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Chapter 63

Torn. Conflicted. Confused. Hurt. Nervous. Petrified. 

A swirl of emotions flooded through me as I ran into the house, the death threat in hand. I ran in an attempt to find Dante, sprinting through the halls chaotically as I tried to collect my thoughts. 

Pavlovski must have sent this as a threat to me, a sign of what he'd do next if I didn't give myself up willing to him. Not only would he kill the only people I've ever considered family, he'd kill the only man I've ever loved. 

I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't tempted to give myself up, to end this once and for all. To finally be able to rid the Vino's of this curse that their family has been so unfairly bestowed.

But then I remembered the promise I made to Dante. The promise that seemed like it was made only moments ago, a promise that I wouldn't leave him. 

"YOU'RE FUCKING CRAZY!" I heard Angelo yell from the infirmary, making me skid to a stop before turning around and slowly walking towards the infirmary door. 

"There isn't any other way." I heard Dante say calmly. 

"No, no way." I heard Giana protest strongly. "There is no way I'm going back into hiding. I'd rather die here than run away like a coward!" She screamed. 

"The point is make sure you DON'T die." Dante growled as I stood by the door. 

"What do you want us to do? Run for the rest of our lives?" Isa said as I leaned against the wall, eavesdropping on their conversation. 

"I just need to buy us some time until we can find where this fucker is hiding." Dante explained with a tense voice. 

"This... this isn't like you, Dante." Stephan said from within the room. "I've never known you to run from anything." 

 "Once you find a reason to live, you tend to want to stay alive as long as you possibly can." Dante said in a soft voice, silencing the room as I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the wall. 

"What difference will running away make? We'd still be looking over our shoulders, our empire will crumble, and we're not any safer hiding than we are fighting. Didn't the safe house incident just prove that?" Natalia said in an annoyed voice. 

I took a deep breath as I relaxed my mind, tuning out the conversations and objections from inside the infirmary. I recalled all of the events that occurred over the past few weeks, piecing together all the available information like a puzzle. 

"Well maybe I don't know what the fuck to do!" Dante screamed out, making my eyebrows furrow.

Having heard enough, I gently opened the door and stepped inside only to see the Vino family staring at me. 

"Well, maybe you don't know what to do, but I have a plan." I said as I looked over at Dante who was running a hand through his hair.

"No. No fucking way." Dante said as he shook his head and gave me a deadly glare. 

"I'm not going to give myself up." I said quickly as I looked at him. "Well... kind of?" I said as I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Fuck. No." Dante said sternly as he walked over to me. 

"Hear me out." I said as I held up my hand, placing it gently on his chest and looking up at him. 

"Pavlovski threatened me, saying that if I don't meet him tomorrow at 2am, he'll kill you all." I said bluntly, making everyone in the room tense up. 

"The message was relayed through an iPhone, which had the same software as the other tracking devices we confiscated from him. I've been keeping it in isolation in my room because I haven't removed the device yet." I explained calmly. 

"So... we have three options. I can attempt to counter hack the device and solely focus on getting a location of Pavlovski. But if we do that, he'd most likely be notified that his location is compromised. Which means that even if we have a solid location, he could go underground and still launch his attack." I said, furrowing my eyebrows as I thought. 

"And the second option." Dante said as he crossed his arms as he listened intently. 

"Use the same technology and put a tracker on me." I said, making Dante stare at me with his eyebrows furrowed. "I meet with Pavlovski and give myself up, except you'd have a location on me the entire time. Once we get a solid grasp of where he'd take me, we move in and covertly take him down." I stated simply, making Dante stroke his chin as he thought it through. 

"And option three?" Angelo inquired as he tilted his head. 

"I sneak out a window late at night, meet up with Pavlovski without a tracker, and save all of your lives." I said as I shrugged. 

"So we have two options then." Dante said angrily as he stared at me with wide eyes, making me chuckle slightly. 

"I'd say if we want to play it safe... for everyone." I said as I looked around the room. "We should go with option two." I said calmly. 

"Once we get solid location, Natalia and I can rig up wherever he's hiding. Once everyone's out, we'll make sure to wipe that place of the face of the Earth." Isa said as she looked up at me, then her brother. 

"I don't like it." Dante said after a moment of silence as he narrowed his eyes. 

"What if something goes wrong with the tracker? What if he jams the signal?" Dante said as he looked at me. 

"I thought you'd say that." I said as I gave Dante a small smile. 

"Pavlovski would most likely take defensive measures against external trackers, but I doubt he'd be blocking his own trackers signal." I said as I lifted my chin. 

"I'm sorry, I think I'm still high from these sedatives. Can you speak in English please?" Angelo said as he raised both of his eyebrows and blinked slowly. 

"We can reverse the signal for Pavlovski's tracker, and use it as our own." I explained with a smile as I looked at Angelo. 

"Ah so we'd be using his tracker as our own tracker. Track-ception. A tracker within a tracker. Got it." Angelo said as he gave me a thumbs up. 

"I know you don't like it, but it's the best plan we have so far." I stated as I looked at Dante with an eyebrow raised. 

There was a moment of silence as Dante looked straight ahead, most likely going through scenarios in his mind. His eyes looked as if he was in a daze, stuck in a rut of situations that could occur. 

"Son," Florence said as she stood up and walked over to Dante gracefully. 

"I know you're scared. It's okay to be scared. But what's not okay, is to avoid the things that you fear. We can't keep running away from our problems forever darling. We must continue forward, even in the face of fear." Florence said as she gently placed a hand on her sons shoulder. 

Dante looked down at his mother before giving her a small nod, making her smile and wrap her arms around her son. To everyones surprise, Dante returned the warm gesture, and hugged his mother tightly for a moment, making her eyes water immediately. 

"We're meeting Pavlovski at 2am, so we don't have much time." Dante said as Florence pulled away and stood beside him. "Angelo and Isa, you're not to see combat during this mission, do you understand me?" He said in a serious tone as he stared at them. 

"Sir yes sir." Isa said as she smiled widely. 

"Natalia and Isa, I need as many explosives as you can get your hands on. Stephan and Angelo, I need you to start gathering and briefing our men on what's about to happen. Giana and Mom, I need you to take care of Harry." Dante said as he looked around the room. 

It was as if a new fire has been ignited within him. A new fire that his family has yet to see. A fire that was fueled by fear, passion, and love for the people he was trying to protect. It was as if his momentary weakness was just what he needed to make him vigorous leader I now see before me.

"Let's get this motherfucker." Dante said seriously before he gave me a small smile.