CHAPTER 9
The revelation hit Clare like a physical blow, forcing her to stumble backward until her hips pressed against the edge of a mahogany console table.
For three years, she had believed she was a ghost who had successfully outsmarted the most dangerous syndicate network on the East Coast of the United States.
In reality, she had been a pawn on a grand chessboard, protected only by the invisible hand of the husband she had tried so desperately to escape.
"You were watching me?" she whispered, horror and confusion warring in her chest. "You watched me clean toilets? You watched me starve on minimum wage?"
"I respected your choice to leave," Leo said softly, his voice dropping into a tone she hadn't heard since the early days of their marriage. "I left money in an account that you refused to touch out of pride. What was I supposed to do, Clare? Force you back at gunpoint?"
"You could have cleared the Moretti threat three years ago!" she fired back, her anger flaring bright once again. "You could have ended this war instead of letting it consume everything!"
"It ends tonight," Leo stated with absolute, terrifying finality, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a secure satellite phone.
May you like
He dialed a single number, holding the device to his ear as he stared directly into Clare’s eyes with a dark, lethal promise.
"Marco," Leo spoke into the phone, his voice cold enough to freeze blood. "Execute Protocol Zero. Burn the Moretti family operations in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens to the ground. Leave no one standing."
