The air in Villa Moretti felt different now.
Tighter. Thinner. Like someone had turned the entire estate into a pressure chamber, and Amara was the only one who noticed the walls inching closer.
Since the intercepted message, she hadn't slept. Couldn't.
"Stage two complete. The Rose is blooming. She doesn't know she's already been cut."
That sentence haunted her. Not just because it was sinister but because it felt personal. Like someone wasn't just threatening her power. They were threatening her. Her identity. Her mind.
She had to move fast.
She needed someone who could see into shadows most people didn't even know existed.
So, she called Chiara.
Two Hours Later – Villa Moretti Tech Wing
Chiara Rossi arrived at Villa Moretti looking like trouble in leather boots and electric eyeliner. Her black hair was shaved on one side, and she wore a chain-link choker like a badge of rebellion.
"I thought you swore never to work for mafia again," Amara said as Chiara was escorted into the tech room.
"I swore never to work for men in the mafia," Chiara said coolly. "You? You're too dangerous to be called that."
Amara smiled slightly. "I need you to rip open every system I own."
Chiara arched a brow. "You want me to hack you?"
"I want you to hack everything. My network. My guards. My surveillance lines. I need to know where the rot is. And I don't trust anyone else to look."
Chiara's smirk turned sharp. "Say no more, Donna."
She dropped her bag and plugged in a drive. Within seconds, her screens lit up with code and flickering feeds. Her fingers moved like they were made for war.
---
Meanwhile – South Courtyard
Enzo paced, restless.
He didn't like this. Bringing in a mercenary hacker who once ghosted the Turkish syndicate mid-job wasn't smart. But then again, nothing about this situation felt normal.
Rocco approached from the side gate.
"She's in," he said.
"She?" Enzo frowned. "Chiara?"
Rocco nodded, chewing a toothpick. "You trust her?"
"No," Enzo said flatly. "But the Donna does. That's enough. For now."
Rocco exhaled slowly, eyes narrowing at the second-floor window. "Still feel like we're walking blind into something."
---
Back Inside – Amara's Study
Amara pulled out another of her father's ledgers. This one was coded, but she'd broken his cipher years ago.
What she found chilled her.
A section labeled Veleno – Phase Protocols.
> Phase One: Access.
Phase Two: Infiltration.
Phase Three: Collapse.
Phase Four: Replace.
Her name was scrawled next to Phase Two. Not hers exactly — but her initials, underlined. A.M.
She closed the ledger slowly, hands shaking for the first time in days.
---
Chiara's Lab – 3 Hours Later
"Found something," Chiara said, dragging her laptop toward Amara.
"What is it?"
Chiara pointed at a node on the network map.
"There's a mirror feed," she said. "It's been copying your encrypted surveillance files. Very carefully. Very selectively. And then rerouting them to a secondary server in Geneva."
"Who would have the access?"
Chiara's expression sobered. "Only someone with level-one clearance. That means… you, Enzo, Rocco… or whoever built the system."
Amara blinked. "That was Gianni."
Chiara leaned back. "Well, either he's haunting you, or someone inherited his clearance."
Amara's throat tightened. "Delete the mirror."
Chiara nodded. "And there's more. The footage of you in your study? It wasn't just spying."
Amara stiffened. "What do you mean?"
Chiara turned her laptop. "It was altered. Slightly slowed down. Loop-stitched in spots. Whoever sent that video wanted to mess with your perception, not just your security."
"They want me to question reality."
"Exactly," Chiara said. "Classic Veleno play, if the whispers are true. Disorient the queen before the kill."
Amara stared at the screen.
Then whispered, "We're already in Phase Three."
Midnight — Luca's Apartment, Downtown Naples
Luca knew she would come.
He was already at the bar, pouring whiskey, when she entered without knocking.
"You disappeared," she said, voice sharp.
"I was working."
"On what?"
He handed her a glass. "Keeping your enemies off your doorstep."
"I didn't ask you to."
"No," he said quietly. "But you need me to."
She sipped, watching him. "Do you know about Veleno?"
His eyes darkened. "Where did you hear that name?"
Amara set her glass down. "They've infiltrated my network. My people. My mind, maybe."
Luca didn't speak for a long moment.
Then he said, "They don't just kill. They erase. I've only seen it happen once."
"Who?"
"My uncle. He was a boss in Palermo. Healthy empire. Loyal crew. One year later, he'd lost it all. Not to war, not to blood. To whispers. To ghosts."
"And you think they're here for me?"
"I think they already have you surrounded."
She stepped closer, eyes narrowed. "So why haven't you told me any of this before?"
"Because the moment you knew, you'd start looking for them," he said. "And once you start looking, they start looking back."
Villa Moretti – Security Gate, 2:45 A.M.
Enzo and Rocco reviewed Chiara's decrypted files under heavy guard.
A shipment manifest was flagged. One of the Bratva's old routes, now supposedly inactive, had been reopened under an alias.
Same trucks. Same destinations.
But the contacts?
All fake.
"They're moving through our tunnels," Enzo muttered.
Rocco's jaw flexed. "That means they know our skeleton routes. How the hell did they—"
Enzo turned to him slowly. "Rocco… were you ever briefed on those lines?"
Rocco hesitated. "Not fully. Just the maps from the Gianni vault."
The vault. Again.
Enzo said nothing, but the thought lodged in his gut.
Either Gianni built a ghost crew before he died… or someone's finishing his work.
Villa Moretti Chapel
Amara knelt again at the altar, hands clasped, though she no longer believed in anything.
She placed her father's journal down beside her.
Collapse. Replace.
And underneath it, she wrote two words in red ink.
"Not me."
But even as she penned it, the whisper remained in the back of her mind.
A serpent's whisper.
> You've already been replaced.