Marian's POV
The moment Aiden's voice wrapped around those words—burn them to the fucking ground—something in me cracked open.
Not wide.
Not enough for him to see.
Just a sliver.
Just enough to let the rage out.
I couldn't afford to bleed in front of him.
Not yet.
Not when I still needed him close.
I leaned back in my chair, flipping through another folder as if my heart wasn't clawing its way up my throat.
Hugo fucking Bianchi.
He'd smiled in my face. Sat at my father's table.
I trusted him.
And he'd sold me out to the Callahans for what—blood money? Protection?
My fingers curled tighter around the paper.
Bianchi wasn't just a rat.
He was a key.
If the Callahans were using him to launder money, then he'd know every name tied to those accounts—every board member, every inside man.
If I cracked him...
I could gut the whole fucking empire from the inside out.
But there was one problem.
Bianchi had disappeared three days ago.
No calls. No paper trail.
Vanished.
