Rio de Janeiro's heat never slept.
Even after sunset, the city thrummed with the life of a thousand engines, music, and voices echoing off cracked walls and rooftop patios. Streetlamps flickered over uneven cobblestone alleys. Motorbikes zipped through traffic. The scent of grilled meat and oil filled the air.
Leonardo leaned against a rusting balcony rail at the uppermost floor of a warehouse he'd recently purchased—quietly, through a dummy real estate firm. Below, locals danced to samba blaring from nearby speakers, completely unaware that above them, an operation was being set in motion.
He checked his watch. Right on schedule.
A low rumble echoed in the distance—three cars winding through the narrow hillside roads.
He didn't need to see the license plates. He already knew who they were.
Brian. Dom. Mia.
The crew had arrived.
Down at the garage level, Koko leaned against a stack of steel crates, dressed in a sleeveless tactical vest and desert-camo pants, a pistol strapped to her hip. The artificial lights behind her cast long shadows that made her look more specter than soldier.
When the Charger pulled in, she didn't move.
Dom stepped out first. His shirt stuck to him from the heat, eyes narrowing as they landed on the man descending the stairs.
"Didn't expect to see you in person," Dom said, voice low, weighty.
Leonardo offered a calm nod. "It felt overdue."
Brian stepped out behind him, arms casually at his sides. "Told you he'd be solid."
"You've helped my sister," Dom said, tone unreadable. "I haven't forgotten that."
Leonardo clasped his hands loosely behind his back. "And I haven't forgotten what she did for me by trusting a stranger."
Dom took in the garage, the setup, the security. "I still don't know what your play is."
"Same as yours," Leonardo replied. "Survive. Take down Reyes. Keep the family safe."
Dom studied him, long and hard. A slow nod followed. Not trust. But understanding.
They settled into the warehouse that night. Beds were unrolled. The Charger's tires were changed. Brian paced as he explained how Reyes operated—cash drops, extortion, muscle in every precinct.
Dom listened. Mia watched Leonardo. Koko monitored comms.
Later that evening, Leonardo met with Koko in his private office upstairs. The maps were laid out. Red pins marked shipping routes. Black pins marked cash houses.
He drew a red circle.
"This is where they'll hit first," he said.
Koko nodded. "And us?"
Leonardo grinned. "We'll be ghosts. Until we're not."
A few days passed in preparation. Dom gathered old allies. Han arrived first, quiet and sharp-eyed. Then Roman and Tej, loud and skeptical. Finally, Gisele—elegant and lethal.
Leonardo watched her from across the room the moment she entered. She returned his gaze with a smile.
"So you're the ghost everyone keeps whispering about," she said.
He gave a soft chuckle. "And you're the legend I haven't forgotten."
They spoke little that day. But something in the air shifted.
Something inevitable.
By the end of the week, Dom's team had a target: one of Reyes' cash depots. It was time to send a message.
Leonardo didn't join them on the mission.
He stood on the roof with Koko, watching their escape route, monitoring the encrypted radios.
"Are you really not going to help?" she asked.
"I am helping," he replied. "Just not visibly."
"You care more than you let on."
He turned to her. "And that's dangerous."
The safe exploded in a blaze of black smoke. The crew got out clean. Reyes was furious. The pressure escalated. Police checkpoints. Surveillance. Bounties.
It was working.
Exactly according to plan.
But Leonardo knew this was only the beginning.
And the moment would come soon when ghosts had to step into the light.