Chapter 10 - The Deal
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Mia regina. My queen.
The words sent a jolt of electricity straight to Isadora’s core. She stepped back, breaking the magnetic pull between them, reminding herself who this man was.
"I am not your queen, Giovanni," Isadora said, her voice trembling slightly despite her best efforts to remain cold. "I am your hostage. And I will not walk into a fortress full of armed guards without a guarantee."
Gio’s hand dropped to his side. The warmth vanished from his eyes, replaced by the calculating stare of a businessman.
"What are your terms?"
"When this is over," Isadora began, lifting her chin, "when you have the ledger and Silvio is exposed... I want my freedom. I want a new passport, entirely untraceable. I want a flight to anywhere in the world I choose, and I want you to swear on your father’s grave that your men will never look for me again."
Gio stared at her. The request was logical. It was exactly what she had wanted from the beginning. Yet, hearing her demand to be erased from his life caused a strange, sudden ache in his chest—an emotion he immediately crushed.
"You are asking for a lot of money and a lot of effort for a waitress," Gio mocked softly, masking his reluctance.
"I am asking for my life back," Isadora shot back fiercely. "I spent four years hiding in plain sight because of your family’s sins. I am done looking over my shoulder."
The silence stretched between them in the steel bunker.
"Deal," Gio finally said, his voice hard. "You get me the book, and you vanish like a ghost. I will personally put you on the plane."
"Do you swear on Vincenzo’s grave?"
"I swear it," Gio vowed, his dark eyes boring into hers.
With the pact sealed, the tension shifted from adversarial to tactical. They spent the next several hours in the safe room mapping out the floor plan of the Banco di Napoli. Isadora drew the layout of the security cameras from memory, while Gio detailed the blind spots and patrol routes of the private security firm guarding the event.
"The retinal scanner is the primary obstacle," Gio noted, tapping the makeshift map they had drawn on a piece of paper. "I can disable the camera feeds for exactly ninety seconds. You will have to get down to the vault, pass the scan, grab the book, and get out before the system resets and locks down the building."
"I can do it," Isadora promised.
"You will be wearing a wire," Gio added, stepping close to her again. "If anything goes wrong, if you are delayed by even ten seconds, I am blowing the power grid to the entire city block to get you out in the dark."
May you like
Isadora looked up at him, surprised by the sheer ferocity of his protection. "You would blackout half of Naples for me?"
"I would burn the entire city to ash," Gio whispered, "before I let anyone touch you again."
