Mara Chen's POV
The war room is underground, hidden beneath three layers of security.
Valentina leads Mara down a private elevator, their hands briefly touching before they enter. The moment the doors open, Valentina's expression hardens into something cold and untouchable—the mafia queen, not the woman who just confessed her love.
Mara understands. They have to survive first. They can be in love later.
The war room is massive. A table runs the entire length, and around it sit seventeen men—the captains of the Russo empire. Each one controls a different piece of the operation. Gambling. Smuggling. Political corruption. Money laundering. Legitimate businesses that hide illegal ones.
Mara sees the full scope of what Valentina rules.
It's not just a criminal organization. It's a machine. A massive, intricate machine designed to extract power and money from Chicago and distribute it to those loyal enough to serve.
The men look up as Valentina enters.
They stand immediately—a sign of respect, of fear, of absolute recognition that she owns them.
"Sit," Valentina commands.
They do.
Valentina sits at the head of the table. Mara stands behind her chair, playing bodyguard despite the fact that every man in this room knows what she and Valentina are to each other now. The video made sure of that.
"Konstantin has Rosa," Valentina says without preamble. "He's demanding my territory, my organization, and Mara Chen in exchange for her life. He has twenty-four hours to get everything he wants, or he starts sending pieces of my sister back to me."
Silence.
One of the captains—an older man with silver hair—speaks first.
"What are you going to do?" he asks carefully.
"What I always do," Valentina says coldly. "I'm going to take what's mine back. And I'm going to make Konstantin bleed for touching her."
Marco DeLuca stands slowly.
He's the underboss, the man who's been with Valentina's family for fifteen years. He's tall, powerful, his face carved from granite and resentment.
"This is a mistake," Marco says, staring directly at Mara. "A bodyguard who's barely trained? This is what you trust your life to?"
His voice drips with contempt.
"This girl is the reason Konstantin knows our weakness," Marco continues. "She's the reason we're vulnerable. You're letting sentiment cloud your judgment, Valentina. Just like your father did before he destroyed himself."
The room goes silent.
No one challenges the underboss. No one questions Valentina's decisions in front of the captains.
But Valentina stands.
Her voice, when she speaks, is ice.
"Mara killed an armed enforcer her first week," Valentina says coldly. "She moved faster than soldiers with years of training. She protected me when three of my previous bodyguards would have hesitated."
Valentina steps around the table until she's facing Marco directly.
"So I'll ask you again, Marco," Valentina says quietly. "What have you done for me lately? Specifically?"
Marco's jaw tightens, but he doesn't answer.
"Nothing," Valentina says, answering for him. "You sit at this table and collect money from operations you didn't build. You give advice on wars you didn't fight. You question my leadership while I keep this family alive."
She steps even closer.
"Mara has killed for me. Mara has bled for me. Mara has risked everything to protect this organization." Valentina's dark eyes are lethal. "And you sit there and disrespect her in front of my captains."
Valentina doesn't raise her voice. She doesn't need to.
"So here's what's going to happen," Valentina says. "You're going to apologize to Mara. You're going to sit down. And you're going to remember that I'm the one who leads this family. Not your resentment. Not your pride. Me."
Marco's face flushes with rage, but something in Valentina's expression tells him that pushing further means death.
"I apologize," Marco says through gritted teeth. But he doesn't look at Mara. He doesn't mean it.
"Again," Valentina says. "And look at her this time."
Marco turns to Mara, and for one second, his mask slips. She sees it clearly—not just resentment, but hatred. Cold, calculated hatred. The kind of hatred that comes from years of being passed over.
"I apologize," Marco says to Mara.
Mara nods, but her instincts are screaming. Something is wrong with him. Something deeper than wounded pride.
Marco sits back down, and the meeting continues.
Valentina outlines the plan to rescue Rosa. They'll hit three of Konstantin's warehouses simultaneously, drawing his forces thin. While he's dealing with those attacks, a smaller team will infiltrate the location where Rosa is being held.
The captains argue about strategy. They debate timelines. They question resources.
But Marco is silent. And Mara watches him watching her.
His hatred is patient. Calculated. Like he's already planning something.
When the meeting ends, Valentina dismisses everyone except Mara and Lucia.
"What do you think?" Valentina asks Lucia.
