Page 279 of Untamed

Luciano doesn’t flinch. But he doesn’t have to. I already know.

“You knew she wouldn’t listen to you,” I say, my voice low, venomous. “So, you found the weakest link, Bianca, and manipulated her. Slipped her the envelope. Told her Jordyn needed to disappear, formysake. For her own good. Gave her the cash, the new IDs, a clean escape, forged by one ofours.”

I lean closer, my gaze locked on the man I refuse to call father. “You orchestrated it. Kept your hands clean while you let someone else do your dirty work. Like fucking always.”

Luciano finally speaks, voice calm, too calm. “I did it for you. For your future,” he says calmly. “Because your judgement is clouded. You forgot who you are. What you are. You don’t get to play house with some girl and pretend the world won’t burn around you.” He stares up at me. “You want to be king? You need to act like it. Giana is your future. That’s the alliance. That’s the legacy. Jordyn… was nothing more than a distraction...a liability.”

My vision blacks out at the edges. A legacy? He fed her to the wolves… for a fucking legacy?

“Fuck your legacy. I don’t want to be king. I never have.” I snarl, press the gun harder into his skull. “That was your plan. You didn’t do this for me. You did it for you. You did what you always do, you manipulated and got into Bianca’s head. She didn’t come up with this plan alone, she wouldn’t haveknownwho to go to for documents or where to get that kind of money. That wasyou.”

Enzo steps in, his voice strained but steady. “If you know where they are… you need to tell us. Now. You said Jordyn wouldn’t be harmed, that she was just supposed to leave quietly. Safely.”

My head turns slowly toward him, breath catching low in my chest. The betrayal scorches through me like acid.

You knew.

Of course he fucking knew.

Enzo sees it, sees the shift in my eyes, the fury curling beneath my skin, and his expression falters. “Ares,” he says softly, “I’m sorry. Bianca was worried about Jordyn’s safety. She did what any sister would do. She thought she was helping her.”

Helping her? My temples start to throbs where I’m clenching my teeth so hard. “By delivering her straight into the hands of the people who want her dead?”

Luciano exhales slowly, fingers steepled on the desk. “We didn’t hand her over to anyone,” he says, voice infuriatingly even. “I had nothing to do with Jordyn and Bianca being taken. But you? You’ve made enemies, figlio. Burned bridges, started wars. I warned you this would happen, but you were too blinded by her to listen.”

I don’t even look at him. My eyes stay locked on Enzo. “Is this how you have my back? By letting him use your wife to manipulate Jordyn into fleeing. You let Bianca walk her to a fucking slaughter, Enzo!”

Enzo shakes his head, stepping forward. “No,” he refutes quickly, his voice taut. “Last I knew, Jordyn refused to leave. She told Bianca to shove it, that she wouldn’t leave you. I didn’t know she changed her mind. If she accepted there was supposed to be a safe transfer, someone to pick her up discreetly outside the manor, no drama, no danger.”

His eyes search mine, desperate. “Bianca wasn’t supposed to get involved, just give her the envelope, that’s it. I didn’t know she was leaving, I swear, I didn’t.”

But the weight of that doesn’t ease the betrayal pounding in my chest. Doesn’t erase the fact that he knew enough to keep me in the dark. That while I was holding her, fucking fighting for a future I never thought I’d want, they were laying out an escape plan right under my nose.

“You kept it from me,” I mutter, tartly. “You both did.”

Enzo swallows hard, but he doesn’t deny it. A long silence coils around the room like a noose.

Then I add with a growl, “Blood doesn’t mean loyalty, I learned that a long time ago. I’ve bled enough to know it’s the ones closest to you that aim for the deepest cuts.” My eyes lock onto Luciano’s. “Family? That’s just a word men like you hide behind while trading sons for alliances and daughters for leverage.”

I drag the barrel of my gun from his temple and press it against his left eye socket. “I’m going to ask you one last time. Where. Is. She? I fucking know you know who took her and you’re going to tell me. Because if you’re in bed with the Mancini’s or Nicolai, if you gambled Jordyn’s life for your throne, I swear to God, you’ll be the next body I’ll string up in the centre of Messina.”

Luciano exhales, calm and cold as though he’s not even bothered about my threat. “I may have shown her the door, but Jordyn made her own choice to leave, Ares. I didn’t put a gun to her head and push her out; she walked out on her own will.”

“No,” I grit out, pressing the gun harder into his eye socket until I hear him hiss. “You wouldn’t, because that’s not your style. You did something far worse. You poisoned her.”

The rage simmers to the surface again, boiling hotter now that I know, he’s not going to give me a name. He’s not going to admit a damn thing. Because he doesn’t see her as a person.

Just a move on the board.

And I’m the piece he never truly controlled. I only allowed him to believe he did.

I lower the gun, not out of mercy, out of calculation, because this isn’t over.

And if he’s still breathing, it’s because I’m certain he knows who has Jordyn.

The door swings open with a jolt. Dante steps inside, breathing harder than usual, the scent of asphalt and engine oil clinging to him. There's a flicker in his eyes, something buried just beneath the surface.

I see it. The tightness in his jaw. The way he doesn’t speak right away.

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