The drive back into Milan was cloaked in silence.
Juliet sat in the passenger seat, hands clenched in her lap, the envelope Antonio had given them resting between her boots. She stared straight ahead, but her mind was miles away—back in the warehouse, back in that second where her entire perception of Adonis De Luca fractured and reformed.
Not entirely innocent. Not entirely guilty. Somewhere in between.
The kind of man she was raised to hunt—and, dangerously, the kind of man her heart couldn't stop looking at.
Beside her, Adonis drove like the world might split open if he lifted his foot off the gas. His jaw was clenched so tightly she could hear his teeth grinding.
Finally, she spoke. "We can't afford mistakes in three days. If this really is what Antonio says—"
"It is," Adonis cut in. "Red Ice isn't just a code. It's a message. Blood. Innocence. Cold profit. Giorgio's used it before in Sicily. I thought it was shut down."
"You thought a lot of things," she snapped before she could stop herself.
He shot her a look. Not angry. Just exhausted.
She sighed. "I'm sorry. I just—"
"Don't be," he said, his voice hollow. "You're right. I was blind. I trusted Antonio more than I trusted myself."
Juliet turned back to the window, her reflection flickering in the glass. A wave of nausea rose in her throat.
Flashback – Age 10
"Why do I have to learn all this?" young Juliet had asked, clutching a thick book on European criminal networks. She sat cross-legged on the living room rug, her oversized sweatshirt hiding her tiny frame.
Her father knelt beside her, eyes kind but firm. "Because there are people out there who will smile at you and shake your hand… then stab you in the back."
Her mother, standing by the window, added, "If you want to change the world, Juliet, you have to understand the monsters who run it."
"But I'm just a kid."
Her father placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "One day, you won't be. And when that day comes, you'll be the one who stands between the monsters and the innocent."
Juliet had nodded, tucking that lesson deep into her heart. A promise she never intended to break.
End Flashback
She blinked the memory away. "We need a team. Eyes at the port. Snipers. Extraction."
Adonis nodded. "I have people. They owe me favors."
"You sure they're not working for Giovanni too?"
A dark smirk played at his lips. "They'd rather burn Milan to the ground than work for him."
They stopped outside her apartment. Juliet reached for the door, but Adonis placed a hand on her wrist.
"What Antonio said… about me being guilty. Do you think that changes who I am now?"
She paused, meeting his gaze. "No. But it changes what I have to be careful of."
His hand slipped away.
Milan – Giovanni's Estate
In his darkened study, Giorgio Giovanni watched the security footage from the warehouse—Antonio's betrayal recorded in grainy clarity. He watched the look on Adonis's face, the way Juliet stood between them, like a shield and a question mark all at once.
He turned the feed off.
"You're slipping, Antonio," Giorgio muttered.
Then, almost thoughtfully, he whispered to himself, "And you, Juliet Moretti… your blood runs thick with justice. Let's see how far it takes you before it chokes you."