Page 33 of His Enemy's Daughter
“That’s not fair.”
“None of this is fair!” My voice cracks. “But it’s the reality. So tell me—can we do this in six weeks, or do I need to find another way out?”
He’s quiet for a long moment, tension rippling through his shoulders.When he finally turns back, he’s wearing the expression that survived fifteen years in prison—resolve carved from stone.
“We can do it in six weeks.” The certainty in his voice steadies something in my chest. “But it means blood instead of precision. Speed instead of caution. Once we light this match, Regina, weburn everything to the ground—no hesitation, no regrets, no turning back.”
“I understand.”
“Do you?” He crosses the space between us, storm-gray eyes searching mine with unsettling intensity. “Because the moment we accelerate this timeline, you become a target. Sabino will tighten security. He’ll watch every move, monitor every communication. If he catches even a hint of betrayal before we’re ready—”
“He’ll kill me.” I finish the thought. “I know. But he’s already killing me, Mauricio. Just slower. At least this way, I’m fighting back.”
“What about Giordano?”
The question catches me off guard. “How did you—”
“I’ve been watching security feeds you don’t know about.” His admission is gentle but firm. “I saw him in your room tonight. Heard enough to know he offered to help.”
“You’ve been spying on me?”
“I’ve been protecting my investment.” His correction lacks apology. “You’re a valuable asset, Regina. I’d be stupid not to monitor all variables.”
“Asset.” The word tastes bitter. “Is that all I am to you?”
“You know you’re not. But right now, keeping you alive matters more than validating your feelings. So tell me—what did you tell Giordano?”
“That I’d think about it.” I sink into a chair. “That I needed to talk to you first.”
“It’s not possible.” His statement is blunt. “Including Giordano creates too many exposure points. He’s too close to Sabino, too visible. If we bring him in and things go wrong, your father will know immediately where the betrayal originated.”
“So I just let him think I don’t trust him?”
“You let him think whatever keeps him alive.” Mauricio’s voice softens slightly. “Regina, I understand loyalty. But sometimes protecting people means pushing them away. I pushed Simeone away for fifteen years. Let him believe I was fine in prison. And you know what? It kept him safe. Sometimes distance is the kindest thing we can offer people we care about.”
The parallel isn’t lost on me. We sit in silence, two people who’ve learned that survival sometimes means isolating those who matter most.
“So what happens now?” I finally ask.
“We get aggressive. We stop waiting for perfect opportunities and start creating them. We take risks we’d normally avoid. And we accept that some things are going to get very messy very quickly.”
“I can handle messy.”
“Can you handle bloody?” His eyes meet mine, serious. “Because that’s what accelerating the timeline means. People will die, Regina. Your father’s people, maybe innocents caught in crossfire. Can you live with that?”
The question should be harder to answer. But I think of Lorenzo Di Noto’s cold calculation, of Father’s hand connecting with my cheek, of twenty-eight years spent being property instead of person.
“Yes,” I say, and mean it. “I can live with that. What I can’t live with is forty-two more days of being a pawn in someone else’s game.”
“Then we start tomorrow.” He closes the laptop with finality. “I’ll contact you with specific instructions. Follow them exactly—no deviations, no improvisation. The margin for error just became razor-thin.”
“Understood.” I stand, preparing to leave, but his voice stops me.
“Regina.” When I turn back, his expression carries something I haven’t seen before—genuine concern mixed with fear. “Once wedo this, there’s no going back. We’re about to burn down your entire world.”
“Good.” I meet his gaze steadily. “It was never my world anyway. It was always just a very pretty prison.”
His slight smile holds approval. “Then let’s turn it to ash and see what rises from it.”
