Chapter 174 We're not alone
Serena’s POV
Five minutes…
That's all it took for everything to die down. That's all it took for the gun fires to wash away and the peace to return.
That's how long it took for realization to hit that we'd failed.
That I had failed.
The car ride back was silent. Too silent.
The sound of tires against the road filled the space, steady, unchanging, almost mocking the chaos we had just left behind.
My head rested lightly against the window as my gaze remained outside, but I wasn’t seeing anything in particular.
I wasn't noticing the streets, nor the lights, nor the people moving on like nothing had happened.
All I could see was that moment.
The moment Dante was being dragged away.
Over and over again.
All I could see were his eyes that pleaded with me, all I could see was the pain that spread from his bashed up body to his eyes.
“We did everything we could,” Nico’s voice broke through the silence in a calm and tamed manner.
I didn’t turn to look at him. “It wasn’t enough.”
My voice came out flat, distant, but firm.
A second passed.
“It had to be,” he said. “Because anything more, and we would’ve lost everyone.”
That made me turn immediately to him and my eyes met his, and for a second, neither of us spoke.
Then I shook my head. “No,” I said quietly. “We could have done more.”
His jaw tightened slightly. “Serena—”
“We were too scattered,” I cut in, my voice sharpening. “Our men weren’t positioned right. We didn’t push hard enough, if we had closed in faster, cut off their exit—”
“We would’ve walked straight into a trap!” Nico snapped.
“And instead, we let them walk away!” I fired back, not letting it go.
The tension in the car thickened instantly, then Nico leaned back slightly, exhaling through his nose, trying to keep his composure.
“We were outnumbered,” he said. “You saw it.”
“Yes,” I shot back. “And we hesitated simply cause of that.”
His eyes hardened. “We stayed alive because of that.”
I let out a sharp breath, turning away from him again, but my mind was racing now.
“We should have pushed,” I muttered. “Even if it meant losses.”
“Losses?” Nico repeated, his tone dropping. “You mean men. These are people's husbands, fathers, brothers. Not numbers, Serena, humans.”
“And what do you think this is?” I snapped, turning back to him fully now. “A negotiation? A game? This is war, Nico.”
The word hung heavily between us.
War.
“And in war,” I continued, my voice steadier now, colder, “people die. That’s the cost.”
Nico stared at me for a long moment.
“This is not you,” he said quietly.
“I’m doing what I need to do,” I replied.
“No,” he shook his head slightly. “You’re becoming a beast.”
“Good.”
That seemed to hit something in him, but he didn’t respond immediately.
Instead, he looked away this time as the car slowed before fully coming to a stop.
“We’re here,” the driver muttered.
And before Nico could say anything else, I pushed the door open and stepped out.
The house stood tall and quiet, surrounded by other normal buildings like it didn’t belong to the same person who owned it all.
I was taken back by the sight as I expected Dante's penthouse to come into view when I stepped out.
But the first thought that came into my mind was that they moved out as Dante was captured to avoid being taken too.
So I didn’t ask questions, I just walked straight in.
My steps echoed against the floor as I moved deeper inside with my mind still running, still replaying everything.
“We were close,” I muttered under my breath. “We were right there…”
“Serena—”
“We just needed one more push,” I continued, pacing now. “One more coordinated move. If the team at the back had advanced faster, if we had cut them off before they got to the vehicles—”
“Serena.”
I stopped and turned as Nico stood a few steps behind me now, watching me carefully.
“We didn’t fail because we didn’t try hard enough,” he said. “We failed because they were stronger.”
“No,” I shook my head immediately. “They were just better prepared.”
“And more in number,” he added.
“That too, whatever,” I remarked.
He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “You’re not seeing this clearly.”
“And you’re seeing it too safely,” I shot back.
Silence stretched between us again. Then he asked the question.
“So what do you want us to do now?”
The words hit harder than I expected, cause for a second—
Just a second, I didn’t have an answer.
“I…” I exhaled sharply with frustration building in my chest. “I don’t know.”
Nico nodded slowly, like he had expected that.
“The truth is,” he said with his voice more serious now, “we don’t have much left.”
My brows furrowed slightly. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” he continued, “we’ve lost men. A lot of them. Not everyone we have left is willing to go into another fight like that. And even if they were—”
He paused.
“Luca’s army is growing.”
I went still.
“He’s aligned with the Romanos,” Nico added. “And now the Moretti name is practically in his control. That’s two major forces backing him.”
My jaw tightened.
“We’re just one,” he finished. “And we’re shrinking.”
The weight of that settled heavily in the room.
“The more we push,” he continued, “the more lives we lose. And if we lose too many… we won’t have anything left to fight with.”
My hands clenched at my sides.
“So we do nothing?” I asked, my voice low, dangerous.
“That’s not what I said.”
“Then what are you saying?” I demanded. “That we sit back while he—while Luca—”
My voice cracked before I could continue as my chest rose sharply.
And then—
Everything snapped.
A frustrated scream tore out of me as I dropped into the nearest chair with my hands gripping my hair tightly.
“We were so close!” I shouted. “So close!”
The anger, the frustration, the helplessness, it all came crashing down at once.
Footsteps approached, then a warm hand spread across me. A hand that I knew its owner before I turned.
Valentina.
She sat beside me with her hand gently resting on my back, rubbing slowly.
“Hey… hey…” she murmured softly. “It’s okay…”
“No, it’s not,” I choked out with my voice breaking. “It’s not okay…”
“We’ll figure it out,” she said calmly. “We always do.”
I let out a shaky breath with my body slowly relaxing under her touch.
Bit by bit.
The storm inside me quieted. Not gone, but controlled.
After a moment, I straightened slightly, wiping at my face before standing up.
My voice, when I spoke again, was more like me.
“Tomorrow morning,” I said, looking at Nico. “We plan.”
He nodded.
“We can’t let Dante spend another night there,” I added firmly.
“I understand,” he replied and I turned away, walking inside.
“I need to clean up.”
“Sure, let me take you to your room,” Valentina offered and directed me to a small room at the far end.
It was far from what I had at Dante's penthouse, but that mattered little now.
I dropped my clothes immediately as Valentina walked out and stepped into the shower.
The water ran down my skin, washing away the blood, the dirt, the remnants of everything that had gone wrong.
I stood there longer than necessary, letting the silence settle.
But my mind didn’t stop, it replayed everything. Every movement, every mistake. Every second.
“We were close…” I whispered to myself and my eyes closed briefly.
And then—
Dante's image came into view. Not the one I knew and got used to, but the shattered, battered figure that locked eyes with me.
That moment, that connection.
My chest tightened. “I should have…” I exhaled, shaking my head as I stepped out, drying off slowly before changing.
When I walked back into the room, Valentina was there, waiting with a plate of food.
“Eat something,” she urged and I walked over, taking it without arguing.
For a while, neither of us spoke.
Then she did.
“You did your best.”
I let out a quiet breath.
“It wasn’t enough,” I replied.
She didn’t argue, didn’t try to correct me.
Instead, she stepped closer with her hand resting gently on my shoulder.
“Listen to me,” she said softly. “We’re not alone. We are family.”
The words settled deep inside me, too deep.
I froze slightly. Then slowly—
I repeated it.
“We’re not alone… we are family…”
Something shifted, like a thought was coming back to me.
My eyes lifted slightly, not looking at anything in particular.
“We’re not alone…” I whispered again.
And then, it hit me...