"Marco's resentment is getting worse," Lucia says grimly. "But he's loyal. He'd never betray you."
Mara wants to agree. But she can't.
"Valentina," Mara says quietly. "Can I talk to you? Alone?"
Lucia nods and leaves without complaint.
Once they're alone in the war room, Mara tells Valentina everything she observed.
"Marco's hatred," Mara says. "It's different. It's not just about being passed over for leadership. It's something else. Something darker."
Valentina listens carefully, her expression unreadable.
"I trust Marco," Valentina says finally. "He's been with my family his entire life. But I'll have Tommy look into his recent activities. If there's something to find, we'll find it."
She pulls Mara close, and for a moment, they're just two people holding each other while the world burns around them.
"I'm scared," Mara admits. "Not of Konstantin. Not of the war. I'm scared of losing you."
Valentina kisses her forehead.
"You won't," Valentina whispers. "I promise you, Mara Chen. No matter what happens in the next twenty-four hours, we survive this. Together."
Six hours later, everything falls apart.
Tommy bursts into the penthouse war room, looking like he hasn't slept in days.
"Boss," he says urgently. "I found something. On Marco's encrypted files. He's been transferring information to Konstantin for months."
Valentina's entire body goes rigid.
Tommy shows them the evidence—financial transfers, security intel, operational details. All of it flowing from Marco to Konstantin's organization.
"There's more," Tommy says grimly. He pulls up a video file. "I found footage from the Alderman meeting. The one where Mara killed the enforcer? Marco knew about it beforehand. He knew Konstantin was sending someone. He tipped off the location."
Mara feels the room spin.
"He was testing me," Mara whispers. "He wanted to see if I'd protect you. If I was a real threat or just..." She trails off.
"Just what?" Valentina asks, her voice dangerous.
"Just someone expendable," Mara finishes.
Valentina's hand clenches into a fist.
"Call the captains," she commands Lucia. "Tell them we have a traitor. Tell them we're moving up the timeline. We attack Konstantin's warehouses tonight. All three simultaneously. And we're taking Marco with us."
"Valentina," Lucia says carefully. "If you take him into battle knowing he's a traitor—"
"I know exactly what I'm doing," Valentina says coldly. "I'm going to watch him fight. And the moment he shows his true allegiance, I'm going to execute him in front of every captain in this organization. I'm going to make an example of his betrayal."
She turns to Mara.
"Pack your weapons," Valentina says. "You're coming with me. And Mara? When Marco makes his move—and he will make a move—I need you to be ready to kill him."
Mara nods.
But before they can leave the war room, Mara's phone buzzes.
Another message from the unknown number that's been torturing her all day.
She opens it with trembling hands.
It's a video.
Rosa, still tied to the chair. But now she's holding a piece of paper. And she's reading something off it—something someone forced her to say.
"Tell Valentina she loses," Rosa says, her voice hollow with trauma. "Tell her that Marco is one of ours now. Tell her that when she walks into those warehouses tonight, she's walking into a trap. Tell her that Konstantin will have twice as many soldiers as she thinks. Tell her that she's already lost."
Rosa's voice breaks.
"Tell her that I'm sorry," Rosa whispers. "Tell her that I couldn't hold on. Tell her—"
The video cuts off.
Valentina watches the entire thing without moving. Without breathing.
When it ends, she sets her phone down very carefully.
"Marco warned them," Valentina says quietly. "He told Konstantin everything. Our numbers. Our plan. Our timeline."
She looks at Mara with eyes that are absolutely devastated.
"We're walking into an ambush," Valentina whispers. "And if we don't show up, Konstantin kills Rosa immediately."
Lucia's face goes pale.
"So what do we do?" she asks desperately.
Valentina stands slowly.
"We go anyway," she says coldly. "We go knowing it's a trap. We go knowing Marco will betray us in the middle of battle. We go knowing we might not survive the night."
She looks directly at Mara.
"And we make sure Konstantin pays for every second of pain he's caused my family."
Valentina extends her hand to Mara.
"Are you with me?" Valentina asks. "Even knowing we might die?"
Mara takes her hand without hesitation.
"Always," she says.
And in that moment, with their hands intertwined and war waiting in the darkness outside, Mara understands what Lucia meant about loving someone in this world.
It means being willing to die with them.