Introduction
332 Words
The night smelled of rain and sin.
Palermo’s sky stretched dark and endless, the moon a silver scar slashed across the heavens. The air, thick with the scent of salt and burning tobacco, carried the sounds of a city that never truly slept—muted whispers from alleyways, the low hum of engines idling at the docks, the distant, haunting notes of a violin playing in a bar where no one dared to ask questions.
Tonight, the city’s underworld was awake.
Luca DeLuca stood at the edge of his villa’s balcony, a cigarette smoldering between his fingers, eyes scanning the hills below. He didn’t need to look over his shoulder to know his men were stationed at every entrance, armed and waiting. He had built his world on blood and precision—there was no room for mistakes.
And yet, tonight, he was about to make one.
Inside, the scent of aged whiskey and leather filled the dimly lit study. The heavy wooden doors creaked open as Enzo, his most trusted lieutenant, stepped in. His boots barely made a sound against the marble floor.
“She’s on her way,” Enzo announced, voice clipped, his Sicilian accent thick.
Luca exhaled slowly, watching the ember at the tip of his cigarette burn to ash. He had waited years for this moment. Patience had never been his virtue, but revenge—revenge required discipline.
“Make sure it’s clean,” Luca murmured. “No blood. No noise.”
Enzo gave a stiff nod. “And after?”
Luca finally turned, his gray eyes like a storm rolling in from the sea. “That depends on her.”
Because Elena Romano wasn’t just a hostage.
She was a symbol. A weapon. A reminder.
And if she thought she would walk away from this untouched, unscathed, she was about to learn a cruel truth.
There were no fairytales in the Mafia.
Only monsters—and the women who learned to love them.
Tonight, the game began.
- Writer
