Page 71 of Angelo's Vengeance

“And then?” Veronica asked.

I didn’t blink. “Then I’ll either put a bullet in her skull and drop her body into the fucking Black Sea or I’ll blow her sky high, or both just to be sure.”

The sea outside the port of Trieste glittered like spilled oil, dark and rippling under theweight of the coming storm. I stood on the deck of Ilias’s freighter—Nykte—a steel beast usually tasked with hauling legitimate cargo for Anthakos Enterprises. Tonight, it had a different job: to become a tomb.

The air carried the tang of salt and diesel. Below deck, our men moved silently, checking gear, sweeping every inch of the ship for bugs or last-minute surprises. This plan had no room for error. Carlotta had eluded us for months, her fingerprints found on black-market deals, data leaks, and targeted hits. Now, we’d drawn her out—not with threats, but with ambition. The only thing she loved more than control was winning.

And we were about to give her both, or the illusion.

“She took the bait,” Ilias confirmed, joining me at the railing, suit jacket flapping in the sea breeze. “Private meeting. One-on-one. She thinks I’m going rogue.”

“Arrogant. Good,” I said, voice flat.

Maxim joined us next, his expression unreadable, with the moonlight accentuating the harsh angles of his face. Conall lit a cigarette behind him, squinting at the horizon. “She’s still using Renzetti’s encryptionpatterns,” Maxim murmured. “She thinks she’s clever. This whole plan she’s building hinges on Ilias’s shipping lines. She must really want them. This is a huge risk.”

Ilias didn’t respond. He didn’t need to.

We had all seen what Carlotta left in her wake: the soldiers she’d corrupted, the lieutenants who turned up dead, the girls trafficked under fake medical licenses, and the poison she’d poured into every corner of the world we built.

The conference room had been transformed into a high-stakes boardroom. Chrome fixtures adorned a sleek Greek marble table, accompanied by coffee, Turkish delights, and imported wine—a theater of civility.

Behind the fake wall, I had a weapons locker, a kill switch for the doors, and a live feed to the upper deck. Like we’d planned, the ship was rigged to blow. Everyone would be escorted off the ship except for a small squad of Ilias’s men. The detonator would be held on a small shipping vessel by Maxim and Conall. It would be a second option for us, just in case. I was pretty sure that we wouldn’t need it, but you never knew.

Frankie had sent me a photo of Theoearlier. She was laughing at something baby Vasily had done, arms full of fabric swatches. That girl made me think of sunlight even in places like this.

“Thirty minutes out,” Conall called from the comms. “We need to get ourselves over to that fishing boat or we’ll blow this whole op,” he chuckled darkly. “And not in the way we talked about.”

I flexed my gloved hands, leather creaking. “Positions.”

Ilias would meet her first. Alone. Play the part of the ambitious younger crime boss looking to break from the Commission. He’d offer her access to his shipping lines. That was her weakness—legitimacy. With Anthakos Enterprises, she could move anything under the radar.

“She won’t expect me,” I said. “That’s the bait. Just enough truth to make her feel safe.”

“She’ll want assurances,” Ilias said. “Documents. Trade access.”

“Hand her that USB full of mock manifests just like we planned.”

Ilias looked at me then, really looked. “You ready?”

“No,” I said honestly, but when the motherwho raised you to be a weapon turns that weapon on your family?—

Youreload.

And you aim for the heart.

The transport boat moored easily alongside us, despite the rocking swell. She emerged like a wraith in a white trench coat, her eyes concealed behind oversized sunglasses. Two guards, Eastern European muscle, flanked her. She appeared older than I remembered, more brittle.

But her smile was the same. Sharp and cruel.

I watched her through the feed as she stepped onto the deck, her heels clicking sharply against the steel. Ilias greeted her with a disarming air of casual confidence, like it was every day that you had a meeting with a super villain.

“Ilias,” she purred. “Your message surprised me. All of these developments have surprised me.”

“I figured it was time to stop playing second fiddle,” he said, walking beside herinto the conference room. “The others have become... possessive.” She arched a brow. “I believe in partnerships.” He continued. “Partnerships that are beneficial.” He gave her a wink that was so blatantly suggestive that it made me throw up a little in my mouth. Wow, he was really taking one for the team.

I watched every movement through the security camera: her posture, the twitch of her fingers. Was she buying this?

“Let’s get to business, shall we?” She opened a tablet. “I am interested in a … beneficial partnership.” She gave him a coy smile. Gross. “With your logistics pipeline.” Her hand traced over his, and I was astounded to see that he was relaxed as she pawed him. She even leaned into him. Eww.

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