenty-eight, your cousin on your father's side."
Dante's face pales. "Vincent is family. He wouldn't—"
"Someone is betraying us. Could be any of them. Could be all three working together." Luca leans back. "Find out. Kill the guilty. Save the innocent. Just like you've been doing for years—except this time, no distance. No pretending you're better than us. You'll look them in the eyes and pull the trigger yourself."
Raven can't breathe. Dante has to murder someone? Someone who might be innocent?
"What if I refuse?" Dante asks.
"Then I hand Raven to Voss within the hour. He'll torture her for information, kill her, and pin every unsolved murder in Chicago on her corpse. Your choice, nephew. Your girl's life or your conscience. Which matters more?"
Dante looks at Raven. Something broken passes through his steel-blue eyes.
"I'll do it," he says quietly.
"Excellent!" Luca claps his hands. "Adrian will set you up in one of our safe houses. You have until midnight tomorrow. Don't disappoint me, Dante. Family is watching."
Two men escort them out. Raven's legs shake as they walk through the nightclub. Everyone stares—whispers follow them like ghosts.
Outside, Adrian waits by the SUV, expression grim. "Heard everything through comms. Boss, you don't have to do this. We can run—"
"And go where? Voss controls the police. Luca controls the underworld. There's nowhere left." Dante's voice is hollow. "Get us to the safe house. I need to think."
They drive in silence to a high-rise apartment building. The safe house is on the fifteenth floor—luxury prison with bulletproof windows and armed guards in the hallway.
The moment the door closes behind them, Raven explodes.
"You can't actually kill someone for your uncle!"
"I don't have a choice." Dante pours whiskey with shaking hands.
"There's always a choice!"
"Really? What choice, Raven?" He spins to face her. "Let Luca hand you to Voss? Watch them torture and kill you? That's the alternative. One life versus yours. The math is simple."
"What if you kill an innocent person?"
"Then I'll have to live with it." His voice cracks. "Just like I live with everything else I've done."
"Dante—"
"I told you I was a monster. You just didn't want to believe it." He drains his whiskey. "Now you get to see what I really am. What I've always been."
Raven's heart aches. She sees the twelve-year-old boy in the closet, watching his family die. The orphan who grew into someone who could survive anything. The man who kills monsters but might be one himself.
"There has to be another way," she whispers.
"Find it then. You're the detective." He tosses her the folder. "Twenty-four hours. Three suspects. One traitor. Figure it out before I have to start shooting innocent people."
Raven opens the folder with trembling hands. Three files. Three lives. One of them deserves to die. Two might be innocent.
She reads through the night while Dante drinks and stares at nothing.
By dawn, she's found something.
"Dante." Her voice is urgent. "Look at this. Thomas Chen—his daughter goes to an expensive private school. Tuition is sixty thousand a year. But his salary is only forty thousand. How's he paying for it?"
Dante moves to her side, studying the papers. "Could be family money. Loans."
"His parents are dead. No inheritance. And the school records show payments in cash—no loan company does that." Raven pulls up more files. "And look—his daughter started that school five months ago. Right when the first leak to Voss happened."
"Could be coincidence."
"Or it's Voss paying him through his daughter's education. Untraceable. Smart." Raven's heart pounds. "We need to follow him. See who he meets. Get proof."
Dante studies her face. "You're really helping me catch someone so I can kill them?"
"I'm helping you find the traitor so two innocent men don't die." She meets his eyes. "And so Luca doesn't hand me to Voss. Survival, remember? You taught me that."
Something dark flashes in Dante's expression—pride mixed with regret. "You're learning too fast."
"Good. Because we have sixteen hours left."
They spend the day tracking Thomas Chen. Raven uses her detective skills—surveillance, pattern recognition, reading behavior. She's good at this, she realizes. Maybe too good.
At 6 PM, Thomas meets someone in a parking garage. Raven gets photos on her phone—the man is definitely a cop. They exchange an envelope.
"That's Detective Harrison," Dante says grimly. "One of Voss's inside men."
"We have proof. Thomas is the rat."
Dante's face is stone. "Then we tell Luca. And I do what needs to be done."
They return to the mob warehouse. Luca reviews the evidence with cold satisfaction.
"Well done, nephew. I knew you still had it in you." He snaps his fingers. Two men drag Thomas Chen into the room—confused and terrified.
"Boss? What's happening? I didn't do anything!"
"You betrayed the family for school tuition." Luca's voice is ice. "Your daughter will be taken care of. But you? You die tonight."
He hands Dante a gun.
Raven's stomach revolts. This is real. Dante is going to kill this man right in front of her.
Thomas falls to his knees, sobbing. "Please! My daughter needs me! I'll pay it back! I'll do anything!"
"You should've thought of that before you got twenty of our men killed." Luca looks at Dante. "Do it. Prove you're a Moretti."
Dante raises the gun. His hand doesn't shake.
Raven wants to look away but can't. This is who Dante really is. A killer. A monster. Everything they said.
Dante's finger tightens on the trigger—
"WAIT!" A voice shouts from the doorway.
Everyone turns. A young man rushes in, holding a phone.
"Uncle Luca! We found something! Thomas Chen isn't the only traitor—there's a second one! Someone higher up! They just sent a message to Voss about this meeting happening RIGHT NOW. Police are three minutes away!"
Luca's face drains of color. "Who?"
The young man looks terrified. "Your head of security. Marco. He's been working with Voss for years. Thomas was just a distraction."
Chaos erupts. Men shout. Guns are drawn.
And in the confusion, Marco—one of the six bodyguards who've been in the room this whole time—pulls his weapon and aims it directly at Raven's head.
"Nobody move," Marco says calmly. "Or the girl dies."