The Bellandi villa shimmered with the warmth of tradition. Wine flowed like rivers, and old folk songs played beneath fairy lights draped across cypress trees. But Luca Bellandi wasn’t toasting nostalgia. He was conducting an interview. Or, rather, an elimination round.

  Among the guests were several regional candidates vying for Italy’s top five slots in The Hundred. The selection committee would arrive in days. Luca didn’t trust them to make the right choices. He would decide who went to war—and who disappeared before the list was finalized.

  Alessandro Mancini sat beside him, a broad-shouldered veteran turned private security. Too strong. Too loyal. Too... noble. Luca poured him a special vintage—his family’s prized 1999 Chianti, tainted with a subtle sedative and a bit of powdered ephedra. Not enough to kill. Enough to ruin.

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  “I never thought a country boy would be in the running,” Alessandro chuckled. “But hell, you’ve got grit, Bellandi.”

  Luca clinked his glass with a thin smile. “Grit is all that’s left when everything else burns.”

  Later that night, Luca placed an envelope in an anonymous courier drop. Inside were photos of Alessandro unconscious, surrounded by forged documents suggesting anti-government ties.

  The next day, Alessandro was arrested. Luca never looked back.