I was so tired of running.
That night, in the unfamiliar bedroom of our newest temporary home, I lay awake staring at the ceiling while Alessio slept fitfully beside me.
His phone was on the nightstand—close, always close, in case the FBI called with news. Good or bad. Marco captured or Marco closing in.
I reached over, interlaced my fingers with his sleeping hand, and felt our pulses sync.
Two hearts beating. Plus two more growing inside me.
Four reasons to survive whatever was coming.
Four reasons Marco would never touch, never hurt, never destroy.
I pressed my free hand to my stomach, felt the small bump there.
I'll protect you, I thought fiercely. Both of you. Whatever it takes. Your father and I will keep you safe.
Alessio stirred, his hand tightening on mine even in sleep.
Together. We'd face this together.
Like we'd faced everything else.
I closed my eyes and tried to believe that would be enough.
CHAPTER 21
Alessio
The FBI's protective detail wasn't enough.
I knew it the moment we arrived at the Montana safe house. Agent Morris tried to convince me their security protocols were "military-grade" and "impenetrable."
The same protocols that had let Marco walk out of maximum security custody after killing three guards just three days ago.
So I took matters into my own hands.
I called Domenico on an encrypted line at 2 a.m., voice low so I wouldn't wake Valentina in the next room. We'd been in Montana less than seventy-two hours, but already the walls felt like they were closing in.
"I need your people. Not FBI. Not anyone on any official payroll. Private contractors loyal to me personally. Men who won't hesitate, won't follow bureaucratic rules, won't fail."
"How many?"
"However many it takes to keep her alive."
Silence on the line, then: "I'll have a team there by morning. Former military, completely off-books. They answer only to you."
"Good."
By dawn, six men had arrived—silent, professional, lethal. They established perimeter security that the FBI hadn't bothered with, swept for surveillance devices the FBI had missed, and found three.
Three. Marco's people had been watching us for days.
Agent Morris was furious when she discovered my private security team. She threatened to pull FBI protection entirely. I told her to go ahead—her protection had already failed.
She didn't pull it. Probably realized how bad it would look if we died after she abandoned us.
But the tension in the safe house was thick enough to choke on.
