Dimitri listened, understanding what his father was actually saying beneath the words. Antonio wasn't defending Isabella. He was managing consequences.
"Just return her to him," Antonio continued. "Like you promised. Like you said you would."
Antonio paused. Took a breath. The kind of breath a man takes when he's about to say something difficult.
"In whatever broken form she is," Antonio finished. "But just give her back to her father. That's all I'm asking."
Dimitri understood the concession embedded in those words. His father wasn't asking for Isabella to be spared. He was asking for her to be returned damaged but alive. A living reminder. A walking consequence.
It was a pragmatic compromise from a pragmatic man.
"I plan on doing that," Dimitri said flatly. "That was always the plan."
"Good," Antonio said, and there was something almost like relief in his voice. "Then we understand each other."
"We do," Dimitri confirmed.
