Page 258 of Untamed

“Go on.”

Dante’s expression flattens. “It came out of a Mancini node. Offshore. Obscured, and cleverly so, but not enough to fool us.”

My pulse spikes, slow and steady, like a drumbeat before war.

“Giana’s brother?”

“Looks like it,” Dante confirms. “Either he’s kissing Nicolai’s ring, or he’s trying to smoke you out.”

I glance down the hallway, toward the bedroom I just left. The bed that still smells like her. The girl I just buried myself inside, and the girl they already tried to take once.

Enough. I’m done with these fucking games.

“No more delays,” I say, voice low and final. “We pull her. Tomorrow. She goes to the safe house until I bury every last name tied to this.”

“You want me to tell her?”

I shake my head. “No. This one’s mine.”

Dante’s quiet. Just a slight shift of his weight, eyes tracking mine.

“You didn’t just stir the hornet’s nest, fratello, you tore it to pieces. You know this doesn’t end with you killing Nicolai.”

I nod, fists clenched as I start walking.

“No. It ends with his head, and every bastard still loyal to him, lined up on spikes.”

“I’m going to gut the Moretti’s from the inside out, and anyone loyal enough to kneel beside them will die the same way.”

When I step back into the bedroom Jordyn is still curled in bed, the sheet tangled around her legs, hair fanned across my pillow.

For a moment, I just watch her. Allow my eyes to take her in. My girl.Mine. And the reason every bone in my body is wired to kill.

Those cerulean eyes open slowly and when she sees the look on my face, she sits up. “What happened?” I don’t answer right away. Instead, I move to the side of the bed and crouch down in front of her.

“I need you to pack a bag,” I say quietly. “Only essentials. No phone. No electronics. Just what you need.”

Her brow furrows. “Why? Where are we going?”

“I’m moving you to a safehouse.”

A beat of silence. Then her voice rises with confusion. “A safehouse?” she intones. “Why are we going to a safehouse? What happened?”

“Notwebambina.Youare.”

Jordyn stares at me, a look of unease and confusion settling on her pretty face. “What?” her eyes search mine. “You’re not coming with me?”

I shake my head once. “No. I’m not.” Her lips part, but no words come out. She looks at me like she’s waiting for the punchline. “This is for your protection, mio cara. No one will know where you are. Not the guards here. Not Enzo or Bianca. Just me and Dante. That’s it.”

She throws the covers off and rises so fast the sheet slips to the floor, forgotten. She doesn’t flinch, doesn’t care that she’s bare.

When she speaks, her voice cuts like a blade. “No, Ares. Are you serious right now? You think you can just pack me up and send me off to some secret location without even telling me what the hell is going on?”

“This is necessary for your protection. You’re not safe here.”

“I’m not safe anywhere but your side, Ares,” she huffs with a shake of her head. “If they can get into your home and take me from under your roof, what makes you think I’m safe in some safehouse?”

“Jordyn—”

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