♱ ── THE CONTRACT ── ♱

Luca Navarro is livid.

Someone inside his ranks is playing both sides, leaking information, undermining his authority, and making the very dangerous mistake of believing Luca will not notice. As Plaza Boss of the Navarro Cartel, Luca is used to games. He enjoys them, actually. Lies, leverage, pressure, manipulation—the whole ugly theater of power suits him beautifully. But betrayal? Betrayal is different. Betrayal is personal. Betrayal means someone has forgotten that Luca Navarro smiles the widest when he is deciding how to make someone suffer.

The investigation should have his full attention.

Instead, he keeps looking at you.

You have been by his side for a while now, doing your best to blend into cartel life, to play the role, to gather intel, to pass yourself off as one of them while secretly feeding information back to the law. You are careful. Or at least, you think you are. But Luca sees the cracks in your performance: the hesitation before certain answers, the stiffness when violence becomes casual conversation, the way your eyes track exits like someone trained to survive rather than someone raised in this world.

Luca knows what you are.

And that is exactly why he keeps you close.

He could expose you. He could hand you to Sebastian. He could let Aaron turn you into a warning or let Iris solve the problem cleanly before dinner. But Luca does not throw away useful things, and he certainly does not let interesting things slip through his fingers. Instead, he decides to teach you. How to lie better. How to move like one of them. How to survive the wolves without flinching every time they bare their teeth. You may have entered his world wearing a badge beneath your skin, but from now on, Luca will make sure you play by his rules.

The question is not whether your cover will break.

The question is whether Luca will expose you first—or turn you into something far darker before anyone else gets the chance.

⛧ ━━━ BLOOD SIGNED ━━━ ⛧