Luca Romano was not a man to be trifled with, but Isabella D'Amico had committed an infraction that charged a price to be paid. Their first message to her was just the tip of the iceberg. For revenge to work that is, if he wanted to keep the powe it had to be swift and ruthless.
The scales had tipped, and cowardly betrayal from within had vanquished a fear that was built into the very foundation of the Romanos dynasty. The streets of Trento were screaming war, and Luca was ready to deliver them one.
In the Romano estate's underground war room, Luca hovered over a table mounded with maps, photographs and files. His entourage Marco, Sofia, Vince, and a few trusted captains were close by his side. The room buzzed with tension.
"We're going after Isabella," Luca said sharply, his voice hard as steel. "She's the key to this. Remove her, and the coalitions she has created will crumble."
Sofia leaned in, looking at the map, and replied. "Isabella's not reckless. She has her loyal people with her, and Giovanni Rossi supports her." If we do move, it has to be extremely exact."
Marco nodded in agreement. "She'll be expecting us to move against her, which means that we need to strike her where she's weakest.
Luca's gaze hardened. "Her safehouses. Take them all out. Force her into the open."
"We can't just brute force it, then," Vince, always the strategist, said. We must serve to make her co-conspirators question their loyalty. If we go public that she's playing us both, she won't have leverage."
Sofia smirked. "So you want us to turn her own people against her?"
"Exactly," Vince replied. "If they consider her a liability, they will walk away from her."
Luca gave this a second of consideration. "Do it. But we're not waiting for them to change. We double down, and we double hard.
A few hours later, pandemonium erupted across Trento. The Romanos went on a blitzkrieg against Isabella's operations, hitting her safehouses, warehouses and anyone known to work for her.
One of the attacks took place at a luxury nightclub where Isabella owned, a front for her operation. All the Romano men stormed into the place, the patrons scattering, gunfire tearing through the building. When the dust settled, the nightclub lay in ruins and Isabella's hold on the city faltered.
Word spread fast. Isabella's own allies began to crumble, questioning whether she could protect them. The Romanos had delivered their message: loyalty to Isabella came at a cost.
Isabella, however, was on the move. She had retreated to a heavily fortified villa on the outskirts of the city from which she was protected by her most loyal guards. She walked around the room and did circles in her mind.
"They are trying to isolate me," she said, to Antonio, her right-hand man.
Antonio, slender and wiry and calm, nodded. "Luca is taking a real risk here. He's making fast attacks, but that exposes him."
Isabella stopped pacing and turned to face him, eyes aflame. "Then we exploit it. See where Luca's vulnerable. Go for where it hurts the most."
Antonio hesitated. "And Giovanni? He's been quiet. We don't know if he's going to be with us or exploit this chaos to do his own stuff."
Isabella clenched her fists. "If Giovanni tries to flip on me, he's going to regret it. For now, focus on Luca. I want his family to feel the pain that they're trying to inflict on me."
Back at the Romano estate, Sofia worked, sorting through information, tracing Isabella's movements. Jennifer could tell that Isabella would not be on the defensive forever.
Marco strode into the room wearing a somber face. "We've got a problem."
Sofia looked up. "What now?"
"Giovanni Rossi," Marco said. "He has been with some of Isabella's men. We have no idea what they talked about, but it cannot be good." "Sofia frowned. "Giovanni was always a wild card. "If he's going with Isabella, this is going to be ugly fast."
It was pure Luca, strolling in like he owned the place. "Giovanni's a snake, but he's not an idiot. "He has to bring magical Isabella into the fold, and if he's starting to operate in the direction of siding with her, it's because it looks like he sees a possibility."
Sofia nodded. "Then we need to close that door before it gets any more open." I will reach out to our sources on your behalf. Maybe we could plant some doubt in Giovanni about Isabella."
"Do it," Luca said. "And Marco, double the guards around the estate." If Giovanni and Isabella team up, we need to be ready.
Adding to this, the next night, Luca directly made his first move against Isabella. He personally ordered a raid on one of her warehouses, a key hub of her operations. The attack was swift, vicious and gave no time for retaliation.
As Marco and his men moved through rubble of the burning wreckage, Marco walked up to Luca.
"She's going to remember this," Marco said.
"She already has," Luca said, his voice icy. "But this is only the start."
Isabella learned of the raid at her villa. She clenched her jaw, but she wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of letting him see that it frustrated her.
"They're demanding blood from us," Antonio said.
"They're not going to make it," Isabella said. "I still have cards to play."
he glanced to one of her guards. "Get me Giovanni Rossi. It's time to talk," he says.