Chapter 3 - Shadows on the Border
Victor Moretti stepped further into the study, his leather shoes clicking loudly against the hardwood floor. His gaze lingered on me, sharp and calculating, noting the way Zo subtly stepped between me and the door.
"I don't need an appointment to discuss dock rights, Zo," Victor said, leaning against the edge of an armchair. "Your men turned back three of my shipping containers at the river port last night. That's a breach of our treaty."
"Your shipping containers were carrying unlicensed firearms and synthetic narcotics," Zo replied coldly, leaning his hands flat on his desk. "My rules on the waterfront haven't changed in ten years. No drugs. No illegal arms through my ports. You know the price of breaking that rule."
Victor’s jaw tightened. "Times are changing, Rossi. You're getting soft. You spend more time playing philanthropist and housing your staff than protecting your perimeter."
Victor looked directly at me again, a greasy smirk touching his lips.
"She's pretty," Victor mused, taking a step toward me. "Is this the famous Tessa Cole? The maid who got the great Zo Rossi to clear seven grand in medical debt? Word travels fast in this city, Zo. People are saying you've developed a glaring weakness."
Before Victor could take another step, Zo moved with terrifying speed.
In a fraction of a second, Zo was across the room. He grabbed Victor by the lapels of his expensive Italian suit, slamming him violently against the wall beside the bookshelf. The two guards behind Victor instantly drew their sidearms, but before they could raise them, the hidden doors in the study snapped open and four of Zo's elite security team flooded the room, guns drawn and pointed straight at the intruders' heads.
The silence in the room was absolute, razor-sharp, and terrifying.
Zo leaned in close to Victor's ear, his voice lower than a whisper, yet terrifying enough to make the blood run cold.
"If you ever speak her name again," Zo whispered, "or so much as look in her direction, I will tear your empire down brick by brick until there isn't enough left of you to bury. Do you understand me?"
Victor’s face turned pale, his arrogant smirk completely evaporating under the immediate threat of death. "We're done here," he rasped out.
Zo released him with a sharp shove. "Get out of my house."
Victor adjusted his jacket, glaring at Zo with pure, unadulterated hatred. "This isn't over, Rossi. Rules break. Empires fall."
As Victor and his men retreated down the hallway under heavy armed escort, Zo stood in the center of the room, his chest rising and falling in controlled breaths.
I was standing against the wall, my hands shaking uncontrollably.
Zo turned toward me, the lethal rage in his eyes fading back into deep concern as he took a step forward. "Tessa. Are you alright?"
"He knows who I am," I whispered, panic rising in my throat as I thought of Mia sleeping in our new apartment. "Zo... he knows about Mia."
Zo walked over to me, placing his large, warm hands gently on my shoulders. His touch was grounding, solid as a mountain amidst the chaos.
"Look at me, Tessa," Zo commanded softly.
I forced myself to look into his dark eyes.
"Nothing is going to happen to you or your daughter," Zo swore, his voice filled with absolute conviction. "I have double-guarded your apartment building. Frank will be with you whenever you leave the house. I built my entire life on protecting what is mine, and I swear on my sister's memory, Victor Moretti will never touch a hair on your head."
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For the first time, I realized the full weight of what was happening. Zo wasn't just protecting an employee anymore. And I wasn't just staying because of a paycheck.
We were standing on the edge of a precipice, and a war was coming.
