Chapter 65 The Truth
"Cedric, please…"
"Get. Out."
Gianni stood frozen in the doorway. His hand still on the handle.
"I won't leave you unprotected."
"Then stay in the other room." Cedric's voice was shaking. Raw. "But I don't want to see your face right now."
"Cedric..."
"Go!"
The word came out broken. Desperate.
Gianni stepped back. Pulled the door closed between them.
The click of the latch sounded like a gunshot.
\---
Cedric stared at the closed door.
His father had known.
Had figured it out. Had tried to warn him. Had tried to protect him.
And died for it.
Everything. The debt. The death. The years of poverty and pain and selling his body to strangers.
All of it because his father had loved him enough to stand between him and a monster.
The nausea hit fast.
Cedric lurched off the couch. Made it three steps before his knees gave out.
He hit the floor hard. Pain exploded through his chest. Fresh blood seeped through the bandages.
He vomited.
Again.
Again.
Until there was nothing left but dry heaves and the taste of bile.
He lay on the cold marble floor. Shaking. The city lights through the windows painted everything in harsh whites and blacks.
No middle ground.
Just like his life.
Outside the door, Gianni sat with his back against the wall.
He could hear everything.
The retching. The gasping breaths. The quiet crying that came after.
His hands clenched into fists. Nails digging into his palms until they bled.
This was it.
The final truth.
The one Cedric couldn't forgive.
Hours crawled past.
The crying eventually stopped.
Silence took its place. Somehow worse.
Footsteps on the stairs.
Marco appeared. Face grim. Holding a tablet.
"Boss. We have a problem."
Gianni didn't move. "Another one?"
"Dante's men hit two more of our locations. The warehouse in Queens. The shipping office in Brooklyn." Marco knelt beside him. "He's systematically destroying your support network."
"Pull everyone back. Consolidate."
"Already in progress. But boss..." Marco hesitated. "We intercepted communications. He's not just after our operations. He's going after everyone you care about."
"Meaning?"
"Mrs. Kozlov. The staff at Elysium. Even the vets at the animal clinic." Marco's voice dropped. "He's sending a message. Anyone connected to you is a target."
"Pull everyone in. Maximum protection."
"Already done." Marco looked at the closed bedroom door. "How is he?"
"How do you think?"
"That bad."
"Worse."
Marco pulled up something on the tablet. His jaw tightened.
"Boss... Linda and Lily. The safe house was compromised."
Gianni's head snapped up. "What?!"
"They're okay." Marco held up a hand. "Marcus got them out before Dante's men arrived. Barely. They're at a new location now. Somewhere even I don't know about."
"Marcus."
"Yeah. He's been shadowing them since the hospital. Kept them alive." Marco swiped through images on the screen. "But boss... he's asking for a meet. Says he has a plan to end this."
"What kind of plan?"
"The kind that requires using Cedric as bait."
The bedroom door opened.
Both men turned.
Cedric stood in the doorway. Pale as death. Eyes red and swollen. Blood staining through his shirt from where he'd torn his stitches again.
But his face was set. Determined.
"I'll do it."
"No." Gianni was on his feet. "Absolutely not."
"It's not your decision."
"Like hell it isn't. You can barely stand. You just found out that I..." He couldn't finish. "You're in no condition to be bait for anything."
"My mother and sister are in danger because of me." Cedric's voice was steady despite the tears still wet on his face. "Because Dante wants to hurt you by hurting the people I love. So I'll draw him out. I'll end this."
"You'll get yourself killed."
"Better me than them."
"No." Gianni crossed the distance between them. Stopped just short of touching. "Not better you. Never you."
"You don't get a vote anymore." Cedric looked at Marco. "What's the plan?"
Marco glanced between them. Uncertainty written across his face.
"Marco," Gianni's voice went hard. "Don't answer that."
"Boss..."
"That's an order."
"Gianni." Cedric's voice cut through. Cold. "You promised me. No more secrets. No more control. Equal partners or nothing. Remember?"
"That was before..."
"Before what? Before you admitted you let my father die?" Cedric's eyes blazed. "Before I found out everything I've suffered was because you couldn't let me go? That doesn't change our agreement. It makes it more important."
"You're hurt."
"I've been hurt before."
"You're angry."
"Damn right I'm angry." Cedric's hands shook. "I'm furious. I'm devastated. I want to hit you. I want to scream at you. I want to make you feel a fraction of what I'm feeling right now."
"So do it." Gianni stepped closer. "Hit me. Scream at me. Hate me. But don't throw your life away on some suicide mission just to punish me."
"This isn't about punishing you." Cedric's voice cracked. "This is about protecting the people I love. The people who are in danger because I exist. Because you decided six years ago that I was worth destroying lives over."
"Cedric..."
"Marco." Cedric didn't look away from Gianni. "Tell me the plan."
Marco looked at his boss.
Gianni's face was stone.
"It's not my call, boss," Marco said quietly. "You said equal partners. You can't take that back now just because it's inconvenient."
Gianni's jaw clenched so hard something cracked.
"Fine." The word came out like broken glass. "Tell him."
Marco pulled up a map on the tablet. "Marcus traced Dante's communications to a location in Red Hook. Abandoned shipyard. He's using it as a base while he hunts you down."
"And the plan?"
"We leak Cedric's location. Make it look like a mistake. Dante takes the bait, comes after him personally because he won't trust anyone else with this." Marco zoomed in on the shipyard. "We set a trap. Marcus and his people on one side. Our people on the other. Dante walks into a crossfire."
"And where am I in this scenario?" Cedric asked.
"In the middle." Marco's voice was apologetic. "Exposed. Vulnerable. Real bait."
"How exposed?"
"Alone. No visible protection. Just you in an open space where Dante can see you're defenseless."
"Except I won't really be defenseless."
"You'll have a wire. Kevlar vest under your clothes. And fifty guns on you from every angle." Marco looked at Gianni. "In theory, you'll be the most protected person in New York. In practice..."
"In practice, if anything goes wrong, I'm dead." Cedric finished.
"Yes."
Silence.
The city lights glittered outside. Indifferent. Eternal.
"When?" Cedric asked.
"Tomorrow night. Dante's getting desperate. Moving fast. We need to move faster."
"I'll do it."