“We don’t break him,” Tonio said, picking up a burner phone. “We recruit him. But first, we prove we can find him.” He began dialing through untraceable relays. “He’s a hermit, not a soldier. We don’t kick the door down. We knock.”
On the third ring, the line clicked. Silence. Tonio heard the presence.
“Wraith,” he said. “We need to talk. About Sofia.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The motel TV flickered, the headline looping like a verdict:
SENATOR RANDALL YOUNG RESIGNS IN DISGRACE.
Sofia’s reflection hovered over the words—pale, grim, unblinking. She had watched the story unravel all night, every leak striking the nation like a hammer. For weeks, damning information had been leaking about the Senator—first whispers, then rumors, then a full-blown scandal with reporters circling like vultures. Calls for his resignation erupted across every major outlet.
Wraith insisted it was the Valachis—Tonio’s family—pulling strings behind the scenes. He speculated that it might be a breakdown in their business relationship… or a grand gesture, some twisted declaration that Tonio chose her over power, an apology for his betrayal. Then Wraith would backtrack, muttering that with mafia types, it was probably just business.
But the last message Sofia received from Wraith, only hours ago, stripped away all of his earlier certainty:
I’m burned. He’s coming for you. And I don’t think it’s business-related.
Something raw had pulsed inside her—terror, yes, but threaded right through with a yearning she hated herself for.
God, she missed Tonio. Missed him with a foolish, aching intensity she couldn’t seem to smother. She felt pathetic for wanting him so badly, for feeling hollow without him, for hoping—despite everything—that his coming for her meant something more than violence, more than unfinished business.
She wanted him. She feared him. And worst of all… she still cared.
He would come.
Two quiet knocks. Precise. Confident. The kind of knock that expected the door to open.
Her burner phone lit up with a final message from Wraith:
// HE’S TRULY COMING FOR YOU. //
Her reply was already sent.
// I’M DONE RUNNING. //
Every instinct screamed to hide. She didn’t. She crossed the room and opened the door.
Tonio stood in the hallway, shoulders squared, jaw tight. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. His eyes locked on hers—steady, unflinching.
“Sofia.”
Her name in his voice—low, rough, unmistakably him—hit her like a physical blow. She froze, breath locking in her chest as she turned toward him.
There he was.
Tonio.
Tall, dark, lethal in the doorway… and every emotion she’d buried came surging up at once. Relief punched through her, sharp and dizzying. Anger tangled with longing. Want slammed into her so hard her knees weakened. God, she had missed him—his presence, his steadiness, his heat—missed the way he looked at her, as if he saw everything she tried to hide.
Her pulse fluttered wildly. Heat pooled low and fast in her belly. Her throat tightened with something painful and needy. He didn’t move toward her. He just waited, watching her like she was a fuse he might set off.
“Took you long enough,” she said at last, her voice sandpaper-rough, trying—and failing—to hide how deeply he affected her.
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “You knew I’d come.”
“I knew you’d try.”
