(Luca)
Alice’s strategy was elegant.
Which meant it wasn’t original.
People who believed themselves intelligent always chose the same kind of cruelty—quiet, deniable, corrosive. They didn’t aim for blood. They aimed for erosion.
And erosion only worked if the foundation doubted its own strength.
Aria didn’t.
That was where Alice miscalculated.
But miscalculations were still dangerous if left unattended.
I stood in the surveillance room as feeds rolled across the screens—streets, offices, residences, peripheral locations most people forgot to guard because they felt harmless.
Those were always the first targets.
Vincenzo stood beside me, arms crossed. “She’s not moving assets. No weapons. No money shifts.”
“She doesn’t need to,” I replied. “She’s moving perception.”
“She’s isola
