POV: Alessia De Luca
“Anyone who disrespects my wife dies next.”
Nobody challenged him after that, not because they agreed, not because they respected me but because nobody in their right mind wanted to be the next man kneeling on the floor with a shattered arm.
The meeting ended shortly afterward. Council members gathered tablets and reports with practiced calm, pretending they hadn’t just witnessed a public execution disguised as discipline.Dragunov remained on one knee beside the conference table. Two security men stood nearby waiting for instructions.Neither moved, no one offered help. Inside the Volkov Syndicate, weakness was remembered far longer than injuries.
I followed Cassian from the chamber. The corridor outside felt strangely quiet. Not empty, just careful like the entire
