“Triple-checked. This isn’t normal business. Someone’s silence was bought.”
Her pulse hammered. “Tonio wouldn’t—he’s been protecting me.”
“He’s mafia, Sofia. Protection costs money. Someone pays.”
The words hit like a punch. Images flashed—Tonio’s precision with a gun, the safe house, the car chase. Not a coincidence. Not normal.
“So he’s been lying,” she whispered.
“I think you’re in the middle of something bigger than you know,” Wraith said. “Men like him make deals. They don’t switch sides.”
The line went dead.
Sofia pressed the phone to her chest. Panic curled up her throat. Tonio moved into the kitchen—ordinary sounds now felt rehearsed. The weapons, the car, the safe house—they clicked into place. A cage she hadn’t even noticed.
She slid the phone into her pocket, forced her face smooth, and walked into the kitchen.
Tonio looked over, mug in hand. “Everything okay?”
She let her fingers brush his deliberately. Spark. Familiar—but untrustworthy.
“Yeah. Just had some updates.”
Tonio’s jaw flexed. His eyes shuttered, closing a door she wasn’t allowed to see behind.
She stirred her coffee, watching the cream spiral. “How much do you really know about Senator Young?”
He didn’t look up. “Why?”
“Wraith said his name came up. Connections, money trails, old favors.”
Finally, his eyes lifted—blank, careful. “Wraith says a lot.”
“Sometimes I can’t tell if he’s warning me or stirring the pot.”
“He survives by seeing threats everywhere.” Tonio leaned against the counter. “Look hard enough for enemies, and you’ll always find them.”
She held his gaze. Calm on the surface, tension under it—measured words, playing for time.
Before, she would have read his calm as strength. Now it felt like control.
She lowered her eyes. “Maybe he needs a vacation.”
Tonio let out a short laugh. “He’d last ten minutes.”
The tension eased—but something in the room had shifted. She wasn’t just listening anymore; she was reading the silence between the words.
Sofia sipped bitter coffee, letting her hands keep busy. The rain hammered the window.
Tonio crossed his arms in the doorway. “You’re overthinking.”
“Am I?”
“You get that look when something’s gnawing at you.”
“Just…a lot on my mind.”
“Like what Wraith said?”
