“You told them I stay.”
“I meant in the conversation.” He finally met her eyes. “Not the operation. Find Mia or Gabriella once we leave and stay with them until this is over.”
She nodded. He was right.
Luc returned, slipping his phone into his jacket. “Macaulay bit. She thinks she’s getting an exclusive. The FBI will be there within the hour.”
Carlos reappeared. “Team’s staged. Two SUVs, four on foot, drones in the air within fifteen minutes.”
She saw Tonio stand, his posture sharpening into what she recognized as his work mode—a calm, lethal focus.
Luc tossed him a set of keys. “You’re in the lead car.”
“Fine.” Tonio caught them without looking.
Carlos nodded at her. “She staying behind?”
She saw the muscle in Tonio’s jaw flex. “Yes.”
The meeting ended, and the men headed toward the door with sharp, purposeful movements. Sofia rose and followed a few paces behind, keeping to the shadows of the hallway, letting them lead while she stayed just out of the way.
The shift from tactical sterility to opulent living space was jarring. The sound of Mia and Gabriella talking softly drifted from an adjoining room, a reminder of why she stayed.
Tonio stopped. Luc and Carlos gave a curt nod and moved ahead, out the front door into the morning, giving them a sliver of privacy.
She watched the man she knew recede, his every movement becoming precise and controlled. The hunter was taking over. But before the shift was complete, he turned to her, his hand cupping her jaw—not soft, but certain.
“You’d better come back in one piece,” she said.
A ghost of a smile flickered across his lips, then vanished. “I will.”
He pressed a brief, fierce kiss to her mouth, one that felt like a vow, then stepped back. Without another word, he walked out, the door closing behind him with a heavy thud that made the sudden quiet of the hall feel alive with absence.
Sofia stood alone for a moment, feeling the weight of his promise and the violence ahead. Then she turned toward the women’s voices. She would wait in the light, with the people he was fighting to protect, trusting he would come back.
Sofia steppedinto the sunlit breakfast room. The air was warm, scented with rosemary chicken and untouched bread from the luncheon tray on the table—a domestic calm that felt strange after the precise, high-stakes quiet of the operations room.
Mia looked up from the table, relief softening her features. “Sofia, I’m glad you’re here. Luc was supposed to be free for lunch—a proper family gathering. Then it was all ‘urgent business.’” She let out a sigh that was more frustrated than scared, pushing a piece of bread around her plate. “I’m not an idiot. I know it’s more than that. But he tells me not to worry, so I try.” Her worry was gentle, the kind that comes from choosing trust over interrogation—aware enough to fret but shielded from the worst.
Gabriella, in contrast, had settled into an armchair in the adjoining sitting area. She sat perfectly still, hands clasped so tightly in her lap her knuckles were pale. Her eyes—sharp, calculating—fixed on Sofia the moment she entered, silently searching her face. It was the gaze of someone who already knew the official story was a lie. She had seen the same grim seriousness on the men’s faces that Sofia had just witnessed herself. Her attention carried a quiet gravity, hinting at stakes beyond routine concern, though Sofia couldn’t guess the reason.
Sofia felt a faint, insistent tug in her chest. She moved past the table and sank into an armchair across from Gabriella, resting her hands on her knees. The room was quiet, yet every sound—the distant hum of the air conditioning, the soft rustle of Gabriella turning a page, and Mia’s occasional sighs—seemed amplified. She pressed her back against the chair, trying to ground herself, but her mind raced. Tonio’s words echoed:“I will.”
Not enough. Not for a woman who had spent so long guarding herself, weighing every possibility. She rose and walked to the window, pressing her palm to the cool glass. The grounds stretched before her, perfectly manicured, serene—but threaded with hidden currents of danger. Security patrols moved in distant lines, a reminder that this quiet was temporary, fragile.
Her gaze drifted to the far edges of the estate. Nothing moved. No immediate threat, yet the stillness carried its own weight, heavier than any visible danger. Holding position was a vigilance of its own.
She had followed Tonio into this world—into danger, uncertainty, and the constant hum of calculated chaos. She had chosen to stand beside those he fought to protect, even if it meant waiting alone while he carried the storm elsewhere.
The morning returned in her mind: him tucked against her, the laughter on the boat she hoped they’d someday take, the touch that promised return. Ordinary with him would never be safe. Never quiet. Always punctuated with moments like this—moments of waiting, of fear, and of wanting.
She let herself smile, small and private. That was the choice she had made. That was the life she accepted. Not because it was easy, not because it was fair—but because it was real. Because Tonio was worth it.
Mia approached quietly, moving to stand beside her at the window. Sofia’s chest tightened slightly at her presence, a subtle reminder of the danger they all carried. “You okay?” Mia asked, her voice low and sincere.
Sofia nodded, exhaling slowly. “I will be. We all will.”
Gabriella offered a faint, approving smile from her chair. “It’s a strange kind of peace, isn’t it? Knowing the world outside is chaos, but here… we wait.”
