Chapter 90 Ruined pride
GIOVANNI’S POV
"Seventeen dead, twenty-three injured and four are in critical conditions.”
Enzo's voice was flat, as he read from the tablet.
We were in what remained of my study… the fucking study where they had broken into my safe and stole everything.
"What about Italy?" I asked, my voice was raw from screaming orders all night
"The warehouse in Napoli is gone and burned to the ground." Enzo swiped to another report. "The man we had captive is dead. They slit his throat before our guys could move him."
My jaw clenched so hard I tasted blood.
"Luca?"
"In the hospital. They're saying he might not walk again." Enzo's fingers tightened on the tablet. "The rest of the men are scrambling to hold our territories but..”
He didn't need to finish. We were fucked.
They had hit us everywhere at once, like they had a fucking map of every vulnerable point in our organization.
Because they did.
My secret safe, the one only I knew about, hidden behind a false wall in my bedroom, had been cracked open like a goddamn piggy bank.
Every layout, every plan, every piece of intelligence I had gathered over ten years were all gone.
The rage that had been simmering all night exploded. I grabbed the nearest table and flipped it, the crash of splintering wood echoing through the destroyed room
.
"Fuck!" The word tore out of me. "FUCK!"
"Gio-"
"She was in my room, Enzo!" I spun on him, breathing hard. "No one else knew about that safe. I let her into my bed, I trusted her, and she used that as an opportunity to-“
I couldn't finish. The betrayal was clawing at my insides.
"Are you sure it was her?" Enzo asked quietly.
"Who else?" I laughed, but it was broken. "She must have seen me handling it and stayed unit my room to have access. And then conveniently, she leaves to meet with fucking Marco, and an hour later we're under attack?"
"The timing is suspicious," Enzo admitted.
"Suspicious?" I stared at him. "It's fucking damning. She played me!”
The image of her this morning flashed through my mind. The way she'd looked at me like I was something good yet it was all an act.
"What are we going to do?" Enzo asked. "About her?"
"I don't know." The admission cost me. "Right now, we have bigger problems. If word gets out that we've been compromised like this-“
"Every family we've ever crossed will come for us," Enzo finished. "We'll be vulnerable."
Vulnerable. The word tasted like ash in my mouth.
I had spent ten years building an empire while making sure no one could ever hurt my family again.
And one girl with dark eyes and a lying mouth had torn it all down in a night.
"We need allies," I said, forcing myself to think. "Someone with enough power to back us while we rebuild."
Enzo bobbed his head. "I was thinking of the same thing.”
"The Delgados are our best option." I said. "He's powerful enough that even compromised, we'd be untouchable under his protection."
Enzo sighed, rubbing a hand down his tired face. "The old man might love you like his own but you know he’ll want something in return."
"I don't care what he wants. We don't have a choice."
Enzo studied me for a long moment, then nodded. "Then I'm coming with you."
"You should stay here.” I said with a wave of my hand .
"I'm coming with you," he repeated, his tone brooking no argument. "You're not walking into Franco Delgado's house alone. He should know you still have your men with you.”
He wasn't wrong.
The Delgado estate was everything ours wasn't, and practically dripping with new money.
There were marble statues, and fucking crystal chandeliers in every room.
Alessio Delgado met us at the door, his pretty-boy face stretched in a welcoming smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"Giovanni! Enzo! This is unexpected." His gaze swept over us, taking in the dried blood still on my shirt. "Though from the looks of it, maybe not entirely social?"
"I need to speak with your father," I said without preamble.
Something flickered in Alessio's expression. "Of course. Right this way."
He led us through the garish halls to Franco's private sitting room.
The old man was sprawled in a leather chair, expensive whiskey in hand, surrounded by half-naked girls and his top capo, Salvatore.
"Giovanni!" Franco's face lit up. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"We need to talk business."
"Business?" Franco laughed, gesturing to the chairs around. "At this hour? Come, sit and have a drink. Enjoy the company."
He waved at the girls. "Pick any one you like. Hell, pick two."
Every instinct screamed at me to refuse and cut to the chase. But this was Franco's house, if I wanted his help, I had to play the game.
"Fine," I ground out, dropping into a chair. Enzo took the seat beside me, his posture rigid.
A girl approached me, she was blonde and wearing next to nothing. She trailed her fingers across my shoulders.
"Get off," I said flatly.
She pouted but retreated.
Franco laughed. "Still the ice king, I see. What about you, Enzo?"
"I'm fine," Enzo said curtly.
"Suit yourselves." Franco signaled for drinks. "Now, before we get to whatever crisis has you darkening my doorstep, let's toast.”
A glass was pressed into my hand. I stared at the amber liquid, my mind replaying the last twenty-four hours on an endless loop.
Arya beneath me, gasping my name.
Arya at the café with Marco.
Arya's face when I accused her and the betrayal in her eyes.
“I love you,” she had screamed but they were all lies.
Why? I still hadn’t asked myself the question, although the time wasn’t even there to begin with.
But I couldn’t fathom why she would stab me in the back like that. How long had she even been planning it and how much of us was a lie?
I didn’t want to start thinking about it. Because for some silly fucking reason, my throat was starting to close up
I threw back the whiskey given to me, welcoming the burn as it slid down my throat.
"There we go!" Franco grinned but I ignored him, grabbing another glass and ignoring Enzo’s worried gaze.