Chapter 6 - The Broken Alliance
The incident at the party ignited a powder keg that had been brewing for months. The Leone family viewed Leo's public humiliation of Santino as a declaration of hostility. Within forty-eight hours, the city's underground erupted into violence. Shipping trucks belonging to Moretti enterprises were hijacked, and two of Leo's warehouses near the docks were set ablaze.
The atmosphere inside the estate turned suffocatingly grim. Marco and the other bodyguards were on constant high alert, patrolling the grounds with assault rifles. Leo spent all his time in his study, surrounded by maps, ledger books, and angry lieutenants demanding retaliation.
One evening, Bella brought a tray of coffee and fresh pastries up to Leo's study. She knocked gently and stepped inside to find him staring out the window into the dark rain, his shirt crumpled, his hair messy.
"You need to eat something, Leo," she said softly, setting the tray down on his desk.
Leo turned around, his eyes bloodshot with exhaustion. "I told the guards not to let you wander around the house, Bella. It’s not safe. The Leones are getting desperate. They know they can’t beat us in an open war, so they are looking for a weakness."
"Am I your weakness, Leo?" Bella asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Leo walked over to her, his long strides closing the distance between them. He reached out, his large, calloused hand gently cupping her cheek. His thumb brushed over her soft skin, a gesture so tender it broke her heart.
"Yes," he confessed, his voice thick with emotion. "You are the only pure thing in my world, Bella. Before you walked into my life, I didn't care if I lived or died, as long as the empire survived. But now... the thought of them hurting you paralyzes me. I can’t lose you."
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Bella leaned into his touch, her eyes filling with tears. She placed her hand over his. "You won't lose me, Leo. But you need to fight smart. Don't let your anger for what happened to me cloud your judgment. That's exactly what they want."
Leo stared at her, her words acting like a bucket of ice water over his burning rage. He took a deep breath, his resolve hardening. "You're right. They want a sloppy, emotional war. I’m going to give them a clinical execution."
