Chapter 13 - Echoes of the Past|
Sleep was an impossible luxury that night. I lay in our massive California king bed, watching the digital clock on the nightstand slowly tick past three in the morning. Beside me, the sheets were cool and empty. Alessandro had been in his study since we opened the black box, making encrypted calls and marshaling his forces.
I threw off the covers, wrapped a thick silk robe around myself, and walked barefoot down the carpeted hallway. The door to his study was cracked open, spilling a thin slice of yellow light onto the floorboards.
"I want eyes on the airports, the docks, every bridge leading into this city," Alessandro was saying, his voice a low, dangerous growl. "If a ghost is walking the streets of Manhattan, I want to know whose flesh he's wearing."
I pushed the door open gently. Alessandro sat behind his massive mahogany desk, running a hand through his usually immaculate hair. He looked exhausted, the weight of his empire pressing down on his broad shoulders once again.
"You should be resting," he said, glancing up as I entered. He ended the call and placed his phone face down.
"How can I sleep when you're preparing for a war?" I asked, moving around the desk to stand beside him. I placed my hands on his shoulders, gently kneading the tight knots of muscle.
He leaned back, closing his eyes with a heavy sigh. "I promised you a clean life. I promised you that the darkness was behind us."
"You promised me we would face everything together," I corrected him softly. "Who would have your father's watch? Who else was there that night?"
Alessandro opened his eyes, staring at the shattered silver timepiece resting on his desk. "My father had a brother. Lorenzo. He was exiled from the family twenty years ago for conspiring with our rivals. He was supposed to have died in a prison riot in Palermo."
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"Supposed to?"
"If Lorenzo is alive," Alessandro said, his voice hardening into steel, "then he is here for the throne. And he will try to eliminate anyone who stands in his way. Including you, and Emma."
