Lex's POV
The car was silent except for the hum of the engine. Vito's words hung between them like a thundercloud. You're the trap.
Lex stared at him. "What does that mean?"
"It means Marco isn't a businessman to be negotiated with anymore. He's a rabid dog who's seen something he wants. He'll come for you. Fast and dirty." Vito's eyes were like dark stone in the passing streetlights. "So we hit him first. But to do that, I need the truth. All of it. No more ghosts between us."
He turned fully toward her in the back seat. "You moved like a soldier in there. That wasn't just self-defense. That was training. Who trained you?"
Lex looked down at her hands. The red marks from the bottle were already fading. The fight was over, but the memories were fresh and raw. She was so tired of hiding.
"My brother," she said quietly. "Leo started training me when I was a teenager. He said the world was mean, and I needed to be meaner." She gave a bitter, small laugh. "He was right."
"Go on," Vito said, his voice low.
"We needed money. The restaurant was failing even back then. Leo found the underground fights. The Iron Ring. The money was good. Too good." She took a shaky breath. "He fought for a year. Then he got in deep with Marco over a bad bet. Marco owned him after that."
Vito nodded slowly. He knew this part.
"I was eighteen," Lex continued, the words spilling out now like poison from a wound. "Leo taught me everything he knew. I was… good. Really good. He made me a mask, a costume. Called me 'The Sphinx' because I was a mystery. I started fighting. We were going to win enough to clear his debt and save the restaurant."
She closed her eyes, seeing it all again. The smoky ring. The shouting crowd. The fear and the fury.
"I won. And won. And won. I was undefeated. The money piled up. We were so close." Her voice broke. "Then Marco set up the final fight. The big payday. He told Leo he had to throw his next fight or we'd all pay. Leo agreed. But my fight was that same night. My opponent was a monster called 'The Hammer.' The crowd was screaming for blood. My blood."
She opened her eyes and looked right at Vito. "The Hammer was my brother. Marco made him wear a mask, too. He didn't tell either of us who we were fighting. Not until we were in the ring."
Vito's breath caught. A flicker of genuine horror crossed his face. "Dio mio," he whispered.
"We figured it out after the first punch," Lex said, the tears coming now, hot and shameful. "I saw his eyes. He saw mine. We tried to fake it, to make it look good for Marco. But Leo… he couldn't lose to his little sister. Not in front of everyone. His pride… he got angry. He started fighting for real. I had to fight back. It got out of control. And then… and then he was just lying there."
She wiped her face with a trembling hand. "I quit that night. I hung up the mask. I buried the Sphinx. I went back to being a waitress. And I've been running from it ever since."
The car slowed to a stop. They were back at the penthouse building, but neither moved to get out.
Vito was silent for a long time, just looking at her. The hardness in his eyes had softened into something more complex. Understanding. Maybe even pity.
"You didn't kill your brother, Alessia," he said finally. "Marco did. He set the board, he moved the pieces, and he watched you both destroy each other for his profit. He is the only one to blame."
Hearing it from him didn't erase the guilt, but it lifted a weight she'd carried for three years. She nodded, unable to speak.
"This changes everything," Vito said, his voice turning practical again. "Marco doesn't just see you as a fighter. He sees you as his creation. His property. And after tonight, he sees you as a threat. He will try to take you, or kill you. Probably both."
"So what do we do?" Lex asked, her voice hoarse.
Vito leaned closer. The space between them in the car was suddenly very small.
"We use what he sees," he said. "He sees the Sphinx? We give him the Sphinx. But this time, the Sphinx works for me." He reached out and, to her surprise, took her injured hand gently. His thumb brushed over her fading knuckles. "From now on, you're not just a waitress hiding in an apron. You're not just a debt to be paid. You are my shadow. You stay by my side. You see what I see. And when the time comes, you strike where I tell you to."
His grip was firm, not painful. It felt like an anchor.
"Can you do that?" he asked, searching her face. "Can you be the Sphinx one last time? Not for money. Not for pride. For vengeance. For your brother. For your freedom."
Lex looked down at their joined hands. His was large, clean, marked with scars of its own. Hers was small, calloused, stained with tonight's violence and years of grease from a grill.
She thought of Leo. She thought of the fear in Marco's eyes when she broke that bottle.
She wasn't a waitress anymore. That woman was gone the moment she stepped into this car weeks ago. Maybe she'd been gone since the night Leo died.
She looked up and met Vito's gaze. The tears were gone. Her voice was clear and cold.
"Yes."
A faint, approving smile touched his lips. He let go of her hand. "Good. Then we start now."
He pulled out his phone, typed a quick message, and put it away. The car door opened. The night guard stood waiting.
As Lex got out, Vito spoke one last time, his voice low and urgent. "Remember, you are my shadow. Where I go, you go. What I see, you see. From this moment on, we are tied together in this. His fate is yours. And yours is mine."
They entered the building, but instead of going up to the penthouse, Vito led her to a different, private elevator she hadn't seen before. It went down.
The doors opened into an underground garage. Not for fancy cars. This was a concrete bunker. And in the middle of the empty space, lit by harsh white lights, stood Enzo, her old trainer. Next to him was a tall, muscular woman with a shaved head and sharp eyes Lex didn't recognize.
"Your training starts now," Vito said, his voice echoing in the cavernous space. "You have until dawn to remember how to be a weapon. Enzo will remind you of the basics. Kira here will teach you how to kill."
The woman, Kira, stepped forward. In her hands, she wasn't holding boxing gloves. She held a pair of sleek, black, metal knuckle-dusters. She tossed them to Lex, who caught them on instinct. They were cold and heavy. "Welcome back, Sphinx," Kira said, her voice like gravel. "Let's see if you're still worth the legend." Lex looked down at the weapons in her hands, then at Vito, who gave a single, slow nod. The final transformation had begun.