Whoever was behind the black sedan had gone to great lengths to stay anonymous.
The fake plate, the subtle tail… it all pointed to someone skilled, someone who knew how to play the game as well as Rowan did. But Rowan wasn’t about to let them slip through his fingers. This was his city, his territory, and no one threatened the people he cared about without consequences.
He replayed the footage one last time, memorizing every detail, every movement of the sedan. His eyes burned with cold fury. Whoever had been in that car had made the first move, but Rowan was going to make sure it was their last.
As he closed his laptop, the weight of the situation settled over him like a suffocating blanket.
This was bigger than just a random tail. Someone had orchestrated this, and they had gone to great lengths to stay hidden. But Rowan had ways of digging deeper, of uncovering the truth, no matter how well it was buried.
He stood from his desk, pacing the room as his mind raced.
The list of enemies who could be behind this was long, and Rowan knew he couldn’t afford to overlook any of them.
Alessandro was always a possibility, but this felt more calculated, more subtle than Alessandro’s usual methods…
This was the work of someone with patience, someone playing a long game.
Rowan’s jaw tightened as his thoughts shifted to Amara once again. She had been right to take precautions, but that wouldn’t be enough.
Not against someone this determined.
He would have to double down on her security, make sure every step she took was under watch. Vaughn, too.
There was no room for error… Not now…
He played the footage again..
He had meticulously followed the black sedan’s every move, watching it trail Amara’s car with precision. But now, as he switched to the next CCTV camera, the car was gone. There was no trace of it, as if it had vanished into thin air.
He hit rewind, his fingers moving quickly over the keys. Again, he played the footage from the moment Harvey had intervened, forcing the sedan to change lanes.
The sedan had slowed down, almost casually, before slipping away into traffic. He had expected to find it in the next frame, but there was nothing. It hadn’t turned a corner, it hadn’t sped off.. there was simply no sign of it.
Whoever was behind that black sedan knew how to avoid detection, knew how to disappear when necessary. This wasn’t the work of amateurs.
He pulled up another camera angle, scanning the nearby streets, searching for any sign of the vehicle. But it was the same result. The car was gone, as though it had never existed.
The possibility that the sedan had been using some kind of cloaking technology crossed his mind. It wasn’t impossible. He had seen it before in certain high-level operations.
Specialized license plate shields, even jammers that could interfere with security footage. Whoever had been in that car had access to resources, and they had used them wisely.
Rowan picked up his phone and dialed Kyle again.
It rang twice before Kyle answered. “Boss?”
“I need you to expand the search. The sedan disappeared from the footage. They’re using something sophisticated… cloaking, jammers, whatever it is. I want every resource we have looking into this. Every camera, every contact. Find me that car.”
Kyle hesitated for only a second. “Understood, boss. I’ll get the team on it immediately.”
“Good,” Rowan replied, his voice hard. “And increase security around Amara and Vaughn. Double it. No one gets near them. I want eyes on them every second, understood?”
“Got it, boss,” Kyle confirmed.
Rowan ended the call and stood there for a moment, staring out of the window into the night. The city lights flickered in the distance, but his thoughts were miles away.
Two days later..
During Dinner, On the surface, the dinner table was filled with warmth… polite conversation flowing easily, wine glasses clinking softly, and the familiar sounds of silverware against porcelain.
Vincent Moretti sat at the head of the table, while Alessandro lounged comfortably beside him, acting as if nothing had happened.
But beneath the polished surface, tension simmered like a barely restrained storm.
Amara could feel it coursing through her veins, her muscles taut with unspoken fury.
Every time she glanced at Alessandro, her chest tightened with suppressed rage. He sat there nonchalantly, making small talk with her father, as though he hadn’t put her and Vaughn in danger just days ago in Venice.
She couldn’t shake the image of that day.. of Vaughn nearly caught in the crossfire, the echo of gunshots ringing in her ears, and the terrifying moment Alessandro had vanished without a word.
Amara’s fingers tightened around the stem of her wine glass, her knuckles pale as she fought to keep her expression neutral.
She wanted to scream at him, confront him, but she knew her father would pick up on the smallest hint of discord.
After dinner, Her father asked her to accompany Alessandro for a walk. It was less a request and more of an unspoken order. She had no choice but to comply. With a curt nod, she rose from the table, her body stiff as she walked out into the cool night air, Alessandro following close behind.
They walked side by side through the garden, the path dimly lit by the soft glow of lanterns.
The silence between them was oppressive, filled with everything that had been left unsaid.
Amara kept her eyes forward, her heart pounding in her chest. She had no intention of letting Alessandro off the hook for what had happened, but before she could say a word, he suddenly grabbed her arm and spun her around, pinning her against the stone wall of the estate.
His eyes were dark, swirling with a mix of anger and something more dangerous. His body pressed too close to hers, trapping her between the wall and his rigid form. Amara’s breath caught in her throat, and she glared up at him, her voice low and venomous.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, trying to push him away, but Alessandro didn’t budge.
“I should be the one asking you that,” he growled, his voice laced with barely contained fury. “What the fuck are you doing, Amara?”
Amara’s pulse spiked, and she shoved at his chest again, but it was like trying to move a wall. Alessandro stood his ground, his jaw clenched tight, his eyes burning into hers with a wild intensity.
“You blocked my number. You left without saying a word,” he said through gritted teeth. “Did you even know how worried I was? And you think you can just shut me out like that?”