"They don't scare me."
Sofia said it while walking, keys in her hand, steps measured, head high. The corridor was busy—men moving with purpose, voices low, phones out.
Alessio glanced at her. "They should."
"Then explain them," she said. "Because right now, 'Milan' sounds like a rumor you use when you don't want to name names."
He stopped.
That alone made people nearby pretend very hard not to notice.
"You want clarity?" Alessio asked.
"Yes."
"Then listen."
He opened a door into a smaller conference room. No ceremony. No guards. Just space and a table already cluttered with paperwork.
"Sit."
She did.
"Milan," Alessio said, pulling a chair back but not sitting, "isn't a family."
"That's already clearer than before," Sofia replied.
"They don't rule territory," he continued. "They rule access."
"To what?"
"Money. Transport. Contracts. Legitimacy."
He picked up a folder and slid it across the table.
"Open it."
She did.
Invoices. Shipping manifests. Corporate names she half-recognized from headlines.
"These are criminal?" she asked.
"No," Alessio said. "That's why they work."
She looked up. "They don't get their hands dirty."
"They get them signed," he replied. "They decide whose money moves and whose freezes. Who gets permits. Who suddenly can't build, can't ship, can't clean their cash."
Sofia's stomach tightened. "So they don't kill."
"They let people suffocate," Alessio said. "Slowly."
"And the men who came here?"
"Envoys," he said. "They smile, they watch, they report."
"To who?"
"To people you won't meet until it's already a problem."
Sofia leaned back. "So why are they interested in me?"
Alessio didn't answer immediately.
Because you sit where lines intersect.
Instead, he said: "Because they don't like instability."
"And I'm unstable."
"You're unaccounted for," he corrected. "That's worse."
The door opened without warning.
Luca stepped in, phone still in his hand. "They just blocked a shipment out of Genoa."
Alessio's jaw tightened. "How fast?"
"Immediate," Luca said. His eyes flicked to Sofia. "They're testing the perimeter."
"See?" Alessio said quietly to her. "This is Milan."
Sofia stood slowly. "So when you gave me keys—"
"I told them," Alessio said, "that I'm not hiding you."
"And what did they hear?"
"That you're no longer invisible."
Silence settled.
Sofia nodded once. "Then stop pretending they're abstract."
Alessio met her gaze. "I never have."
"I never have."
The words settled between them, heavy, unfinished.
Sofia didn't sit back down. She stayed standing, fingers curled loosely at her sides, eyes steady on Alessio's face.
"Then don't treat me like I'm hearing this for the first time," she said. "Because I'm not."
Luca shifted his weight near the door. He hadn't moved closer, hadn't left either. A quiet presence. A line.
"You knew," Luca said, not accusing, not curious. Stating.
Sofia glanced at him. "I knew enough."
Alessio's gaze sharpened. "Enough to do what."
"To understand why Genoa matters," she replied immediately. "To know blocking a shipment isn't about the cargo. It's about reminding you who controls the arteries."
Luca's eyes flicked back to Alessio.
"That's accurate," Luca said.
Alessio didn't look away from Sofia. "How long."
She considered the question. "Long enough to know my father never trusted Milan. Long enough to know he paid them anyway."
"And long enough," Alessio said, "to stay quiet."
"Yes."
Silence stretched. Not hostile. Evaluative.
Luca spoke again. "Then this changes the risk profile."
Sofia turned fully toward him. "No. It clarifies it."
Luca's mouth tightened, almost imperceptibly. "You're already central. Whether you acknowledge it or not."
"I'm acknowledging it now," she said. "Which is why I won't be decorative."
Alessio stepped closer. Not touching. Never touching when it mattered most.
"You want to sit in on calls," he said. "You want visibility. You want to be counted."
"I already am," Sofia replied. "You just pretended I wasn't."
"That pretense had value," Luca said.
"It still does," Sofia countered. "Just not for you."
Luca studied her for a long moment. Not hostile. Calculating.
"You're suggesting leverage through participation," he said.
"I'm suggesting," Sofia said, "that Milan doesn't test what they don't believe is active."
Alessio let out a quiet breath. "You think making you visible slows them."
"I think," she said, "it forces them to reassess the cost."
Another vibration cut through the room. Alessio glanced at his phone.
Blocked shipment. Call pending.
"They're escalating," Luca said.
"No," Sofia corrected. "They're inviting."
Alessio's brow furrowed. "To what."
"To a conversation," she said. "They want to see who speaks for whom."
Luca's voice was cool. "And if they decide you speak for yourself."
"Then they'll try to isolate me," Sofia said. "Not remove me. Not yet."
"And if they decide you're a liability," Luca added.
Sofia didn't hesitate. "Then they won't be subtle."
Alessio's jaw tightened.
"You're asking me to put you closer to the fire," he said quietly.
"I'm already burning," she replied. "You just built walls around it."
A beat.
Then Alessio turned to Luca. "Reschedule the internal briefing. I want her there."
Luca's eyes widened a fraction. "That will be noticed."
"Yes," Alessio said.
"And opposed."
"Also yes."
Luca nodded once. "Then we prepare for reaction."
He paused at the door, then added, "This isn't protection, Sofia."
She met his gaze evenly. "I know."
Luca left.
The room felt smaller without him.
Alessio looked at her, really looked this time. Not as cargo. Not as a signal.
As a factor.
"You don't flinch," he said.
"I was raised by a man who taught me never to," Sofia replied.
"That man made you visible," Alessio said. "And visibility gets punished."
She stepped closer. Just enough to shift the air between them.
"Then stop pretending this is still about my father."
For a long moment, he said nothing.
Then, quietly: "It stopped being about him the day you spoke at that table."
The phone rang.
Alessio answered it without breaking eye contact.
"Yes," he said. "She's here."
A pause. A voice murmuring on the other end.
"She's listening," Alessio continued.
Sofia didn't look away.