Valentina POV
The silence following Marco’s statement was so absolute I could hear the rain striking the balcony glass three rooms away, rustling the silk rolls stacked against my workbench.
My mother’s hit squad is two minutes behind me.
Renzo’s jaw tightened. For a fraction of a second, his eyes flickered past my dress form toward the dark hallway behind Luca. A tiny, microscopic break in his military discipline—but in a room filled with predators, a fraction of a second was an eternity.
"You're lying," Renzo said, though his voice lacked the razor-sharp certainty it had possessed moments ago. The muzzle of his pistol trembled less than a millimeter against Marco's coat. "Carmela wouldn't send a team into a residential block in the middle of the city."
"She would if she thought an u
