Page 57 of Auctioned Innocence
For every tear Jessica has shed.
Every. Single. One.
I smooth Dante’s note carefully, then tear it into tiny pieces and flush it down the toilet.
No evidence.
No connections.
Nothing to give them leverage.
Tomorrow I’ll be the perfect merchandise.
I’ll smile.
I’ll speak when spoken to.
I’ll play the role of a defeated captive.
But inside?
Inside I’m my father’s daughter.
My brother’s sister.
Vengeance will be mine.
10
DANTE
Iadjust my cufflinks for the tenth time, watching dawn creep over the estate grounds through the bulletproof windows of my guest suite.
The sky bleeds from black to purple to pale gold, painting the manicured gardens in soft light.
In twelve hours, the auction begins.
In fourteen hours, either they’ll all be free or…
I don’t allow myself to finish that thought.
There is no “or.”
Failure isn’t an option.
Not with Sofia’s life on the line.
My phone buzzes. Marco:Teams in position. Irish covering north entrance. Our men on south and east. Waiting on your signal.
I type back confirmation, fingers steady despite the anxiety already humming through my veins.
Everything is in place—extraction routes mapped, security patterns memorized, teams briefed.
All the pieces arranged on the board, waiting for the first move.
Then I check my other phone.
The one that’s supposed to hear from Mario’s contact inside the Calabrese organization. Still nothing. The screen remains stubbornly dark, the silence more concerning with each passing hour.
