I walked into the conference room with my shoulders back, chin high. The past week had changed me, not broken me, but forged me into something harder. My top people filled the seats, waiting.
"We're done playing defense," I said without preamble. "Jesse Cervante thought he could take our territory because he sees me as weak. Time to show him exactly how wrong he is."
Viktor leaned forward. "What are you proposing?"
"We take the fight to him. Strategic strikes against his operations. Make him bleed until he withdraws or breaks." I opened my laptop, projecting intelligence reports onto the screen. "These are his known operations. Three drug labs, two distribution centers, one weapons cache."
For the next hour, we dissected Jesse's empire. Intelligence reports showed supply routes, guard
