---
Valemont – Old Iron District
The cold bite of dawn clung to the streets like a second skin. In the Old Iron District, the buildings loomed like tombstones—factories long shut down, windows shattered, their insides picked clean by time and rats. This was where Valemont kept its secrets. Where ghosts lingered and the living dared not go after sundown.
And somewhere within it, Dominic Falco, Nico Verratti's pet executioner, made his nest.
Dante leaned against a brick wall beneath a flickering streetlamp, watching the old warehouse across the lot. A rusted sign read FALCO METALS, though the place hadn't manufactured anything in a decade. It was Dominic's fortress now. A rat king's throne.
He had tracked Dominic for two days—watched his routines, learned his patterns. The man still lived like he was at war: paranoid, armed, sleeping in shifts. But even predators slipped when they felt untouchable.
Dante reached into his coat and checked the pistol at his side.
Tonight, a wolf would meet a wolf.
And only one would leave breathing.
---
Hours Earlier – Aria's Dilemma
Sunlight filtered through the blinds of Aria's small apartment, tracing golden lines across the scattered evidence boards, notecards, and her personal journal. She sat at the edge of her bed, staring at her phone screen. On it: a paused video of Dante fighting off the two masked men.
She had rewatched it at least a dozen times since last night. Every move he made—every block, punch, and sidestep—was precise, deliberate, violent… but controlled. He hadn't killed those men. He could have. But he didn't.
Why?
Her mind kept circling back to the same question: Why her? Why save her? Again.
And deeper still, another question whispered: Why does he feel familiar?
Her hands shook as she grabbed her laptop and searched his name again.
Dante Moretti. Former Vultures enforcer. Accused of betrayal. Disappeared after the massacre of his family.
A pang hit her heart.
"They blamed him for everything," she whispered. "Then buried the truth."
She closed the laptop slowly. Whatever Dante was planning… he wasn't doing it for power. He was doing it for blood. For justice. For the past.
And somehow, she had become part of it.
---
Falco Metals – Infiltration
Dante moved like a shadow through the perimeter fencing, ducking into the back alley where a rusted door hung loose on broken hinges. The place stank of oil and rotting wood. Distant thuds of heavy metal echoed from deep inside—Dominic training, no doubt.
He slipped through the door and into the darkness.
Inside, the warehouse looked like a post-apocalyptic gym. Weight benches cobbled together from scrap, punching bags filled with gravel, and a steel cage in the center of the room—the kind used for illegal fights.
On the far side, shirtless and sweat-drenched, Dominic Falco pummeled a training dummy until its stuffing burst.
The man was built like a prison wall. Tattoos covered every inch of his back, including one of a vulture tearing apart a snake—a mark of loyalty to Nico.
Dante drew his pistol but didn't fire.
Not yet.
Instead, he stepped into the light and said, "Did you miss me, Dom?"
Falco turned, blinking sweat out of his eyes.
For a moment, he looked stunned. Then, he grinned.
"Dante-fucking-Moretti," he growled. "Like a cockroach. Just keeps crawling back."
"I've got unfinished business."
Falco cracked his knuckles. "I hoped I'd get to kill you proper one day."
Dante tossed the gun to the side. It clattered against the ground.
"Let's make it fair then."
Falco's grin widened. "You always were a suicidal son of a bitch."
---
The Brawl
They clashed like bulls—flesh against bone, sweat against rage. The sound of fists on flesh echoed off steel beams. Dante moved fast, striking with surgical precision, but Falco was pure mass. Each of his punches felt like getting hit by a sledgehammer.
Falco grabbed Dante and slammed him into a metal locker, denting the door.
"You know," he growled, "your wife screamed for you the longest."
Rage exploded in Dante's chest. He broke free and drove his elbow into Falco's jaw, spinning him off balance.
He swept Falco's legs and drove him to the ground, mounting him with blow after blow.
Falco spit blood and laughed through broken teeth. "That all you got, Moretti?"
"No," Dante whispered.
He grabbed the broken chain from the training dummy and looped it around Falco's neck.
"You don't get to speak her name."
Falco clawed at the chain, struggling. But Dante held tight.
Then—
Suddenly—
He let go.
Falco gasped, choking on air.
Dante stood over him.
"You're not worth a bullet."
He turned to leave.
But behind him—metal scraped.
Falco had grabbed a blade.
He lunged.
CRACK.
A single shot rang out.
Falco dropped like dead weight. A bullet in the skull.
Dante lowered his backup piece and whispered, "That one was for Luca's daughters."
---
Elsewhere – Carmen's Decision
Carmen Sorrento lit another cigarette in her penthouse and tapped her long nails against the glass window. A photo lay on the coffee table—Aria, speaking at the protest.
And beside it… Dante.
"You two just had to cross paths," she muttered.
Her phone rang.
"Talk," she said.
"It's done," said the voice on the other end. "Falco's dead."
"And Nico?"
"Panicking."
"Good," Carmen said. "Then the cracks are forming."
She hung up, turned, and stared at the mirror.
"I told you, Nico," she whispered. "You should've never left me alive."
---
University Library – Another Visit
Aria sat in the library, buried in gang history files when someone dropped into the seat across from her.
She looked up—and froze.
Dante.
"You shouldn't be here," she said quickly.
"I needed answers."
"About what?"
"About you," he said, voice low. "You keep showing up where you shouldn't. You keep asking questions."
"I'm not afraid of you."
"Maybe you should be."
"I'm not," she repeated. "Because I've seen the way you look at people. And I've seen the way you looked at me. You're not a monster."
Dante's jaw clenched.
"You don't know what I've done."
"I know you saved me. Twice."
"That doesn't make me good."
"It makes you human."
Silence stretched between them.
Then Aria asked, "What's your endgame?"
He looked away. "Revenge."
"And after that?"
"…I don't know."
She leaned in. "Then maybe you need something more than revenge to survive it."
Their eyes locked. For a moment, the storm between them paused.
Then Dante stood. "Stay out of this, Aria. Please."
And he walked away.
---
End of Chapter Hook
At the edge of Valemont, in a mansion lined with marble and fear, Nico Verratti slammed his fist into the wall.
"Two dead," he spat. "Both before breakfast."
Marco, pale and sweating, spoke softly: "We have a bigger problem."
"What now?"
"There's chatter. Carmen's working with someone. Possibly Moretti."
Nico's hands shook with fury.
"Then we burn everything down."
---