Blood On The Streets

An orange light bathed Trento's skyline as the sun peeked out from behind the clouds. The world was awakening, but the city was waking and breathing a storm cell crystallizing in its second heart. Cars honked, workers rushed to their offices and the humdrum rhythm of life continued but undergirding it all, the streets were carrying whispers of something darker, something that could tip the whole thing to chaos.

It was desk, and Luca sat at King desk Every plan he had in his head, he thought, was infinitely ruthless. Rocco and Enzo's deaths had only been the beginning, he now realized. he was getting tested, and he wasn't going to let anyone get away with it." It was too much for the Romano family to stumble now.

Marco Ferraro came through, and the door creaked shut behind him; his expression was as unreadable as ever.

"Any word on Sofia?" "Luke asked without looking up from the papers sprawled across his desk.

"She's digging," Marco said. "She's got the right people looking at it. But streets are hush hush." Whoever is responsible for this knows how to erase his trail."

Luca bunched his hands into fists, sensing his own iron urge to strike out. The words on the wall the bloody letters that had mocked him raced through his mind. "Vengeance has no master."

"We will find them," Marco said, cool, calm. "They're not getting away with this."

Luca's gaze snapped up to Marco's, his eyes something dangerous. "If they think they can take down my family they're sadly mistaken."

Marco didn't respond. He didn't need to. They knew he could bend if he wanted, but until then, anyone who thought themselves capable of running circles around Luca Romano was about to learn the cost of underestimating him.

At the other end of town, Sofia was already on her feet. She had always been the inductive one, working in silences, gathering information, studying, calculating. Where Luca was flame and fury, Sofia was ice and precision. She trusted only a few, but her loyalty to her brother was never in doubt.

Sofia was at a dark little café, coffee undrunk in front of her. She was talking then to one of the most reliable of her informants, a man who went by Carlo. He was a boy whose face faded into the background, and that was his biggest asset.

"You heard about the hit?" Sofia said in a level tone.

Carlo nodded. "Everyone's talking about it. The family Calabriani is in disarray. Rocco and Enzo were his best soldiers, and now they're dead.'" No one is taking credit for it, but a rumor is that someone in their own family is running this thing.'

Sofia raised an eyebrow. "You think someone is trying to make a move?"

Carlo moved closer and lowered his voice. "There's murmurs of betrayal. A power struggle. You know the Calabriani's. … they don't just sacrifice men like that for nothing." Somebody's trying to pull themselves into power." "This is someone closer to you than you think, and I wouldn't be surprised."

Sofia's gaze darkened. She resented what Carlo's words suggested. But she learned long ago to trust her gut, and it told her the same thing. The threat didn't come only from outside it was at the heart of her family.

"I'll just keep my ear to the ground," Sofia said standing up and putting on her coat. "If you hear anything else, give me a buzz."

Carlo put his head in his hand and watched her walk all the way door (his eyes lingered on the door long after she had disappeared into it). He had no more faith in the situation than she did. I trained on 2023 October data.

That afternoon, Luca had called in his most trusted men to the conference room. Marco and Vince and a few others were all down around the table waiting for his orders. Sofia had returned, her face pale, but she had massaged her emotions.

"We're being played," Sofia said, her voice slicing through the tension. "The Calabriani family is shattered. Because somebody there is stirring the pot. But it's not just them. "I think someone is trying to use this chaos to take us out, and they're closer than we realize."

Luca's eyes narrowed. "You think it's an inside job?"

Sofia were staring at him grimly. "Yes. I have focused on the men who were nearest Rocco and Enzo. There's choreography, dark coalitions forming, deals made in the dark. But who really benefits the most from this?"

Vince spoke louder, low but certain. "You think someone in our family is involved?"

Sofia didn't hesitate. "I don't know yet. But we need to move fast. Trusting anyone right now is not something we can do."

Processing it, Luca leaned back in his chair, steepled his fingers. The walls of the room felt tighter, the air thicker. And for years, he had built his empire on trust though narrow trust. Now, even that was crumbling.

"We'll try even harder," Luca said, with a crack in his voice. "I want every good man we have on the Calabriani family. We're prepared if they even breathe wrong. And if there is a mole in our ranks?.." The threat loomed. "We'll just handle it the way we know how to handle it."

Marco stepped forward, his expression unreadable. "And how is Giovanni Rossi these days?"

Luca's eyes flashed. Giovanni had been a thorn in their side for years, but this was no ordinary play for him. "We keep our eyes on him. But he isn't our problem right now. First, we need to deal with the traitor in the family. But "after we do this, it'll be Giovanni time."

Sofia nodded. "And if it's one of us?"

Luca stared at her, his eyes cold. "Then we take care of it. No one is above the family."

The silence in the room was a joke, an inside joke only he could understand. Here there was no more room for hesitation. Betrayal had infiltrated their ranks, and the price of loyalty would soon be paid in blood.

A figure hiding in the shadows surveilled the Romano estate from afar. The woman who played both sides of the game, Isabella D'Amico, smiled to herself. She knew the storm was coming. And like a chess player, she was ready to make her next move.