Chapter 71 Chapter 71

Chapter 71 Chapter 71
\[ SOFIA’S POV \]

My blood was boiling. I didn't care about the dead guard or the wasted steak. I cared about my name. Mira Moretti thought she could burn my father's property and get away with it? She had another thing coming.

"Load the vans," I told the hitters. I wasn't wearing a sweater now. I was in a leather tactical jacket, my hair pulled back tight. "We’re going to their East Coast hub. I want every crate of their illegal tech and every bottle of their pride smashed to pieces."

The drive was silent. The men were nervous, but I was steady. We pulled up to the Moretti warehouse, a massive grey building near the cliffs. It was too quiet. There were no guards at the gate. No dogs barking. Nothing.

"It’s a ghost town," one of my men whispered, checking his rifle. "Maybe they heard we were coming and ran?"

"Morettis don't run," I snapped, kicking the car door open. "They’re probably hiding inside like cowards. Move in!"

We rushed to the main entrance. I didn't wait for the breach team. I stepped up and kicked the heavy metal door with all my might. It swung open with a loud creak that echoed through the space.

I burst inside, my gun raised, ready to paint the walls red. My men swarmed in behind me, flashlights cutting through the dim dust. But there was no one shooting back. There were crates. But not a single guard in sight.

Just a single wooden chair in the middle of the floor.

Mira was sitting there, one leg draped over the armrest, looking like she didn't have a care in the world. She had a bright red lollipop in her mouth, swirling it around. She didn't even flinch at the twenty guns pointed at her chest.

She pulled the lollipop out with a slow pop and grinned at me.

"Miss me, Sofia Russo?" she asked, her voice bouncing off the high ceilings.

My grip on my gun tightened. "Where is the inventory, Mira? Where are your brothers?"

Mira laughed, a sharp sound that made my skin crawl. "Oh, sweetie. You really think Salvatore is that stupid? You followed a breadcrumb trail to a trap. He knows you will be here, he knows the exact warehouse you will choose to come to. Where is my brother? If he’s here can you dare stand before him whore?"

My head started to throb the moment she called me a whore. The word echoed in the empty warehouse, reminding me of the deep score we had to settle. The memory of that night clawed at my brain, the four men, the setup, the humiliation.

"Because you set me up with four men, pepper and all that, you think you’ve won?" I asked, my voice trembling with a mix of fury and old pain. "Because I have been silent about it, you think I’m weak, right Mira? All you did was let me have another taste of experience in my life... getting fucked by four and you know..."

I tilted my head to the side, trying to look like it hadn't broken me, trying to show her that I was still standing despite the filth she had dragged me through.

Mira didn't look sorry. She didn't even look impressed. Instead, she burst into a laugh—a loud, mocking sound that resounded through the hollow room, bouncing off the metal walls and mocking my pain.

"Look at you, Sofia," she said, finally catching her breath. "I don’t think you’re weak. I think you’re a fool. A big one at that. And now, you are going to do something for me. You will turn around right now and walk back to your old, senseless man."

The insult to my father was the final straw. I snapped. I raised my gun, aiming it straight at the center of her forehead. I stepped closer, my finger tightening on the trigger until it was a hair's breadth away from firing.

"I dare you to repeat that, Mira Moretti," I hissed through gritted teeth.

Mira didn't even blink. She didn't reach for a weapon or call for her guards. She just looked up at me, the red lollipop still in her hand, and gave me a cold, dead stare.

"Shoot, Sofia," she challenged, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "Shoot me. But the moment my heart stops, that video of you and those four men goes live. The whole world will see exactly what happened that sweet day. Every detail. Every scream."

My hand holding the gun began to shake. The cold metal felt heavy, nearly impossible to hold. I looked into her eyes and realized she wasn't bluffing. She had the one thing that could destroy me faster than any bullet could destroy her.

The power I thought I had just seconds ago vanished, leaving me standing in the dark, trapped by a ghost I planned to bury.

The weight of the gun felt like lead in my hand. I looked at Mira, at her calm face, the red lollipop, the cold confidence in her eyes, and I knew she had me. If that video went out, my life was over. The press conference, the pitiful act, my reputation... it would all burn faster than the warehouse.

Slowly, I lowered the gun. My arm felt weak, and my skin crawled with a shame I couldn't hide.

"Smart girl," Mira said, the corner of her mouth twitching into a smirk. She didn't even look relieved, she looked like she had already won before I even walked through the door.

I turned my head toward the heavy metal doors, my heart hammering. "Open the doors, Mira. We’re leaving."

"Oh, Sofia," Mira sighed, standing up from the wooden chair. She smoothed out her clothes and took a slow step toward me. "You didn't listen. You are leaving. But these thirty men you brought into my house? They’re staying."

I froze. I looked back at my guards, the men who had followed me here to get revenge for my father. They looked at each other, their grip on their rifles tightening as they realized what she was saying.

"What do you mean they're staying?" I hissed, my voice cracking.

"I mean they belong to the Morettis now," Mira said, her voice dropping into a dark, lethal tone. "You broke into our territory. You brought weapons into our home. There’s a price for that, and it isn't paid in apologies. It's paid in blood and loyalty."

She pointed the lollipop toward the exit as the small side door began to buzz open. "Go back to your father. Tell him his daughter is a coward who traded thirty lives for a video. Tell him he’s down thirty soldiers because you couldn't keep your temper and his in check."

I looked at my men. Some were staring at me with horror, others with pure betrayal, and some were happy that they belonged to the Moretti now. They were waiting for me to say something, to fight for them, to tell Mira to go to hell.

But all I could see was me in that video playing on every screen in the world.

"Miss Sofia?" one of the guards whispered, his voice pleading.

I didn't look at him. I couldn't. I tucked my gun into my waistband and started walking toward the small door, my head down. Every step felt like I was stepping on the corpses of the men I was leaving behind.

"Run along, Sofia," Mira’s voice followed me, echoing through the hollow warehouse. "And tell your daddy the next time he sends a girl to do a man's job, he should make sure she doesn't have so many secrets."

\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I walked through the front doors of the Russo estate, my legs shaking and my heart pounding. The house was quiet, but I knew Father was waiting in the study. I had to make this believable. I had to make him see a war, not my own cowardice.

I stopped in front of the mirror in the hallway. I ruffled my hair, wiped a bit of dirt onto my cheek, and bit my lip until it looked swollen. I needed to look like I had barely escaped with my life.

When I pushed open the study doors, Father was standing by the window, a glass of scotch in his hand. He turned, his eyes scanning me from head to toe.

"Tell me it’s a success,” he said with a small smile on his lips that was soon wiped off after he saw the rejection look in my eyes. “Where are my men, Sofia?" he asked, his voice low and dangerous. "Where are the thirty soldiers I gave you to level that warehouse you daughter of a bitch?"