The Collector
Marco's POV
The knife whizzed past my ear and stuck in the wooden door behind me.
"You can't be serious!" Tony Romano slammed his hand on the conference table. "She's just a kid, Marco!"
I didn't flinch. Couldn't show fear, not even to my own uncle. The Romano family was watching. Waiting to see if their future boss would break under pressure.
"The contract is signed in blood," I said, keeping my voice steady. "Our father's blood. We don't break blood pacts."
"Your father was drunk when he made that deal!" Tony's face turned red. "Professor Cross was his friend. He never meant for it to go this far."
I picked up the yellowed paper from the table. Twenty years old, but the words were still clear. Still binding. Still written in my father's blood. " 'If payment cannot be made, the debtor's eldest daughter shall serve the Romano family until the debt is satisfied,'" I read aloud. "It doesn't say anything about the debtor being sober."
My phone buzzed. A text from Luca: "Vincent's men are moving. We need to get the girl now."
My stomach twisted. I'd been fearing this moment for months.
"Marco, please," Tony begged. "Don't become the monster our enemies say we are."
I wanted to listen to him. God, how I wanted to walk away from this whole mess. But Vincent Torrino had been circling our area like a hungry shark. Three of our buildings burned down last month. Two of our men found dead in the river.
He wanted a fight. And somehow, this girl was the key to stopping it.
"The decision is made," I said, standing up. "Send word to Dmitri and Kai. We move tonight."
Tony grabbed my arm. "Your father would be ashamed."
Those words hit like a punch to the gut. Dad had been dead three years, but I still heard his voice in my head every day. Still felt the weight of his demands crushing my chest.
"My father is dead because he was too soft," I said quietly. "I won't make the same mistake."
I walked out of the meeting room, my footsteps echoing in the empty hallway. Each step felt heavy than the last.
In my office, I opened the thick file on Aria Cross. Twenty-three years old. Dance teacher. Lost her father six months ago. No other family. No boyfriend. No one who would miss her.
That should have made this easy. It didn't.
Her photo stared up at me from the folder. Auburn hair, bright green eyes, real smile. She looked nothing like the hardened thieves I usually dealt with. She looked... innocent.
My phone rang.
"It's done," Luca's voice came through the speaker. "We're at her building."
"Remember what I said," I warned. "She doesn't get hurt. Not a scratch."
"Why do you care so much about one girl?" my brother asked. "It's not like you."
He was right. It wasn't like me. I'd built my reputation on being cold, calculating, ruthless when required. But something about this felt wrong.
"Just follow orders," I said and hung up.
I opened my desk drawer and pulled out the old photo hiding underneath my gun. My little sister Sofia, only twelve years old, laughing as she tried on Mom's jewelry. She had the same innocent look as Aria Cross.
If someone tried to hurt Sofia because of a debt she didn't make, I'd burn the world down.
But here I was, about to do the same thing to another man's daughter.
My office door burst open. Dmitri Petrov stormed in, his platinum hair wild, his ice-blue eyes blazing with joy.
"The girl put up a fight," he said, grinning like a dog. "I like her spirit."
"She's not hurt?" I asked quickly.
"Relax, brother. Kai made sure she stayed safe." Dmitri dropped into the chair across from my desk. "But I don't understand why we're being so gentle. Vincent wouldn't show us the same kindness."
That was the trouble. Vincent Torrino was a monster who liked causing pain. If I became like him to fight him, what was the point of winning?
"Because we're better than him," I said.
Dmitri laughed. "Are we? We just took an innocent girl."
The words hung in the air like poison. He was right, and we both knew it.
My phone buzzed again. This time it was Kai.
"We have her," his quiet voice reported. "But Marco, there's something you need to know."
"What?"
"She found the contract before we arrived. She knows about the debt."
My blood turned cold. "How much does she know?"
"Everything. She was reading it when we broke down her door."
I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples. This was getting worse by the minute.
"Bring her to the safe house," I ordered. "I'll be there in an hour."
"Marco," Kai's voice was careful. "She's asking about her father. Wants to know if he really signed her away."
"What did you tell her?"
"The truth. That men do terrible things when they're desperate."
I hung up and stared at Aria's photo again. In a few hours, I'd have to look this girl in the eye and explain why her life as she knew it was over.
My phone rang one more time. Unknown number.
"Hello, Marco." Vincent Torrino's voice was smooth as silk and twice as dangerous.
"Vincent." I kept my voice calm. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I hear you have something that belongs to me."
My grip tightened on the phone. "I don't know what you mean."
"The Cross girl. She's mine by right of blood. Her mother was my daughter."
The world stopped spinning.
Aria Cross wasn't just some random girl caught in her father's debt. She was Vincent's granddaughter. Mafia royalty.
And I'd just declared war on the most dangerous man in the city by taking her.
"I'll give you one chance," Vincent continued. "Bring her to me unhurt, and I'll let your family live. Refuse, and I'll paint the streets red with Romano blood."
The line went dead.
I sat there in the silence, my heart beating like a war drum. Everything had just changed. The girl we'd taken to settle a debt had just become the most important person in the city.
And she had no idea her entire world was about to explode.