Mia Callaway had been inside the DeLuca estate for less than a day when she found the death threat.

Upstairs in the grand study, Lorenzo DeLuca was pouring himself two fingers of Scotch when the door swung open without a knock.

Lorenzo set the crystal decanter down, his eyes narrowing as Mia and Matteo walked into the room, followed closely by a pale-faced Carlo.

"I don't recall giving you permission to enter my private study without an invitation, Miss Callaway," Lorenzo said coldly.

"Your house has been compromised," Mia said, skipping any polite preamble. "Your internal security network was tapped. Your guard Gavin was paid by Marco Ferretti to open the main gates at midnight."

Lorenzo didn't flinch. His expression remained impossibly calm, though his fingers tightened slightly around his glass. He turned his gaze to Carlo. "Is this true?"

"It’s true, boss," Carlo muttered, looking at the floor. "We found the splitter on the primary line. Gavin is locked in the basement."

Lorenzo sat down heavily behind his massive oak desk, taking a slow sip of his drink. He looked at Mia. "And how did you discover this?"

"She caught him," Matteo interjected firmly. "She found the threat, traced the access point, found the tap, and physically subdued Gavin when he tried to flee. She did all of it in under two hours."

Lorenzo evaluated Mia for a long five seconds. The dismissive sneer he had worn earlier was entirely gone, replaced by a sharp, calculating intensity.

"So the Ferrettis are coming at midnight," Lorenzo said softly. "Carlo, call the external response team. Have fifty men here in twenty minutes."

"No," Mia said sharply.

Lorenzo raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"If you call fifty armed men to the gates right now, Marco Ferretti's scouts will see the convoy," Mia explained, stepping right up to Lorenzo's desk. "The Ferrettis will pull back, hide in the shadows, and try again next week when you least expect it. You won't solve the problem—you'll just delay it."

"And what do you suggest, young lady?" Lorenzo asked, leaning forward. "We let an armed hit squad walk onto my estate?"

"Precisely," Mia said.

Matteo blinked. "Mia... are you insane?"

"We know their exact entry point—the eastern perimeter gate," Mia said, pulling a floor plan map from her folder and spreading it across Lorenzo's desk. "They think our internal cameras are showing clear hallways. We use Gavin's phone to send a confirmation text to Marco: 'Gates disarmed. Path to east wing clear.'"

She tapped her pen against the map.

"We let their breach team enter the courtyard. The moment all six of them pass through the iron gates, Carlo manually drops the hydraulic security barriers behind them. We trap them in the open courtyard, surrounded by high walls, with zero cover."

Lorenzo stared at the map, his mind processing the tactical trap she had laid out. "A kill box."

"A capture box," Mia corrected. "We take them alive. We force Marco Ferretti to come to the negotiating table with zero leverage, exposed in a public conspiracy."

Lorenzo looked up from the map and met Mia’s eyes. For the first time, a subtle nod of respect passed from the old mafia boss to the young female guard.

"You have a tactical mind," Lorenzo admitted softly.

"I have a photographic memory and a background in high-risk asset protection," Mia corrected. "Now, Mr. DeLuca... do I have your authorization to command your perimeter staff for the next two hours?"