Chapter 6 - The Syndicate's Shadow
By month three, the Costa household had undergone a terrifying transformation: it actually functioned.
Leo was still a menace, but he now did his homework before vandalizing the courtyard. Mia had stopped trying to poison the staff and had instead started sketching fashion designs in the margins of her notebooks while Nora graded her posture. Dante had stopped eating dirt, upgrading to actual food under Nora's strict supervision.
And Arthur? Arthur had stopped working past midnight. He started coming home for dinner.
They sat together at the massive dining table—not as captor and captive, but as uneasy allies holding down a fortress. They rarely spoke of personal things. Their conversations were tactical: school district permits, security upgrades, weapon shipments intercepted by rival syndicates.
"Carmine is sniffing around again," Arthur said one evening over coffee, his dark eyes sharp as he leaned across the table. "He heard about the transaction at the Continental. He thinks I'm vulnerable because I took a Hayes off the market."
Nora didn't flinch. She took a slow sip of her espresso. "Carmine is a dinosaur. He thinks women are currency. If he comes here, he'll find out I'm not currency. I'm a liability."
Arthur chuckled—a deep, resonant sound that sent an unexpected shiver down Nora's spine. "You're a weapon, Nora. I'm starting to think your father was an idiot for selling you."
"My father is a pragmatist," Nora said coldly, her eyes flashing. "He traded a broken asset for three million dollars. But he didn't realize that broken things are often the sharpest."
Before Arthur could reply, the heavy iron security gates at the front of the estate let out a violent, blaring shriek.
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The security monitors on the wall flickered to life. Three black Escalades had rammed through the outer gates, their headlights cutting blinding swaths through the courtyard fog. Men in tactical vests poured out of the vehicles, carrying automatic weapons with suppressors attached.
Carmine's enforcers. They had come to collect what they thought was theirs.
